Palestinian Statehood | The American Task Force on Palestine

After Libya, Obama will have hard time thwarting Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - March 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The attack by the allies on Muammar Gadhafi's forces, with the Arab League's encouragement, should be reminding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Western-Arab attack on Iraq at the beginning of 1991. The price tag the Arabs showed the (Republican) American president, George Bush the elder, for their support in the war against a member of the Arab league was the dragging of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to an international peace conference in Madrid. Bush demanded of Shamir that he choose between expanding the settlements in the territories and a reduction in American aid.

Ashton, Blair meet Fayyad at Brussels donor meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 13, 2011 - 1:00am

The annual spring meeting of Palestine's donor coordination group kicked off in Brussels Wednesday, the day after UN officials came out in support of an independently functioning Palestinian state. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is hosting the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee meeting, also attended by caretaker West Bank Prime Minister Fayyad, and Quartet Envoy Tony Blair.

Gould says UK won't yet recognize Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Greer Fay Cashman - March 9, 2011 - 1:00am

British Ambassador Matthew Gould on Tuesday night attempted to dispel fears that the UK is moving towards recognizing Palestine as a free and independent state. Gould was speaking at a meeting of Europeans for Israel that was conducted in the Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem. He is the first ever British Ambassador to visit the Jewish Agency, he said. During the Mandate period the Jewish Agency was the strategic core of Jewish resistance against the British.

A Way Forward for Israelis and Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chronicle of Higher Education
by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) March 6, 2011 - 1:00am

"Is This Man Dangerous?" asks the headline on the cover of Haim Watzman's article on how the maverick Sari Nusseibeh is challenging Middle East orthodoxies (The Chronicle Review, February 4). The answer is a definite no. As a philosopher president (of Al-Quds University), he regularly floats ideas to question assumptions and authority, to think outside the box, in order to educate and to transform reality.

Palestinian leader: No state with temporary border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - March 5, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinian president said Saturday he would not accept an Israeli peace initiative if it called for temporary borders for a future Palestinian state. President Mahmoud Abbas' comments were the highest official response so far to news of a peace plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to publicly propose in the coming weeks.

Norway may recognize Palestinian state if peace process remains stalled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store told Haaretz Wednesday that his country would reevaluate its position on recognizing a Palestinian state if no progress is made in the peace process by September 2011. Speaking from Jerusalem, where he is on a state visit, Gahr said Israel runs the risk of being seen internationally as a "permanent occupier" if the stalemate in the peace process continues. He said he was worried such a view would lead to a further delegitimization of Israel and would harm its security.

PA: 150 states to recognize Palestine by Sept.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - March 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinians expect broad global support: Some 150 countries will recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders by September of this year, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Wednesday. Maliki claimed that 10 more states in the Caribbean region will be declaring their recognition of Palestine this month. In an interview with The Media Line last week, the PA foreign minister said the Palestinians were on track to declaring an independent state by September.

Realism and State Building in Palestine: Interview with Hussein Ibish
Interview with Hussein Ibish - Prospect - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am

As another decade is added to the over half-century of conflict in Israel and Palestine, optimism continues to be crushed under the weight of time. The breakdown of direct negotiations last September that resulted from Israel’s refusal to continue the freeze on settlements only made the future bleaker. No matter what side of the issue one sits on, it is clear that the approaches of both sides have failed to produce real solutions. New ideas and approaches are necessary if the conflict is going to be resolved in the foreseeable future.

Realism and State Building in Palestine: Interview with Hussein Ibish
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Prospect
by Charles de la Cruz - (Interview) March 2, 2011 - 1:00am

As another decade is added to the over half-century of conflict in Israel and Palestine, optimism continues to be crushed under the weight of time. The breakdown of direct negotiations last September that resulted from Israel’s refusal to continue the freeze on settlements only made the future bleaker. No matter what side of the issue one sits on, it is clear that the approaches of both sides have failed to produce real solutions. New ideas and approaches are necessary if the conflict is going to be resolved in the foreseeable future.

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