The perils of alienation over Palestine
In Print by Ghaith al-Omari - The Daily Star (Opinion) - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Critics of the American Task Force on Palestine get one thing right: Palestinian Americans have largely failed to make their voices heard in the mainstream American political and foreign-policy conversation. However, this is the fault of self-styled “pro-Palestinian” advocates who operate in a cult-like echo-chamber and advocate an approach that does considerable harm to the Palestinian cause.


Questions For One-Staters
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Beast (Opinion) - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Supporters of the two-state solution are often told that this vision is unrealistic and has become unachievable. Young, idealistic seekers of justice and equality are increasingly offering what they claim is a more "realistic" solution: a single state for all Israelis and Palestinians, including refugees. Here are ten questions that might help these single-staters think through the feasibility of the project they have in mind:


Jews Must Repudiate All Hatred, Especially From One of Their Own
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Huffington Post - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Pamela Geller, an outspoken Islamophobe who spins wild hateful conspiracy theories about Muslims, as well as President Obama, had a speaking event entitled "Islamic Jew Hatred: The Root Cause of the Failure to Achieve Peace" cancelled in Los Angeles over the weekend following condemnation by a number of local advocacy groups. The speech sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America was terminated after the venue owner, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, intervened to prevent its tenant from hosting the controversial speaker.


Palestine nominates birthplace of Jesus in controversial UNESCO World Heritage bid
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Foreign Policy - June 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestine, recognized last October as the 195th member state by the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recently launched its first initiative as a full-fledged government in the Paris-based agency, nominating the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and a traditional pilgrimage route to be listed as an endangered site on the World Heritage List.


Hamas 'left behind' by Arab Spring
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The National - June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

When Hamas won control of the Gaza Strip after a brief but vicious round of factional fighting in 2007, it earned a degree of influence unprecedented in its short history. Its clashes with its archrival Fatah that culminated in military victory five years ago today emboldened Islamists, rattled Israel and the West and divided Palestinians between rival leaders in Gaza and the West Bank.


To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Daily Star (Opinion) - June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

I do not need anyone to teach me about the Palestinian Nakba. It is the defining moment of my existence. During the 1948 war, my family had fled our home in Talpiot in southeast Jerusalem and taken shelter in a monastery. We quickly gathered some possessions and climbed down and up the mountain to Bethany, and then to Jericho. We eventually resettled as refugees in East Jerusalem.Because I was a graduating medical student at the American University of Beirut during the war of 1967, I became a double-refugee.


Democracy in Arabia
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Bookforum.com - June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

If anybody asked me, particularly in a plaintive tone of desperation, for a comprehensive backgrounder on the uprisings that have convulsed much of the Arab world since December 2010, I’d have no hesitation in pointing them to The Battle for the Arab Spring.


When Will the Six-Day War End?
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Atlantic - June 7, 2012 - 12:00am

This week marks the 45th anniversary of the Six-Day War. It was a war of necessity for Israel -- Egypt and Syria, in particular, had manifested themselves as existential threats to the then-19-year-old Jewish state (Jordan less so) -- and it was a war whose first phase ended in unambiguous victory.


Palestinians: US refugee bill may delay peace
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Jerusalem Post - June 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian advocates are warning that a new US Senate amendment dictating a reporting requirement on the issue of Palestinian refugees could set back efforts to reach a peace deal. The amendment to a bill, recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, mandates that the secretary of state must report how many of the Palestinians serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency fled or left homes in Israel during the War of Independence and how many are only their descendants.


Defining a Palestinian refugee a US complication
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Associated Press - May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON—A simple congressional request for the United States to distinguish between Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and millions of their descendants poses a high-stakes diplomatic and political challenge for President Barack Obama.



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