Palestinian Authority | The American Task Force on Palestine

Armistice Now: An Interim Agreement for Israel and Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Ehud Yaari - (Opinion) March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

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.

'Fayyad is inciting violence'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff - March 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority officials headed by Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, are inciting anti-Israel violence in the West Bank, defense officials charged on Sunday as violent demonstrations spread from Hebron to Jerusalem’s Old City. Four policemen and a number of protesters were hurt in clashes around the Temple Mount on Sunday and seven Arabs were arrested.

A real plan to build Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Two weeks ago the Palestinian Authority issued a detailed budget for the state and institution-building programme it adopted last August. The programme calls for Palestinians to unilaterally build the administrative, economic and institutional framework of an independent state in spite of the Israeli occupation and as a peaceful, constructive means of countering it.

Major New Palestinian State and Institution Building Document Issued
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - January 26, 2010 - 1:00am

The Ministries of Finance and Planning and Administrative Development of the Palestinian National Authority (PA) have issued a major new document pertaining to the state and institution building program of the Thirteenth Palestinian Government that was adopted in August, 2009.

Israel's Step Back From Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Saeb Erakat - March 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Emphasizing diplomacy and engagement over isolation and confrontation, President Obama has spoken eloquently of a new era of American leadership. Of the changes he has promised, the most important to Palestinians is his commitment to reinvigorating the Middle East peace process.

A Waltz With the Dogs of Memory
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Nation - February 24, 2009 - 1:00am

Initial reaction to the surprising failure of the Israeli film Waltz with Bashir to win this year's Academy Award for best foreign-language picture has suggested that it confronts harsh truths and painful realities, especially about Israel, too unflinchingly for the Hollywood mainstream to embrace. As a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz put it, this year's Oscars demonstrated that "Hollywood knows exactly how it likes its Jews: Victims." Waltz with Bashir obviously provides little to feed that narrative.

The end for the Palestinian Authority?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by George Giacaman - February 13, 2009 - 1:00am

As usual, the future Israeli government will be a coalition, either a right-wing one composed of Kadima, Likud, and Labor, or an extreme right-wing one, including Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, and others. Either way, this does not bode well for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is entering the third stage of its turbulent life, and perhaps its last. The first stage began with the Gaza-Jericho agreement of 1994, followed in late 1995 with expansion of the PA's authority over parts of the West Bank. This stage ended with Yasser Arafat's death in November 2004.

The furor over Meshaal’s PLO comments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ramzy Baroud - February 11, 2009 - 1:00am

When Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal declared the need for a new leadership before a cheering crowd in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 28, his words generated panic among leaders of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as among the traditional Palestinian leadership elites in various Arab capitals. The reaction to Meshaal’s call was more furious than most of the statements issued by the PA and its backers during the 23-day Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip which killed and wounded thousands of innocent Gazans.

No rush to talk with Abbas, Hamas says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Khaled Yacoub Oweis - February 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas will not push for Palestinian reconciliation talks if President Mahmoud Abbas insists on the supremacy of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Islamist group said yesterday. In a statement, a high-level Hamas official accused Abbas of siding with Israel during its invasion of Gaza and seeking to "return on Israeli tanks" to govern the territory. Abbas on Sunday rejected a call by Hamas to replace the PLO with an organization less dominated by his allies and said recognizing the primacy of the PLO in representing all Palestinians was a condition for dialogue.

Abbas attacks Hamas over PLO call
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
February 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said he will not talk with any group that fails to recognise the legitimacy of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) after Hamas called for it to be sidelined. The comments in Cairo came before a meeting on Monday with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, for talks on Palestinian unity and the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. "We say this with utmost clarity - no dialogue with whoever rejects the Palestine Liberation Organisation," Abbas said as he visited Palestinian victims of the Israeli assault on Gaza in a Cairo hospital.