New Settlements Could Scuttle Diplomatic Progress, Undermine Roadmap
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - March 21, 2005 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Mar. 21 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) expressed grave concerns about reports that the Israeli government has confirmed plans to build 3,500 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank in order to deepen its hold on Jerusalem.


ATFP Briefs House Committee: 'Timely US Participation in Palestinian, Israeli Security Essential'
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 10, 2005 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Feb. 10 -- American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) testified today at a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations briefing on “The Way Forward in the Mideast Peace Process.” The committee heard testimony from Henry A. Kissinger, former Secretary of State; Dennis A. Ross, former chief Middle East peace negotiator; Ziad Asali, President of ATFP; and Danielle Pletka, Vice President Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.


ATFP Voices Extreme Concern at Israeli Cabinet Decision to Confiscate Palestinian Land in East Jerusalem
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 24, 2005 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Jan. 24 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), voiced its extreme concern at the revelation that the Israeli cabinet decided in July 2004 to apply the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem. This decision in effect means that thousands of Palestinians who live in the West Bank will lose ownership of hundreds of acres of their property in East Jerusalem, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, with no hope of compensation or appeal. The law was originally passed in secret, the public was not made aware of it and it was not published in the official government gazette.


ATFP Briefing at Middle East Institute 'A President Without a State'
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 24, 2005 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Jan. 24 -- American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad Asali gave a briefing today at the Middle East Institute on the prospects for the future following the recent Palestinian presidential elections. Asali had observed the Palestinian presidential elections as part of the official delegation from the United States. He characterized Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected president by 62 percent of voters, as “a president without a state.”


Fledgling Palestinian Democracy Needs Support of Palestinians, World
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 12, 2005 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Jan 12. -- The American Task Force on Palestine hosted a briefing at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace by Ziad Asali, MD and George Salem, Esq., who returned Monday from observing the Palestinian elections as part of the official U.S. delegation. The delegation was headed by Senators Joseph Biden and John Sununu.


ATFP Offers Condolences to the Palestinian People on the Death of Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - November 11, 2004 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Nov. 11 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) offered its condolences today on the passing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, to his family and to the Palestinian people. Chairman Arafat passed away today at a hospital in Paris, France.


Comprehensive Solution to Conflict Necessary to Salvage Two-State Solution
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 18, 2004 - 12:00am

Washington DC, Oct. 18 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) hosted a briefing today by Yasser Abed Rabbo, on strategies for salvaging the two-state solution. Abed Rabbo is an author of the Geneva Accords, a leader of the Palestine Peace Coalition and a member of the PLO’s executive committee. ‘Partial’ or ‘unilateral’ solutions such as Israel’s Gaza withdrawal plan will invariably fail with tragic consequences, Abed Rabbo stressed.


Israeli and Palestinian Leaders Call for Disengagement, Settlement Evacuation
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 13, 2004 - 12:00am

Washington DC, Oct. 13 -- If the Gaza disengagement plan does not succeed, Yossi Alpher, former senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, said, Israelis and Palestinians “are on a slippery slope towards South Africanization, without a South African solution.” Ziad Abu Zayyad, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that planting Jewish settlements in the West Bank undermines the prospect for a two-state solution as well, and that it is in Israel’s best interest to withdraw from the settlements.


Palestinian Negotiators Outline Prospects for Peace Following Gaza Disengagement
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - September 27, 2004 - 12:00am

Washington DC, Sep. 27 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) hosted a briefing by members of the PLO Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), who are making a week-long tour of congressional offices and non-profit groups.


Israeli Missile Attack Kills Palestinians in Gaza
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - May 19, 2004 - 12:00am

Washington DC, May 19 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) condemned the unprovoked killing today of unarmed Palestinians by the Israeli military in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. According to press reports and hospital sources, Israeli forces fired a missile, four tank shells and machine guns at Palestinians peacefully demonstrating the ongoing Israeli incursion into Gaza, killing at least 10 Palestinian children and teenagers and wounding 50 people.



American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017