Building Rawabi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Sherwin Pomerantz - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am

In mid-January, I was in Tel Aviv for a presentation by Bashar Masri, President of Massar, a Ramallah-based holding company with investment interests in a number of projects in what may one day become a Palestinian state. Masri, having lived in America most of his life, moved to Ramallah some years ago to share his business acumen, know-how, and connections with the locals in order to assist in building the economic trappings of a new Palestinian society.

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Building Rawabi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Sherwin Pomerantz - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am

In mid-January, I was in Tel Aviv for a presentation by Bashar Masri, President of Massar, a Ramallah-based holding company with investment interests in a number of projects in what may one day become a Palestinian state. Masri, having lived in America most of his life, moved to Ramallah some years ago to share his business acumen, know-how, and connections with the locals in order to assist in building the economic trappings of a new Palestinian society.

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PA: State-building continues despite occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 13, 2010 - 12:00am

"Despite the occupation, the Palestinian people have made strong progress in building sound institutions within a stable society, on the way to statehood," the Palestinian Authority declared Thursday. The report, spanning May 2009-May 2010, cataloged what the PA called successes for the year, citing the construction of 34 new schools and expansion of 23 - 11 new clinics, 44 new housing projects, 16 new roads, and 370,000 newly planted trees among other achievements.

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Two states are better than one
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Globe and Mail
by Shira Herzog - August 13, 2010 - 12:00am

New winds seem to be blowing in Israel’s right wing. Prominent voices opposed to relinquishing the West Bank and Jewish settlements are calling instead for its annexation, with citizenship for Palestinians living there. On the face of it, this sounds virtuously democratic. But the right has no intention of abandoning its vision of a Jewish state in expanded territory. What’s being proposed is neither practical nor intellectually honest.

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Report: Netanyahu to offer withdrawal from 90% of West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - August 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prepared a "tempting" plan to be presented to the Palestinians in the direct negotiations, as part of which Israel will offer to withdraw from up to 90% of the West Bank, excluding east Jerusalem, the London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Friday. The Prime Minister's Office denied the report, calling it "unfounded.

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Netanyahu rejects peace talks based on 1967 borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday rejected a Palestinian demand that direct negotiations be based on a statement by the Quartet confirming its position that the future Palestinian state will be based on the 1967 borders. Meeting in Jerusalem with U.S. envoy George Mitchell, Netanyahu repeated his demand for the renewal of direct talks without preconditions. Mitchell briefed Netanyahu on his meeting on Tuesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and gave the prime minister the Palestinian proposal.

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For Israel, There’s Only One End Game
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am

The “two state solution” to the Israel/Palestine conflict has become the glamourless default position of most of those who think about the conflict. It has achieved that lumpy status despite the flaws in its logic, the problematics of its implementation, the dangers that inhere in it and the determined hostility to it from some on both sides of the conflict. Still, it’s been the only end game in town for quite some time, and it has had as its foundation stone the belief that only with two viable states can Israel preserve itself as both Jewish and democratic.

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The Mideast ‘peace process’ could end in permanent war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Twenty years after the Madrid Peace conference, and 10 years after President Bill Clinton’s heroic efforts at Camp David failed to yield a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, one cannot escape the conclusion that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has become one of the most spectacular deceptions in modern diplomatic history.

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A Talk with Palestinian Negotiator Ahmed Qurei
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat- Ahmed Qurei, who is also known by his Arabic Kunya Abu Alaa, is a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and a veteran negotiator. In 1968 he joined the Fatah political party, and lived in exile with its founder, Yasser Arafat. After improving the economic fortunes of the party, he became a member of the Fatah central committee in 1989, and subsequently went on to play a prominent role in peace negotiations. He is highly regarded for the instrumental role he played in negotiating the Oslo accords of 1993.

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ATFP Launches New Online Palestinian State and Institution Building Resources
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - August 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is pleased to announce the launching of a new section of its website devoted to compiling resources on the Palestinian state and institution building program. As far as we are aware this is the first effort to compile comprehensive set of resources on the Palestinian state building program.



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