NEWS: Israelis are feeling increasingly isolated and pressured, regionally and internationally. The Arab League pledges to push for a Palestinian UN initiative. There is disagreement over whether the initiative would be symbolic or meaningful. President Obama says it would be “a distraction.” Palestinian activists in the US are divided about the impact of the initiative. Hamas is refusing to take a clear position on the initiative. Hamas says it will keep its headquarters in Syria. Lack of international aid is imperiling the Palestinian institution-building program. ACP delivers $50,000 for a youth program in Palestine. COMMENTARY: The Washington Post says Israel is being used as a scapegoat by other Middle Eastern governments. Richard Cohen says Israel's peace treaty with Egypt is in danger. Amr el-Zant says Egyptians have never had an honest conversation about their relationship with Israel. Nehemia Shtrasler says that if Israeli leaders actually prefer conflict over peace, they should openly admit it. Gershon Baskin says that to reach out to the Arab world, Israel must make peace with the Palestinians. Rabbi Yosef Blau says what mainstream religious Zionist leaders are teaching their followers is leading to violence. Michael J. Weil says Israel should support Palestinian statehood at the UN. The National says protecting the Palestinian institution-building program must be the priority. Faisal Al Yafai says Israel's diplomatic woes are largely of its own making. Aaron David Miller says Palestinian divisions are crippling its diplomatic and national efforts.

Humpty Dumpty Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

In coming weeks, we're going to hear quite a bit at the United Nations and in world capitals about Palestinian rights, unity, and statehood. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) -- the original organizational embodiment of Palestinian nationalism -- will either succeed in gaining new status as a nonmember U.N. observer state, or win a General Assembly resolution supporting Palestinian statehood.

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Israel's political tsunami is largely of its own making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Faisal Al Yafai - (Opinion) September 13, 2011 - 12:00am

When Recep Tayyip Erdogan stepped off the plane last night in Cairo, the Turkish prime minister stepped into a new political world. This is the first visit of a Turkish leader to Cairo in 15 years and, coming after Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador from Ankara, is the first time in three decades Israel finds itself without an embassy in the Arab world's largest country. Barely nine months after the Arab Spring began, the region's old certainties are being swept away.

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Palestinian fate rests on strong institutions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) September 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The US and Israel are doing what they can to prevent a United Nations vote to acknowledge Palestinian statehood. This has encouraged many proponents of the plan, which has a good chance of partial success. The initiative is evidence of how sophisticated Palestinian advocates have become. But the gambit is not without risks for the Palestinian Authority.

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Op-Ed: Israel should support the Palestinian statehood push
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Michael Weil - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

(JTA) -- Israelis and Jews around the world are awaiting the Palestinians’ push at the United Nations for statehood with trepidation. The official response of the government of Israel and American Jewish groups has been to do everything possible to prevent any action at the U.N. and to line up votes against it. Only America and a few other nations have joined Israel’s side. Most European countries are likely to either support the Palestinians or abstain. The current Israeli strategy seems certain to fail.

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‘Price tag’ – paying for our educational failures
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Rabbi Yosef Blau - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

After the Israeli army destroyed homes in the illegal Migron outpost, the level of tag mechir (price tag) responses escalated. “Tag mechir” is a policy of making others, usually Arabs, pay the price when the government acts to close an unauthorized settlement. Following the home demolitions in Migron, two mosques were vandalized, as was, for the first time, an IDF base.

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Encountering Peace: The view from Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Since Friday I have been in Cairo. This great city is not unfamiliar to me – I’ve been here more than 20 times, although my last visit was five years ago. I came to Cairo to attend a small meeting of MECA – the Middle East Citizens Assembly. This small but important organization was founded by Walid Salem, a Palestinian peace and democracy activist from east Jerusalem who decided that for real democracy to take root in the Arab world, citizens needed to take responsibility, stop acting like subjects and become active participants.

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Netanyahu, living by the sword does not cut it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Opinion) September 13, 2011 - 12:00am

This year, as always, the big battle is between the treasury and the Defense Ministry. In a normal year, the battle is over the size of the addition to the budget of the Israel Defense Forces. This year, as a result of the social protest movement, the arm wrestling contest is over the size of the reduction.

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The politics of symbolic forms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Amr el-Zant - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Where does Israel live in the Egyptian public imagination? Some unfortunate instances are usefully recalled: Jewish settlement in Palestine; a few wars, and the loss of Palestine; bloody incursions into Lebanon and Gaza; the destruction of Arab cities, including the Suez Canal towns. Then there is the saga of intelligence struggles against the Israeli espionage machine, folklore that captured many an Egyptian mind as it emerged from screens big and small.

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Israel’s hostile neighborhood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Back in 1953, an Egyptian army officer was asked by the magazine Al-Musawwar what he would write to Hitler if he were still alive. “My Dear Hitler,” he began gushingly, “I admire you from the bottom of my heart.” He proceeded to extol the German dictator for, among other things, creating dissension between “the old man Churchill and his allies, the sons of Satan.” If the mass murder of Jews bothered the officer in the least, he did not mention it. Years later, as the president of Egypt, he was himself murdered for making peace with the Jewish state. His name, of course, was Anwar Sadat.

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