Annual Galas
In the fall of every year since 2006, ATFP has hosted galas in Washington DC celebrating the accomplishments of and honoring significant Palestinian Americans and hosting prominent keynote speakers.
On October 11, 2006, ATFP held its first annual in Washington, DC, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Condoleezza Rice, also addressed by American of Palestinian descent Sen. John E. Sununu and Sen. Carl Levin. Rice told an audience of 500, “I believe that there could be no greater legacy for America than to help to bring into being a Palestinian state for a people who have suffered too long, who have been humiliated too long, who have not reached their potential for too long, and who have so much to give to the international community and to all of us. I promise you my personal commitment to that goal.“
The 2007 gala featured Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, the highest-ranking Foreign Service office at the State Department, as keynote speaker and also remarks by Mr.Walter Isaacson, chairman and CEO of the Aspen Institute.
On October 12, 2008 ATFP's Third annual gala was addressed by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
On October 15, 2009, National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones was the keynote speaker at ATFP's Fourth annual gala. "We are clear, unambiguous and consistent," said Gen. Jones, "The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions to reach a final status agreement on two states." The National Security Advisor emphasized that, "President Obama's dedication to achieve these goals is unshaken, is committed, and we will be relentless in our pursuit of achieving these." He said that ending the conflict and the occupation is essential because what is at stake is "nothing less than the dignity and the security of all human beings."
Read more about this topic: American Task Force On Palestine
Famous quotes containing the word annual:
“...there was the annual Fourth of July picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. ...I thought it was ridiculous to have to go there in a skirt. But I did it anyway because it was something that might possibly have an effect. I remember walking around in my little white blouse and skirt and tourists standing there eating their ice cream cones and watching us like the zoo had opened.”
—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)