Norway: Deputy FM Ayalon ‘distorted the facts’ about meeting with Palestinian PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Norway's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon of “distorting the facts” in regards to his Tuesday meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in New York. Ayalon told Haaretz on Tuesday that a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which coordinates financial aid for Palestinians, ended abruptly due to a disagreement between Fayyad and Ayalon on the terms of a two-state solution.

»

Israel's unreasonable demand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Omar Rahman - (Opinion) September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

"The Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state." This is the mantra of the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been promoting this controversial idea as a condition of any peace deal. But is such recognition valid, necessary, or even appropriate? This question will certainly remain at the heart of negotiations with an Israeli leadership that views such recognition as imperative. Although this is not the first time Israel has sought some form of validation, it varies from the past in stark and troubling ways.

»

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.

»

Jerusalem flare-up after Israeli kills Palestinian
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli security guard killed a Palestinian in an Arab neighbourhood of Jerusalem on Wednesday, triggering clashes between police and rioters, including in the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque. Police said they entered the plaza to push back Palestinians who had thrown rocks at the nearby Jewish prayer site, the Western Wall. The Palestinians withdrew into the mosque, Islam's third-holiest shrine, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or further confrontations, a spokesman said.

»

Barely months into talks, will the freeze freeze a peace deal?
Media Mention of ATFP In Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

When the fat lady sings on Sept. 26, it may only be an intermission. That’s the word from an array of Mideast experts across the political spectrum. They are predicting that the seeming intractability between Israel and the Palestinians over whether Israel extends a settlement moratorium beyond its end date will not scuttle the peace talks. Instead, the observers say, the sides are likely employing the brinksmanship that has come to characterize Middle East peacemaking.

»

Abbas: Israel can call itself whatever it wants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a Monday night interview with Palestinian news source Ma'an that "Israel was free to call itself the Israeli Zionist Jewish Empire." The PA leader made cynical remarks to Maan shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

»

U.S. concerned peace talks will soon collapse over settlement construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

The United States is concerned that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians could collapse in the coming days over the dead end in the talks on the settlement building freeze. America's ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, on Monday told European Union envoys in a briefing that the Obama administration's worry stems from the fact that both sides are holding steadfast to their positions.

»

Interior Minister Yishai: Direct peace talks are completely pointless
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Tuesday that he sees "absolutely no point" in holding direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians. In an interview with the Shas newsletter Day to Day, the party chairman said that "as long as there is no significant change on the Palestinian side, there should be no advancement in talks." "I do not in any way believe that these talks should be held, point-blank," said Yishai. Another summit, another conference, another meeting, from the Madrid conference to the Sharm conference, and nothing has come out of this."

»

Beyond optimism or pessimism: the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service
by Hussein Ibish - (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Washington, DC - While the build up to the renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – the first direct talks in almost ten years to be brokered by the United States – was largely greeted with an excess of pessimism on the part of many observers, the fact that they have been resumed is, on its own, something of an achievement for US President Barack Obama and his administration. Indeed, it took almost a year of intensive diplomacy in order to get to these direct negotiations to get them going.

»

Barely months into talks, will the freeze freeze a peace deal?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- When the fat lady sings on Sept. 26, it may only be an intermission. That’s the word from an array of Mideast experts across the political spectrum. They are predicting that the seeming intractability between Israel and the Palestinians over whether Israel extends a settlement moratorium beyond its end date will not scuttle the peace talks. Instead, the observers say, the sides are likely employing the brinksmanship that has come to characterize Middle East peacemaking.

»


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