Peace Negotiations | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel should focus on Mideast peace, not Iran's nukes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

When in June 1981 the Israel Air Force bombed the nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq, opinions about the operation were divided. This writer thought that Menachem Begin, the prime minister and defense minister at the time, was at his best. Others considered it a mistake because Iraq would neither forgive nor forget, and at the first opportunity would bomb Israel. This “opportunity” really did present itself 10 years later, when the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait led to Operation Desert Storm, led by the United States and its allies. Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles at Israel.

Palestine papers spotlight surprisingly serious Mideast peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

The diplomatic archive made public thanks to Al Jazeera and the Guardian documents talks held between Israel's Kadima government and the Palestinian Authority, and exposes in detail the positions put forward by the two sides before negotiations were aborted by Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the advent of a new government in Jerusalem. Ma’aleh Adumim

Leaks deepen Palestinian split
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - (Analysis) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

If an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal seemed remote before, it looks downright unattainable after a stormy week of leaks of confidential Mideast protocols by Al-Jazeera TV. The disclosures hurt the credibility of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas among his people, weakening him as a leader. They deepened the chasm between him and Hamas, distancing already faint hopes of restoring Palestinian unity as the Islamic militants burned him in effigy and branded him a traitor.

Israel has never had better peace partner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Former US president Bill Clinton on Thursday urged Israel to make peace with the Arabs, saying the Jewish state will never have a better partner than the current Palestinian leadership. Clinton spoke for an hour before an adoring audience of global leaders from business, government and academia at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Palestinian ambassador to UK's office taken over by protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Sam Jones - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

The offices of the Palestinian ambassador to the UK have been occupied by a group of students who are demanding new Palestinian national council elections. At 1pm today, around a dozen Palestinian students from a number of British universities arrived at the Palestinian general delegation to the UK in Hammersmith, west London. Although they had made an appointment to see the ambassador, Professor Manuel Hassassian, they arrived in large numbers and with computers and banners.

The Palestinian Authority to release documents critical of Qatar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Saleh Al-Naami, Kifah Zaboun - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Senior Palestinian sources have informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian Authority is in possession of important documents that condemn Qatar with regards to numerous issues relating to the Palestinian – Israeli negotiations.

Israel will never get a better deal than the one it rejected
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

One upon a time there was a farmer who wanted to save on feed. Every day he would reduce the amount of food for his horse, see that it worked, and continue cutting and cutting until the horse had nothing to eat. The horse died. This hackneyed tale has now been revived, emerging from the Palestine Papers leaked to the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Olmert Memoir Cites Near Deal for Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, says in new memoirs that he and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, were very close to a peace deal two years ago, but Mr. Abbas’s hesitation, Mr. Olmert’s own legal troubles and the Israeli war in Gaza caused their talks to end. Shortly afterward, a right-wing Israeli government came to power.

Israelis act out Palestinian independence push
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

An Israeli simulation of reactions to the Palestinian push to declare independence concluded on Thursday that it would isolate and divide Israel but that big powers would not rush to recognise a state declared unilaterally. The gathering of academics and ex-officials, playing key political roles, saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to calm rightists in his government while Washington urged accelerated peace talks as an alternative to U.N. approval of "Palestine" within 1967 borders.

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