Ziad J. Asali, M.D.

Over the past 14 months of uprisings in the Arab world, Iran has steadily lost influence throughout the Middle East. Recognizing this is crucial for understanding the way in which Palestine, Syria and other key strategic battlegrounds now play into Iranian calculations, and how new opportunities have emerged for both...

The year 2011 will go down in history as the year when the two-state solution went into deep freeze. Yet even during this hibernation there is much that can, and indeed must, be done to prevent an even graver crisis.

The causes of the freeze are many: continued settlement building;...

As the Arab uprisings enter their second year, a new political movement based on the concept and values of citizenship is needed.

A lacuna now exists on the Arab political scene. The Arab uprisings shattered the old order but have yet to coalesce into a clear model for the future....

Israeli society has been confronted recently by a troubling new trend: vigilante attacks by some settlers and their supporters against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Arab citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Israeli peace groups. These began as the settlers' own form of retaliation -- exacting a "price" for any Palestinian...

What follows are my opening remarks at Carnegie-ATFP.

Wednesday, July 27, Moderator Ziad Asali: Thank you very much, Marina. It is a privilege to be doing this program with Carnegie and have you with us, and we look forward to more association in the future. Thank you, everyone, for attending...

The process for acquiring UN membership

With the exception of the founding states of the United Nations, the UN Charter, Article 4, Section 2, provides that, "The admission of any... state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the...

The recent uprisings in the Arab world, including some regime changes, call for a meaningful reassessment of current policy. One would expect the usual demands for democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and regularly scheduled elections as well as a heightened commitment to the people of the region, that their...

For decades, the political process simply meant negotiations about the often-repeated final status issues. Hopes were raised and then dashed in extended clusters of negotiations, numerous international conferences, TV appearances and commentaries by politicians and pundits that yielded no meaningful progress toward resolution of the conflict.

Little...

The Arab youth have lost their fear, and marched in defiance of their leadership in search of bread, freedom and dignity. They have forged new political realities that are fraught with possibilities and promise as well as dangers and peril. One thing is clear-the status quo has come to an...

The murderous bomb attacks against Christian communities in Egypt and Iraq have been roundly condemned by most political and religious leaders, commentators and public opinion in the Arab world. They have also been met with an outpouring of passionate condemnation by ordinary people who have taken to the streets to...

Introduction

The Administration has mercifully, and honestly, admitted that the time has come to abandon its policy of seeking a settlement freeze as a path to negotiations. It will pay a political price and will be blamed and endure the gloating of its critics. However, at the end of the...

Yesterday, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine issued the following policy statement regarding our approach to working with others to promote the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel which is key to our American national interests.

The American Task Force on Palestine...

Last week signaled the rolling launch of an effort to fundamentally reform the Palestinian education sector. This reform effort is taking place in the context of a wider effort initiated one year ago by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to build the institutions of future...

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is pleased to announce the launching of a new section of its website devoted to compiling resources on the Palestinian state and institution building program.

As far as we are aware this is the first effort to compile a comprehensive...

Too often Israeli-Palestinian relations are seen as a zero-sum conflict in which whatever is good for one party is bad for the other. In reality, both parties, for different reasons, need the same thing: a negotiated agreement that ends the occupation and the conflict once and for all.

Palestinians cannot...

Almost everything about the second Palestine Investment Conference held in Bethlehem in early June, which I had the honor of attending as a member of President Barack Obama's official delegation, was encouraging.

The Conference, which was designed to promote private sector development, was held at the elegant and modern Convention...

My colleagues and I founded the American Task Force on Palestine in 2003 with a clear, focused mission: to advocate that a negotiated end of conflict agreement that allows for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live side-by-side in peace and security is in the American national interest. Over the...

Palestinians have recently been developing a peaceful multilevel strategy to achieve their national goals of a negotiated peace agreement with Israel, an end to the occupation, and the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

In the past, Palestinians relied first exclusively on armed struggle, then on...

TESTIMONY OF DR. ZIAD J. ASALI

President, American Task Force on Palestine

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Chairman John Kerry (D-MA)

March 4, 2010