The Arab Peace Initiative under review
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Jerome M. Segal - (Opinion) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am


The Arab League Ministerial Council that convened in Doha Sunday to review the Arab Peace Initiative and reevaluate the peace process concluded without any decisive action. Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani maintained that the initiative would "not be on offer for ever." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas objected saying, "It is not permissible to talk about sidelining the Arab Peace Initiative.


Peace moving further away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) December 9, 2012 - 1:00am


There were times when the entire world would "hold its breath" before Egyptian rulers delivered their speeches, thinking they would make some earth-shattering remarks. In Israel, way before the Egyptian leaders spoke, IDF intelligence officers would hand their commanders reports containing the statements they expected the Egyptian leaders would make. The result, in most cases, was quite amusing.


1947's Zionists, Today's Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by David N. Myers - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am


Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence.


Beyond the UN vote: New futures for Palestine and Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Jersey News
by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) December 7, 2012 - 1:00am


On Nov. 29, which marked the 65th anniversary of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for partitioning British-mandate Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states and a special international regime for the city of Jerusalem, the U.N. granted Palestine the status of a “nonmember observer state.”


Losing Hope on Israeli-Palestinian Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic
by Leon Wieseltier - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am


LOST CAUSES are not wrong causes, unless winning is the measure of right. The historical victory of an idea reveals nothing about its merit: power has uses for fictions, and the popularity of lies is an ancient feature of human affairs.


What exactly is Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am


RAMALLAH // Mahmoud Abbas declared that Palestine had a state on his triumphant return from the United Nations, but many Palestinians are asking: what do we have and what do we call it? The Palestinian Authority (PA) president on Sunday lauded Palestine's "historic achievement" of being recognised as a non-member state at the UN.


Seize the opportunity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am


If there is one conclusion that can be drawn from the UN General Assembly vote on accepting Palestine as a non-member observer state, it is that the direct negotiations paradigm failed and has been replaced by a new concept: Constructive unilateralism.


Israel’s missing peace offensive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) December 5, 2012 - 1:00am


Even before the latest ceasefire took hold, it had become clear that the dilemma facing Israel in Gaza entails more than simply developing military answers to the challenge posed by Hamas.


Israel takes a harder line
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) December 4, 2012 - 1:00am


When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would seek recognition from the United Nations for a Palestinian state, Israel complained that Abbas should have pursued that objective in face-to-face peace negotiations and warned of grave consequences, threatening to expand


Palestinians: settlement expansion means 1 state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - December 4, 2012 - 1:00am


RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians will ask the U.N. Security Council to call for an Israeli settlement freeze, President Mahmoud Abbas and his advisers decided Tuesday, as part of an escalating showdown over Israel's new plans to build thousands more homes on war-won land in and around Jerusalem.



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