Palestinian Statehood | The American Task Force on Palestine

Abdullah holds ‘productive’ talks with Obama’s envoy to Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Erika Niedowski - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, held talks on Monday with the Obama administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, in a meeting the Minister of Foreign Affairs described as “productive”. “America, Europe and Arab nations must continue to work together towards a practical solution that will ensure the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations,” Sheikh Abdullah said in a statement after the session. “Today we had a productive discussion that confirmed our two countries’ mutual commitment to regional peace and stability.”

US hits back at Lieberman: The goal is two states
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The US State Department hit back at Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's warning on Tuesday to those pressuring Israel on its foreign policy agenda. The Yisrael Beitenu chairman and recent appointment to the top ministerial position also said that the world was willing to listen to his ideas, accusing the Israeli left of attacking his positions to score points abroad. "We have never interfered with other people's affairs and we expect of others not stand with a stopwatch in hand," Lieberman told party members at a conference.

No Peace between Israel and the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli press has announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Israel in June. In Strasbourg, French President Nicholas Sarkozy raised with Obama the necessity of pushing peace forward in the Middle East and not being deterred by Benjamin Netanyahu's becoming prime minister of Israel. Sarkozy told Obama that he should deal with the reality of Netanyahu's election and push the peace process forward under all conditions, quickly and immediately.

Let's cooperate in the interest of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) April 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The recent call by the US government urging Israel to honour the principle of the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict is encouraging. It is difficult, however, to see how the Obama administration can impose this position on Israel's newly-elected right-wing government.

Obama saying Israel still bound to two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - (Analysis) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Dialogue between Jerusalem and Washington over the past week has been done via speech-making. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman swept aside the Annapolis process, and U.S. President Barack Obama swept it right back. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the two-state solution and Obama "clarified" that the United States not only "strongly" supports it, but he himself intends to advance it.

Steering Israel to peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

ANY lingering hopes abroad — and there were some — that Avigdor Lieberman, who replaced Tzipi Livni as Israel’s foreign minister last week, was suddenly going to be transformed from nationalist demagogue to peace-seeking statesman were cruelly dispelled when he spoke on Wednesday, brutally rejecting the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process that started at Annapolis well over a year ago.

Grappling with the ‘Problem of Lieberman’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK // While the new right-wing Israeli government undoubtedly poses a challenge to the international community, with its continued refusal to commit to the two-state solution, it is the presence of Avigdor Lieberman, the new foreign minister, that poses the most interesting questions.

Mapping the possible Netanyahu-Obama fault lines
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - (Analysis) April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

There are no fissures yet between the young Obama and Netanyahu administrations, but political geologists are mapping the fault lines. So far, two major potentials for quakes have emerged, both having to do with timing: One concerns the pace of negotiating Palestinian statehood; the other has to do with projections about when Iran's alleged nuclear program becomes irrevocably dangerous.