NEWS: An Israeli court rules in favor of settlers in a dispute over a house in occupied Hebron. PM Netanyahu denies he is trying to meddle in US electoral politics. Israelis in Tel Aviv seem unconcerned by the threat of missiles. Palestinian negotiators mourn the death of Amb. Stevens, describing him as a good and fair man. The Israeli military persists in repeatedly destroying a Bedouin village in the Negev. A small group of protesters in Gaza hold their own demonstration against an anti-Muslim film. Israeli Bedouins may join the protest movement as well. Palestinians and Israelis are taking foreigners on “dual narrative” tours of the "holy land." Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem decry the lack of proper schooling facilities. COMMENTARY: Eric Lewis says, for all his talk about American exceptionalism, Mitt Romney seems willing to allow Netanyahu to dictate a conflict with Iran. Charles Krauthammer says Pres. Obama has abandoned Israel. The Forward says Netanyahu has come perilously close to making Israel a US election issue. Rachel Shabi says Israel should understand the power of words, as well as weapons, in the new Middle East. JJ Goldberg draws three lessons from the controversy over Jerusalem in the DNC platform. Avi Issacharoff says West Bank protests this week demonstrated that Netanyahu's concept of “economic peace” is hollow. Ashraf al-Ajrami says, even amid protests, Palestinians must remain united. Khaled Abu Toameh says the protests were an attempt by elements within Fatah to get rid of PM Fayyad. Xinhua says 19 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, peace between Israel and the Palestinians seems no closer. Jon Donnison says, one year after the failed UN bid, Palestinians have all but disappeared from the world stage.

Faded hopes of Palestinian place at UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Jon Donnison - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Car horns blared as people craned out of their sunroofs waving red, black, green and white Palestinian flags. The crowds had just watched President Mahmoud Abbas, live on a giant screen from New York, as he told the United Nations he was heading to the Security Council to ask for Palestine to be admitted as a member state. Although the move was unlikely to change facts on the ground for Palestinians, or end Israel's occupation, Mr Abbas saw it as a way of putting diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government.

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Peace with Israel remains far away 19 years after Oslo treaties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Analysis) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen years after the signing of the interim peace treaties, better known as Oslo accords, chances of reaching a permanent deal between Israel and the Palestinians became slim once again as their peace talks have been stalled since October 2010.

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A "Palestinian Spring": A Renewed Fatah Bid to Remove Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gatestone Institute
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

It is no secret that Fatah has long been trying to get rid of Fayyad who, its representatives argue, had been imposed on the Palestinians by the Americans and Europeans. Abbas and Fatah have been trying for years to replace Fayyad with one of their own so that they could regain control over the Palestinian Authority's finances. The US and most Western donors have repeatedly made it clear to Abbas that removing Fayyad from his post would prompt them to reconsider financial aid to the Palestinians.

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Palestinians Angry with Leaders, But Unity Remains Key
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Ashraf Al Ajrami - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The recent developments that took place in different regions of the West Bank, mainly in Galilee and Nablus, are reminiscent of the First and Second Intifadas. Palestinians are revolting against the Palestinian Authority (PA) as if they wish to topple it, because they see it as their worst enemy. According to the protesters, the main reason for their demonstrations is the soaring price of goods — mainly gas and other products — in addition to low salaries and a delay in disbursing the wages of government officials.

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A new era of discontent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH - In many ways, the Palestinian protest movement that swept the West Bank for nearly seven days before fading out late this week symbolizes the end of an era, the era of the Palestinian Authority. Thousands of protesters took to the streets, clashing with Palestinian security forces, hurling shoes at photographs of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and defacing other PA symbols. In the process, they revealed the pros and cons of the "economic peace" theory espoused by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Jerusalem, Why Did We Forget Thee?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

In a few days we’ll celebrate one of the emotional peaks in the Jewish calendar, the twice-yearly proclamation that ends the Yom Kippur fast and Passover feast: Next year in Jerusalem. We won’t mean it literally. For most it’s a metaphorical prayer for a better world, expressing faith that history has direction and meaning, with heavenly Jerusalem its symbolic end-point. But it’s also a literal affirmation of devotion to the earthly Jerusalem.

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Israel: Learn the power of words, not just might, in the new Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Rachel Shabi - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

It’s pretty hard to combine schadenfreude with escalating panic, but when it comes to regional pronouncements, Israeli commentators have a special talent. Witness this incongruous cocktail in the analysis of Egypt’s new leadership – the gist of so much of which is: The Muslim Brotherhood in power is horrifying for Israel, but at the same time terrible news for Egyptians, who really shouldn’t be experimenting with the democracy to which they, being Arabs, clearly aren’t suited.  

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Israel on the Ballot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

It’s difficult to recall a time when an Israeli prime minister has inserted himself into a presidential election campaign in the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has. It’s even harder to recall a time when a trusted ally openly urged the American president to undertake a questionable, unpopular and highly risky war. We sure hope Netanyahu knows what he’s doing, because the stakes for him — and for the two nations he professes to care about the most — could not be higher.

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The abandonment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

There are two positions one can take regarding the Iranian nuclear program: (a) it doesn’t matter, we can deter them; or (b) it does matter, we must stop them. In my view, the first position — that we can contain Iran as we did the Soviet Union — is totally wrong, a product of wishful thinking and misread history. But at least it’s internally coherent.

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