Mahmoud Abbas | The American Task Force on Palestine

U.S. supports Palestinian state-building efforts: Biden
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday said Washington supports Palestinians in building their institutions for a "viable" Palestinian state. The United States "strongly supports the Palestinian (National) Authority's efforts to build its institutions and the develop the economy of the state," Biden told a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, referring to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's two-year state building plan.

Palestinians: indirect talks last chance for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel disclosed on Monday it would build 112 new homes in a Jewish settlement, a plan Palestinians said topped the agenda in talks they held with a U.S. envoy on restarting peace negotiations. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, described the planned U.S.-mediated, indirect talks with Israel as a "last attempt" to save the Middle East peace process. Both Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to so-called proximity talks, in a boost to U.S. President Barack Obama's quest to end decades of conflict. Negotiations have been suspended since December 2008.

Palestinian opposition groups: proximity talks are to fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian opposition factions on Monday rejected the resumption of the U.S.-sponsored indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), saying the talks will be a great failure and will never succeed. The left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP) accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of "exclusivity in the decision-making, mainly those related to major Palestinian issues," adding talks can never be renewed while Israel continues its settlement activities and rejects the peace principles.

The perils of a new intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) March 8, 2010 - 12:00am

If last Friday's incident at the Al Haram Al Sharif compound means anything it is this: Israel's right-wing government is out of control and is bent on executing a malicious scheme to undermine Palestinian rights.

Armistice Now: An Interim Agreement for Israel and Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Ehud Yaari - (Opinion) March 5, 2010 - 12:00am

More than 16 years after the euphoria of the Oslo accords, the Israelis and the Palestinians have still not reached a final-status peace agreement. Indeed, the last decade has been dominated by setbacks -- the second intifada, which started in September 2000; Hamas' victory in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections; and then its military takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 -- all of which have aggravated the conflict.

Palestinians are expected to join Israel in indirect peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 4, 2010 - 12:00am

A year after peace talks collapsed, Israelis and Palestinians appear headed back to the negotiating table -- just not the same table. A U.S.-backed proposal to launch so-called proximity talks moved forward Wednesday when the Arab League gave its blessing for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to join the effort.

Abbas urges Arabs to protect Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 3, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged delegates to the Arab summit scheduled later this month to challenge Israel's designation of West Bank landmarks as "Israeli heritage sites." Following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, the president said "Arabs and Muslims must protect Jerusalem's holy places, and its residents, because they too are evicted from their homes and stripped of their identities."

PNA denies tensed ties with Arab countries
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 3, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official denied on Tuesday reports that the ties between the PNA and Tunisia have been tensed due to political differences. "The ties between the two sides are strong and continuous and there is full ongoing diplomatic coordination," said Nemer Hammad, an aid to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Arab media reports said on Monday that there is tension in he diplomatic ties between the PNA on one hand, Tunisia, Libya and Syria on the other, adding that the three countries refused to receive Abbas this week.

Netanyahu: Conditions ripening for renewal of Mideast peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
March 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday welcomed the Arab League decision to support U.S.-brokered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians. "It seems that the conditions are ripening for the renewal of negotiations between us and the Palestinians," he told the Knesset, during a special session Wednesday. "In the Middle East you need two to tango, but it could be that we need three to tango and we might need to leapfrog at first but the obstacle isn't and never was Israel." Advertisement

Abbas' consequential choices
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) March 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Ask Mahmoud Abbas, the beleaguered Palestinian president, about the law of diminishing returns and he would probably explain it far better than an experienced economist! And he should. The past year has seen his political fortunes dip in value faster than the world's ailing money markets. And yet he holds on, trying to reverse the trend and looking for ways to point his dilapidated leadership into a new horizon.