Lebanon | The American Task Force on Palestine

Palestinians Form New Faction in Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Rachelle Kliger - February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

A group of ten Palestinian figures announced the formation of a new Palestinian faction in Beirut on Wednesday. The organization, The National Body for the Protection of Permanent Rights, aims to preserve the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora, including those living in refugee camps.

Mixed Views of Hamas and Hezbollah in Largely Muslim Nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Pew Research Center
February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Across predominantly Muslim nations, there is little enthusiasm for the extremist Islamic organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, although there are pockets of support for both groups, especially in the Middle East.

Inter-Palestinian Fighting Spreads to Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report
by Rachelle Kliger - January 14, 2010 - 1:00am

A row between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a clan affiliated with Fatah has turned violent as both sides claim control over a mosque in a Beirut suburb. The Furqan Mosque, located in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, has become a new battleground for the intra-Palestinian struggle. Two people were lightly wounded in a brawl between the parties on Tuesday, according to Lebanese news reports.

For Israel, was 2009 just the calm before the storm?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Emile Hokayem - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am

It was a good year for Israel. Beyond the paralysis on the peace-process front in 2009, for which the hardline Israeli prime minister can claim credit, Israel has had the quietest year since the beginning of the second intifada. Its territory was kept secure and fewer Israelis were killed and injured (although more than 1,500 Palestinians lost their lives at Israeli hands in the meantime).

Tough Military Stance Stirs Little Debate in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - December 24, 2009 - 1:00am

In the year since Israel launched its devastating military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, the country’s political and military leaders have faced intense international condemnation and accusations of possible war crimes. But Israel seems to have few qualms. Officials and experts familiar with the country’s military doctrine say that given the growing threats from Iranian-backed militant organizations both in Gaza and in Lebanon, Israel will probably find itself fighting another, similar kind of war. Only next time, some here suggest, Israel will apply more force.

Lebanon's Palestinians: refugees for life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Rita Daou - December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's visit to Beirut on Monday casts the spotlight on the plight of nearly 300,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who fear they are doomed to be refugees for life. His brief trip comes amid renewed efforts to revive the Middle East peace process and concern in Lebanon's political circles that any deal struck on the refugee issue would be at the expense of the Lebanese.

Salafism: A New Threat to Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dan Williams - October 27, 2009 - 12:00am

On the streets of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, clusters of men wear long tunics over baggy trousers, a costume common in Pakistan but virtually unknown among Palestinians — until recently. It is an emblem of Salafism, a branch of Islam that advocates restoring a Muslim empire across the Middle East and into Spain. Some Salafis preach violence, even killing Muslims deemed not pious enough. While historically a fringe group in the southeastern Mediterranean, Salafis have sought inroads in Lebanon and Jordan and are battling Hamas in Gaza.

No way home: The tragedy of the Palestinian diaspora
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Judith Miller, David Samuels - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

It is a cynical but time-honoured practice in Middle Eastern politics: the statesmen who decry the political and humanitarian crisis of the approximately 3.9 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza ignore the plight of an estimated 4.6 million Palestinians who live in Arab countries. For decades, Arab governments have justified their decision to maintain millions of stateless Palestinians as refugees in squalid camps as a means of applying pressure to Israel.

March 14 and Fatah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Walid Choucair - (Opinion) August 10, 2009 - 12:00am

It is no coincidence that King Abdel-Aziz of Saudi Arabia has recently sent a letter to the Fatah conference in Bethlehem, urging Palestinians to unite “because if the entire world agrees on a Palestinian state, it will not be established if your house is divided,” and dispatched his minister of culture and information, Abdel-Aziz Khoja, to Beirut to help halt the deterioration in relations among the March 14 coalition, and specifically between Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

U.N. envoy sees Lebanon border village row over soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon said on Wednesday he hoped for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese part of the divided border village of Ghajar within the next few months. The move could bolster the Lebanese government and improve the atmosphere for Arab-Israeli peace talks. Ghajar, which has a population of about 2,000, straddles Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, but Israel currently occupies both parts.