Palestinian-American Experts Available for Comment on Bush Mideast Trip

Six weeks after the Annapolis meeting, the dynamics between Israelis and Palestinians are on the verge of falling back on familiar patterns of obstruction and finger pointing resulting in a faltering of the process of negotiations.

President Bush's Mideast trip is critical for putting the peace process back on track and translating renewed American commitments into concrete action. Namely, this entails developing a strategy to guide and monitor peace negotiations and positive action towards a final settlement. The time is now for making realities on the ground consistent with commitments made at Annapolis. Issues that need to be addressed are:

Israeli Settlements: Continued Israeli settlement activity remains the single biggest obstacle to peace negotiations and to the very concept of a two-state solution. Phase 1 Roadmap obligations on this issue require a complete freeze in all settlement activity including East Jerusalem.

Israeli Incursions: Increased Israeli incursions into the West Bank and Gaza, especially into Nablus where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has made serious progress in re-establishing law, further erodes public faith in Israeli intentions regarding the establishment of a partnership for peace and building the institutions of a Palestinian state and undermines the credibility of the PA in the eyes of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian Obstacles: Militant rocket fire into Israel, attacks against Israeli civilians, and obstruction to the Abbas/Fayyad political and governance program are damaging to the Palestinian national interest and to statehood prospects.

Paris Donor Conference Pledges: Funds pledged to the Palestinians at the recent Paris donor conference must be delivered expeditiously, particularly funds earmarked for paying government and civil service salaries.

For further commentary on these and other issues related to Israel/Palestine, the following experts are available:

Dr. Ziad Asali, President, ATFP
Cell: 202-345-0435
Dr. Asali is a leading Palestinian-American activist on Middle East issues. He has provided testimony on Palestinian issues before numerous congressional committees including the House Committee on International Relations. He has written for many prominent newspapers, domestically and abroad and appeared on almost all major national news networks, as well as several Arabic television and satellite networks. Dr. Asali is the author of numerous publications on the issue of Palestine and Israel.

Ghaith al-Omari, Advocacy Director, ATFP
Cell: 252-218-9784
Mr. Al-Omari has served as member of the Palestinian negotiating team throughout the permanent status negotiations including the Taba (2000) and Camp David (2000) rounds. He also served as foreign policy advisor to Palestinian President Abbas and head of the International Relations Department of the Palestinian Presidency. In addition, Mr. Al-Omari was the chief Palestinian drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an official model Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. He is also currently a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation.

Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow, ATFP
Cell: 202-438-7297
Dr. Ibish has published numerous books and articles on Israeli-Palestinian issues including "Principles and Pragmatism," "The Palestinian Right of Return" and "The Media and the New Intifada." He has made thousands of radio and television appearances and written for many newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. He was the Washington Correspondent for the Daily Star (Beirut), and from 1998-2004 was Communications Director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). He also serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership.