Interviews and Speeches | The American Task Force on Palestine

Remarks by Ziad Asali at Congressional Middle East Coexistence Conference
Speech by Ziad Asali at 2325 Rayburn Building - February 12, 2004 - 1:00am

The Holy Land, a tiny sliver of the landmass of this earth, has generated emotions of unbridled intensity. It offered sublime guidance to mankind and made unparalleled contributions to the best in civilizations and cultures while at the same time releasing wayward passions that bred violence, death and destruction. It appealed to the most noble of instincts as it did to the most base and banal corners of people's souls. It has been an open wound whose healing has defied the wisdom of the best minds for a century or more.

Statement of Ziad Asali at Special Senate Hearing
Speech by Ziad Asali at U.S. Senate - October 30, 2003 - 1:00am

Mr. Chairman, Honorable Members of the Committee, It is an honor and a privilege to appear before you to testify about yet one more vexing problem of the Palestinian Israeli conflict, that of the Palestinian education.

Palestine and Israel: Unkind History, Uncertain Future
Speech by Ziad Asali at Cornell University - September 3, 2003 - 12:00am

For a conflict that has been described as intractable, insoluble and “centuries old”, the most dramatic feature about the Palestine/ Israel conflict is the near unanimous agreement about the contours of its final resolution. Think about that. The majority of the Palestinians, Israelis, Arabs, Jews, Americans, Europeans, and people all over the world as well as global institutions and bodies are in support of an outline that goes as follows:

The Mideast crisis: Ziad J. Asali
Interview with ATFP - USA Today - August 22, 2003 - 12:00am

This week's devastating violence between Israel and the Palestinians appears to have rendered the eight-week-old truce, or hudna, null and void. After Thursday's killing of a senior Hamas official by Israel in retaliation for a suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem which 20 people died. The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened revenge and formally abandoned the cease-fire.

In Pursuit of Peace
Speech by Ziad Asali at Tikkun Conference - June 2, 2003 - 12:00am

The march of events of humankind that we call history has been unkind to the Jews and Palestinians this past century. Europe, the seat of the pinnacle of world culture and western civilization, was seized with convulsive fits of hatred and barbarism that culminated in the Holocaust and made the defeat of Nazism the highest moral order of the time. The Palestinians, caught in the ensuing whirlwind, were eviscerated, displaced, denigrated and driven to desperation. Israel was established on 78% of the land of Palestine in 1948, and occupied the rest in 1967.

The Road to Peace - Vision and Courage
Speech by Ziad Asali at Washington DC - February 23, 2003 - 1:00am

In these times of great peril and uncertainty, with talk of war in the air, with military men and women mobilized and ready to unleash their might, with institutions and alliances that have served the cause of peace for decades fragmented and at cross purposes, it is hard to see through the fog and to advocate a course of moderation when the word moderation itself has become loaded and suspect. However, it is my intention to do just that.

Arab-American Perceptions of U.S. Policy Toward the Middle East
Speech by Ziad Asali at U.S. Dept. of State - March 26, 2002 - 1:00am

The tragic events of September 11th have had a profound impact on the relationship between the United States and the Arab and Islamic Worlds. The war on terrorism in Afghanistan is the first phase of a long, opaque and complex engagement that will define international relations for decades to come. Arab Americans, both Christians and Muslims, have had the unique experience of being doubly impacted by this tragedy: first as Americans, and secondly as people of Arab heritage. We will be in this unique position, filled with dangers and opportunities, for the foreseeable future.

ATFP Senior Fellow Debates Israeli Diplomat on LA Public Radio
Interview with - - December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm

President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this morning, seeking to ease tension between the United States and Israel. Diplomatic relations strained after Vice President Biden’s trip to Israel was upstaged by the announcement of new settlements in Gaza in March, and were further complicated by the Israeli military’s raid on a flotilla carrying people and aid to Gaza in May. Beyond a photo op, what did the two leaders accomplish? Has Israel insinuated a new tone toward Palestinians?