GOP senators introduce proposed penalties for enhanced Palestinian status ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican U.S. senators introduced the first efforts to penalize the Palestinians and the United Nations should the body affirm enhanced Palestinian status. Language proposed this week as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would cut assistance to the Palestinians by 50 percent and U.S. fees to the United Nations by the same amount should the effort by the Palestinians to gain recognition as a non-member observer state succeed in the General Assembly. It would also cut by 20 percent U.S. aid to any country voting to approve. » Read more

Settlers: Annex Area C in response to PA's UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am Settlers and right-wing activists called on Israel to annex Area C and threatened to burn the Palestinian flag, in response to Palestinian plans to Thursday to ask the UN General Assembly to grant it the status of non-member state. Left-wing Israelis, in turn, planned to rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Palestinian move, which constitutes a de facto UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. Settlers argued that now was the moment to strengthen Israel’s hold on the West Bank, particularly since the Palestinian bid was an abrogation of the 1993 Oslo Accord. » Read more

Former Israeli PM Olmert Supports Palestine U.N. Bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - November 28, 2012 - 1:00am Tomorrow, Mahmoud Abbas stands before the U.N. General Assembly and presents a resolution to upgrade Palestine’s membership to the status of an “observer-state.” The Obama administration has signaled that it will oppose this resolution, as it vetoed a Security Council condemnation of settlements last year—putatively to emphasize the need for direct negotiations between the parties. » Read more

Rival Palestinian groups show support for UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM —Israel's leader, having failed to block the Palestinians from taking their quest for a state to the U.N., defiantly declared Thursday that they would have to back down from long-held positions if they ever hope to gain independence. Ahead of Thursday's vote, thousands of Palestinians from rival factions celebrated in the streets of the West Bank. In a departure from its previous opposition, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said they would not interfere with the U.N. bid, and its supporters joined some of the celebrations. » Read more

Abbas to address UN ahead of upgrade vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 28, 2012 - 1:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas will address the UN General Assembly in New York before it votes on upgrading the PLO's status on Thursday, a Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. Omar Awadallah, who heads the ministry's UN department, told Ma'an the vote was expected at around midnight Jerusalem time. Representatives of some member states will also address the assembly before voting to explain their positions, Awadallah said. » Read more

Falling for Hamas’s media manipulation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Michael B. Oren - (Opinion) November 28, 2012 - 1:00am What makes better headlines? Is it numbing figures such as the 8,000 Palestinian rockets fired at Israel since it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the 42.5 percent of Israeli children living near the Gaza border who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder? Or is it high-resolution images of bombed-out buildings in Gaza and emotional stories of bereaved Palestinians? The last, obviously, as demonstrated by much of the media coverage of Israel’s recent operation against Hamas. » Read more

Palestine: theatricals at the UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian (Editorial) November 28, 2012 - 1:00am A "crashing wave of applause" filled the hall in which the general assembly was meeting in Flushing Meadow Park, the temporary headquarters of the new United Nations, when the French representative voted for the resolution which partitioned Palestine. The French vote was taken as a signal that the resolution would prevail. "The chamber," wrote Alistair Cooke, our correspondent, "was crackling with currents of elation and despair." » Read more

Germany backtracks on Palestinian bid; Israeli official: 'We lost Europe' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people are enjoying sweeping support in the lead up to Thursday night's vote at the UN General Assembly over whether to upgrade the Palestinians' standing to non-member observer status. By Thursday morning Israel time, that support had turned into a full-on landslide, as more European nations decided to alter their positions, essentially leaving Israel to fend for itself. » Read more

Supporting Palestine at the UN today is a vote for peace in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Hanan Ashrawi - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am It might seem stating the obvious that Palestinians and Israelis find solutions only through negotiation, until you look at the record. It is a story in which one side makes proposals for nothing in return; one side makes agreements that the other side breaks; and one side keeps commitments that the other side ignores. » Read more

The time is now: Support Palestine’s UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nabeel Shaath - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am Today, Palestine will ask the UN General Assembly to vote on a resolution to enhance its status to that of Observer State. This step will be a milestone in realigning international efforts to achieve peace in the region, within the framework of international law and the values embodied in the UN Charter. There should be no doubt: Supporting this initiative will create a new, positive, and effective momentum for a just path to peace in our region.   » Read more