Abbas Says No Peace With Israel Unless All Prisoners Released
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 17, 2008 - 5:46pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in televised speech Thursday that a release of all Palestinian prisoners must be part of any peace deal with Israel. Abbas delivered the televised address Thursday to mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day. About 8,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails and detention centers. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are trying to reach a peace deal by the end of the year.

»

U.s. Wants To Hold Summit At Sharm During Bush Visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - (Opinion) April 10, 2008 - 2:00pm

The United States is keen on holding a summit at the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to coincide with President George Bush's visit to Israel next month for the country's 60th anniversary celebrations. Bush would like to use the event as a way station in the diplomatic process, following November's Annapolis conference, so as to provide another boost to efforts to reach an agreement by the end of the year over the core issues for a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

»

We Need Real Peace, Not A Shelved Piece Of Paper
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Walid Awad - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:50am

Unconfirmed reports circulating in the media say that Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now busy with Palestinians drafting a preamble to a comprehensive peace agreement, a sort of another “declaration of principles”. A shelved document that will spell out all the core issues, and be adopted by the Quartet, the Security Council, and “moderate” Arab countries, to be signed by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, witnessed and co-signed by President George W. Bush in West Jerusalem during his visit to Israel next month.

»

Olmert And Abbas Resume Meetings After Hiatus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
April 9, 2008 - 8:49am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met for the first time in nearly two months on Monday with Palestinians cautioning that settlement expansion undercut the chances of a peace deal. Abbas’ aide Saeb Erekat described differences over building in Jewish settlements, especially around Jerusalem, as "very deep", but Israeli officials said the leaders agreed not to allow such issues to interrupt the US-brokered negotiations.

»

Settlement Bloc Expansion Is The Most Destructive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yariv Oppenheimer - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:46am

Recently, the Israeli and international media has featured reports on progress in peace negotiations. Chief negotiators Ahmed Qurei and Tzippi Livni maintain silence about the details, but allow that the talks are ongoing, detailed and purposeful. Now of all times, when the core issues never before discussed appear to be on the agenda, the negotiating theater seems to be infinitely distant from the reality unfolding on the ground.

»

Israel's Tough Choice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Nimrod Novik - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:42pm

For several decades now, Israeli policy toward the Palestinians has been all too frequently governed by false assumptions. These include the presumption to "produce" an alternative Palestinian leadership that is more amenable to Israeli preferences and an equally condescending claim to "reeducate" Palestinians to alternative thinking.

»

Olmert, Abbas To Meet Again After Seven Weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 7, 2008 - 5:38pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas meet on Monday for the first time in six weeks as Middle East peace talks get back on track under heavy US pressure. Abbas, who suspended his bi-weekly meetings with Olmert at the beginning of March after an Israeli military operation in Gaza killed more than 130 people, said on Sunday that he would not accept a peace deal at any price.

»

Road Map To A Gaza War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:32pm

Seven years ago George W. Bush's incoming foreign policy team blamed the Clinton administration for an eleventh-hour rush for a Middle East peace agreement that ended with the explosion of the second Palestinian intifada. Now, with less than 10 months remaining in office, Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are engaged in a similar last-minute push -- yet they don't seem to recognize the growing risk that their initiative, too, will end with another Israeli-Palestinian war.

»

The Lie Of Peace And The Nonsense Of Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) April 4, 2008 - 6:29pm

Presumably there is a strange but legitimate dispute between a leader who comes from the right, who believes that if Israel continues to hold on to the territories the Jewish state will be in danger, and a leader who comes from the left, who claims that if Israel stops holding on to the territories Jewish lives will be in danger. Ostensibly one proposes a reaching a quick solution to the conflict by negotiating with Fatah, and the other prefers long-term resolution via a military struggle with Hamas.

»

Rice's Roadmap Achievement & Ipf Letter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Sadie Goldman With Jason Proetorius And Ipf Staff - April 4, 2008 - 6:11pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have brokered the first tangible achievement in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process since the Annapolis peace conference four months ago.

»


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