More process than peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 18, 2011 - 12:00am After eight months of no negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, it is useful to clarify that recent experience has demonstrated that the existence of a peace process does not necessarily mean moving towards peace. The peace process that was launched in Madrid in 1991 included declared objectives of reaching a peace settlement between Israel on the one hand and Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese and Jordanians on the other hand. » Read more

Palestinians will seek Security Council approval for UN membership if no peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press April 19, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinians say that if a peace treaty with Israel isn’t reached by September their first choice is to go to the U.N. Security Council with such strong support and arguments that it would recommend admission of Palestine as a new member of the United Nations. That would require convincing the U.S., Israel’s ally, not to veto a resolution supporting membership for an independent Palestinian state, which won’t be easy. » Read more

Authors Pamuk, McEwan Back Bookseller Facing Israel Deportation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Calev Ben-Dor - April 18, 2011 - 12:00am At Munther Fahmi’s small bookshop in East Jerusalem, Martina Quick, political counselor at the Swedish embassy to Israel, peruses a copy of Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh’s autobiography “Once Upon A Country.” “This is the best bookshop in the country,” says the blond, bespectacled Quick, 39. “It has the most varied selection in English about the region, including fiction, non- fiction, memoirs and travel writing. My boss, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, feels the same way and he really knows bookstores.” » Read more