Peace Negotiations | The American Task Force on Palestine

AP Exclusive: Palestinian hints at settlement deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Josef Federman - September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian president has left the door open to continuing peace negotiations with Israel even if it resumes settlement construction in the West Bank, offering a glimmer of hope that a compromise will be reached in a key dispute that has threatened to torpedo the newly relaunched talks. But in a reminder of the fragile negotiating climate, a private Israeli security guard shot and killed a Palestinian man in a volatile east Jerusalem neighborhood early Wednesday, sparking clashes between stone-hurling youths and Israeli forces.

Fayyad, Ayalon meeting ends abruptly over two-state solution dispute
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir - September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

A meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which coordinates financial aid for Palestinians, ended abruptly Tuesday in New York due to a disagreement between Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on the terms of a two-state solution. Ayalon canceled a scheduled joint press conference with Fayyad after the meeting. "We did not reach an agreement because the Palestinians did not agree to the terms of a two-state solution," Ayalon told Haaretz.

Beyond optimism or pessimism: the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Common Ground News Service - 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.

Quartet to urge Israel to keep settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Andrew Quinn - (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am

NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators will on Tuesday call on Israel to extend its settlement moratorium, saying the freeze has had a positive impact as the two sides seek a peace deal within the next year, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.

Could Syria become a force for peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by John Hughes - (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

After decades-long hostility, Israelis and Palestinians are tiptoeing their way, at the urging of the United States, through talks toward a peace that has been as elusive as a desert mirage. The goal is to provide security for Israel and nationhood for the Palestinians, ordered by boundaries yet to be defined and agreed upon. Ironically, the wild card in all this may be the nation not even seated at the negotiating table: Syria.

Chief negotiators to meet soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The heads of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, Yitzhak Molcho and Saeb Erekat, are scheduled to meet sometime during the next 48 hours, Palestinian sources told Ynet on Monday. The sources say the two will meet in order to prepare for another round of direct talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which has not been scheduled yet. Meanwhile, In New York Erekat is currently on a visit to New York, while Molcho is in Washington meeting with US officials. Netanyahu's office refused to comment on the report.

Mideast needs a peace of the brave
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The late Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) used to refer to the peace process he and the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin started in the early 1990s as the "peace of the brave". This was more of a colourful description than an accurate rendition of reality.

Hillary Clinton faces huge challenge in Mideast talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Paul Richter - September 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders 11 times in three Middle Eastern cities last week, a diplomatic marathon that produced only promises that the adversaries remain committed to the latest U.S.-led peace initiative. Clinton couldn't extract the result she needs: that the two sides put aside their differences over Jewish construction in the occupied West Bank and move on. "All of this is complicated," Clinton acknowledged at the end of a disappointing week.

Barak may use legal loopholes to impose de facto settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - September 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak held initial discussions with defense officials this week about the approaching end of the building freeze in the West Bank. He is trying to find ways to restrict settlement construction by the Defense Ministry, which is the de facto authority in the West Bank, without issuing a new order to suspend construction when the moratorium ends on September 26. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday urged Israel to extend the freeze. She told Channel 10 this would be "extremely useful" for making progress in negotiations with the Palestinians.

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