NATO | The American Task Force on Palestine

Abbas tells US lawmakers: NATO role in Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 11, 2011 - 11:00pm

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told visiting US Congressmen on Thursday that the security of the future Palestinian state will be handed to NATO under US command, his adviser said Friday. The Palestinian state must also be "empty of [Israeli] settlements," the President said, according to official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA.

NATO chief sees group's future involvement in Israeli Arab peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amir Oren - (Opinion) February 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Anders Fogh Rasmussen discusses concerns over whether Egypt may reassess its foreign relations after Mubarak eventually steps down. The North Atlantic Alliance "supports the efforts of the Egyptian and the Tunisian peoples for the establishment of a free society and a democratically elected government," says NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was scheduled to arrive in Israel last night for talks with senior officials.

NATO offers troops after Mideast peace deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 9, 2011 - 12:00am

NATO would offer peacekeeping services to Israelis and Palestinians if both parties request it in a peace deal, the alliance's secretary general said Wednesday Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO would intervene if a future peace treaty was broken or if the two sides needed assistance. Until then, NATO would "not (become) involved in the Mideast peace process and is not seeking a role in it," Rasmussen said. The NATO leader spoke at an annual security conference in the Israeli city of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

Palestinian official denies secret contacts to bring NATO forces
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 19, 2010 - 11:00pm

A senior Palestinian official on Thursday denied reports that the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) was holding secret talks to persuade the NATO to monitor the borders of the future Palestinian state. "There are in-depth contacts with Jordan and all other Arab countries to brief them on the situation in the region, but there are no secret contacts with international forces," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Israelis may stay home to avoid arrest in Europe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Eli Lake - October 12, 2009 - 11:00pm

Israel is seriously considering restricting travel to Europe by its senior officials and military officers, fearing they might be arrested in the wake of a disputed U.N. report that accuses the Jewish state of targeting civilians in its Gaza war earlier this year.

Gaza War Created Rift Between Israel and Turkey
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Sabrina Tavernise - February 4, 2009 - 12:00am

The four daily flights to Tel Aviv are still running. The defense contract signed in December has not been scrapped. But since Israel’s war in Gaza, relations with Turkey, Israel’s closest Muslim ally, have become strained. Israel’s Arab allies stood behind it in the war, but Turkey, a NATO member whose mediating efforts last year brought Israel into indirect talks with Syria, protested every step of the way in a month of angry remarks capped when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stalked off the stage during a debate in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 29.

Turkey still ready to seek Mideast peace: Erdogan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday his government remains committed to mediating a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians despite an angry public exchange last week with Israel's president. Erdogan also said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had phoned him Monday to ask him to continue Turkey's role as a Middle East mediator.

A long and bumpy road
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
January 30, 2009 - 12:00am

AS AN array of diplomats intensify their efforts to consolidate the ceasefire that took hold in the Gaza Strip after January 18th, the battered territory’s 1.5m people were still gasping for desperately-needed help. Gazans are terrified that violence might return, as tit-for-tat attacks resumed at a relatively low but still dangerous level. Most Gazans now rely on food handouts to survive.

Israeli completes Gaza troop pullout
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - January 21, 2009 - 12:00am

The last Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip before dawn Wednesday, the military said, as Israel dispatched its foreign minister to Europe in a bid to rally international support to end arms smuggling into the Hamas-ruled territory. The timing of the pullout reflected Israeli hopes to defuse the crisis in Gaza before President Barack Obama entered the White House. The military said troops remain massed on the Israeli side of the border and are poised to take action if militants violate a fragile three-day cease-fire.