Palestinian Statehood | The American Task Force on Palestine

Palestinian President Abbas has the most to lose
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) September 25, 2010 - 12:00am

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S Middle East peace diplomacy has made some progress, but an early error still haunts it. The president's ill-advised attempt to force a freeze of Israeli housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank could cause the breakdown this weekend of direct talks on a final settlement, only a month after they began.

Obama and his audacity of hope for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

At the United Nations on Thursday, President Obama took a risk by speaking so optimistically about the fragile Middle East peace talks. He told his international audience that “this time will be different.” The president offered that outcome as a choice, but even so, he went out on a limb by pronouncing that one short year from now, the UN could have a new member: a sovereign Palestine living in peace with Israel. In 2003, President Bush held out that possibility for 2005.

NY Jewish group calls Fayyad meeting 'unprecedented'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 23, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met with leaders from The Israel Project in New York on Tuesday, telling his audience that he would try to eliminate incitement against Israelis as talks continue. A statement from the group called the event, and its question and answer period "unprecedented," saying some 65 business, political and religious leaders from America's Jewish community attended the event, held in a private Manhattan home.

Gov’t prepares ‘contingency plans’ if direct talks blow up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

With five days left until the settlement construction moratorium ends, talks are continuing in the US between Israeli, Palestinian Authority and American officials to find a “creative” solution to the issue, even as Jerusalem was preparing for the possibility the PA may indeed walk away from direct talks over the matter.

Time for the Palestinians to regroup
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

I was in Amman last week on the same day that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton passed through for lunch with the king of Jordan and stressed how all the negotiators on the Palestinian-Israeli track were very serious about reaching an agreement. I was also in the Jordan Valley gazing across at some of the Israeli settlements as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged not to negotiate for a moment more if the Israelis continued building settlements after their partial freeze ended this month.

Clashes in Jerusalem as Talks Snag
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Isabel Kershner - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — With Israel’s construction freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank scheduled to end this weekend, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were seeking an elusive formula on Wednesday to keep their peace talks going while both sides warned that if the talks ended, violence could erupt.

Abbas: Talks may go on without freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

NEW YORK — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told American Jewish leaders Tuesday that direct talks with Israel could continue even if a partial moratorium on West Bank settlement construction is not extended.

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