Israel to demand adjustment of Quartet Mideast peace plan, official says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that he welcomed "the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions," the premier intends to present a list of qualifications to the Quartet's statement on a resumption of Mideast talks that in effect enfeeble that statement.

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News: In a suspected “price tag” attack, a mosque in northern Israel is burned down. Defense Secretary Panetta says Israel is becoming increasingly isolated, and that Congress is making a big mistake withholding aid from the PA. Palestinian leaders say the cut in aid could be devastating. The Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership have both accepted the Quartet statement, but with reservations. Israeli ministers say they will demand changes to the document. The EU reportedly says it will not cut aid to the PA. Pres. Abbas will visit Colombia to discuss its position on the UN initiative. Abbas' aides say he's planning to propose early presidential and parliamentary elections. The West Bank is enjoying boom in construction in spite of Israeli restrictions. US Republicans have become almost entirely and unconditionally pro-Israel. The Syrian regime angrily accuses Hamas of funding the opposition. Commentary: ATFP President Ziad Asali explains the raison d'être of the American Task Force on Palestine. Raghida Dergham interviews Abbas, and says a new regional order is emerging in the UN. Akiva Eldar says Israel and the Palestinians must accept each other's legitimacy. Bradley Burston says the U.S. Congress could kill the two-state solution by cutting funds to the PA. Avi Yesawich says extremist rabbis are using religion as a cover for radical politics. Renee Ghert-Zand looks at the relationship between Palestinian identity and their national cuisine. Former Australian PM Fraser says it's time for the West to recognize Palestine. Sari Nusseibeh explains Palestinian objections to recognizing Israel as a “Jewish state.” Hussein Ibish looks at five options Palestinians have now that they've submitted their UN membership application.

Where Do We Go from Here?
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Foreign Policy (Opinion) - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am




Where Do We Go from Here?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

In a perfunctory meeting on Wednesday morning, Sept. 28, as expected, and per its usual procedure for dealing with would-be new United Nations members since the late 1960s, the Security Council referred the Palestinian application to one of its standing committees. The committee -- which meets and votes in secret and requires unanimity to refer the matter back to the Security Council -- is scheduled to begin considering the application on Friday morning. The membership process usually takes weeks, but can take only days (as with the most recent U.N.

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Why Israel can't be a 'Jewish State'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
(Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli government's current mantra is that the Palestinians must recognise a "Jewish State". Of course, the Palestinians have clearly and repeatedly recognised the State of Israel as such in the 1993 Oslo Accords (which were based on an Israeli promise to establish a Palestinian state within five years - a promise now shattered) and many times since. Recently, however, Israeli leaders have dramatically and unilaterally moved the goal-posts and are now clamouring that Palestinians must recognise Israel as a "Jewish State".

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Hamas is 'backing protesters' says Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Phil Sands - October 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Damascus // Syria's relationship with Hamas is increasingly strained over the Palestinian group's refusal to openly endorse Damascus and its tactics in suppressing an anti-regime uprising, according to figures close to both sides. Once firm allies, the Syrian authorities, led by President Bashar Al Assad, and the Islamic resistance movement, headed by Khalid Meshaal from his headquarters in Damascus, are now barely on speaking terms, regime officials and an Islamic cleric close to Hamas said.

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How the GOP has learned to love Israel unconditionally
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - September 28, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican presidents have been guiding Israel toward the peace table -- sometimes not so gently -- almost since the Jewish state was born more than six decades ago. But in the recent round of debates, the crop of candidates vying for the GOP nomination have been chiding President Obama for forcing Israel’s hand -- usually to great cheers from the audience. "You don’t allow an inch of space to exist between you and your friends and allies," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said at the most recent debate, Sept. 22 in Orlando, Fla., earning thunderous applause.

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It's now time for the West to recognise Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sydney Morning Herald
by Malcolm Fraser - (Opinion) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The arguments against recognition of a Palestinian state seem to rest on the simple proposition that agreement must be reached through negotiation and that a resolution granting statehood would set that process back. If that argument was valid it would have been true in 1948 when the United Nations recognised Israel as an independent state. People should then have argued the Israelis must negotiate with the Palestinians, the people who were being pushed out, and once they had come to an agreement, we could recognise Israel.

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Food and Palestinian Identity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Renee Ghert-Zand - (Blog) October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

It all started in 1996, when Liora Gvion first wondered why the food served at a local restaurant in an Arab-Israeli town with a primarily Arab-Israeli clientele was the same as what was on the menu of Arab-owned restaurants that catered to Jewish Israelis. The sociologist of food, who lectures at the Kibbutzim College of Education and the Hebrew University, spent the next ten years, off and on, trying to figure out why this was so.

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Palestinian Building Boom in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - October 2, 2011 - 12:00am

There is a Palestinian building boom going on in the West Bank that has increased the number of dwellings in the past four years by over 25%, according to the latest figures released by the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday.

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