A Small Outbreak Of Mideast Hope
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jim Hoagland - September 30, 2007 - 12:00am

Hopes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that will isolate the Hamas radicals who control the Gaza Strip have brightened measurably in recent days, according to European officials visiting here. The real news is that the Europeans report this possible outcome without a frown. Their cautious but clear optimism is based primarily on movement in the private preparatory talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who are both so weakened politically that they may have no place to go but toward peace.

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Rockets Launched From Gaza Are Only Hurting Palestinian Civilians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) September 28, 2007 - 12:00am

As miserable as conditions have become in the Gaza Strip, there is plenty of potential for the situation to get even worse. Straining under the weight of a collapsed and besieged economy, the civilian population is already heavily dependent on foreign aid for basic foodstuffs, and the United Nations warns that drugs and other medical supplies are at dangerously low levels. To make matters worse, the continuation of rocket strikes into Israel produces a steady stream of violent responses from the Jewish state that often claim the lives of innocents.

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Just How Powerful Is The Us' Jewish Lobby?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Sherwood Ross - September 27, 2007 - 12:00am

Just how large a role does the "Jewish lobby" play in shaping US policy in the Middle East? Some answers may be contained in The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, reviewed in the September 23 issue of The New York Times, and the just-published Rulers and Ruled in The US Empire: Bankers, Zionists, Militants by James Petras. Mearsheimer teaches at the University of Chicago, and Walt teaches at Harvard.

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Sense, Nonsense and Strategy in the New Palestinian Political Landscape
Issue Paper by Hussein Ibish - September 6, 2007 - 12:00am

The catastrophic division that has recently developed in Palestine, with the national leadership split between two fiefdoms and in a state of open conflict, has left Palestinians and their allies around the world dismayed, and struggling to reformulate a viable strategy for ending the occupation. As people search for guidance and try to make sense of a shocking turn of events, misleading and overwrought polemics have become more prevalent than sober analysis.

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ATFP Expressed Deep Concern Over Palestine Split, Urges Preserving of Palestinian Unity and Statehood Goal
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 21, 2007 - 12:00am

Washington, D.C., June 22 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today expressed deep concern over the serious implications from the military take-over in Gaza. ATFP declares its full support for President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad as they pursue Palestinian unity, independence and statehood. ATFP urges the Bush administration to initiate prompt implementation of political and economic policies that help lay the foundation of a future state of Palestine.


The Palestinian Plight
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Washington Times (Opinion) - June 17, 2007 - 12:00am

Forty years ago this month, Israel stunned the Arab states in six days of war whose consequences are yet to be resolved. Hamas' version of its own six-day war has created new political realities that may be with us for some time to come. Negotiations, conferences and meetings of diplomats and pundits flying around the world will do very little to undo the new realities if we dither and lose the opportunity this crisis presents.

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Palestinian National Unity: The Question of Hamas
Policy Focus by ATFP - June 16, 2007 - 12:00am

Two months into the Hamas violent takeover of the Gaza Strip (GS), one thing has become clear: for all practical intents and purposes, the West Bank (WB) and GS represent two separate spheres of control for the foreseeable future. While ultimately, for political, economic and geopolitical reasons, the WB and GS must be one territorial unit, the prospects for reunification at the short or even medium term are very slim.   The Buildup

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ATFP Calls for Diplomatic Resolution of Growing Middle East Crisis
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - July 11, 2006 - 12:00am

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today called on all parties to take the steps necessary to defuse the escalating tensions in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. ATFP warned that the region is heading towards an extremely dangerous conflagration that would not be in the interest of any of the involved states, organizations and communities.


ATFP Urge US Intervention to Stem Spiraling Gaza Violence
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - July 6, 2006 - 12:00am

Washington, D.C., July 7 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Bush administration to exert all efforts to address the spiraling violence in Gaza that led yesterday to the deaths of twenty-two Palestinians, many of them civilians and children.


ATFP Voices Extreme Concern at Targeting of Palestinian Civilian Infrrastructure in Gaza
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - June 29, 2006 - 12:00am

Washington, D.C., June 30 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today voiced extreme concern at the targeting of vital Palestinian civilian infrastructure in Gaza by the Israeli army. The most damaging of this targeting was the destruction of the six transformers at Gaza's only power station on June 28, which is owned by a U.S. company and whose repair expense will be borne by U.S. taxpayers.



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