September 26th

Abbas adopts 'Dershowitz Formula' for resuming talks with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chemi Shalev - September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


Harvard jurist and well-known Israel advocate Professor Alan Dershowitz has secured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ agreement to a settlement freeze formula that he hopes will break the diplomatic stalemate and lead to a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.


Palestinian Leader Abbas Back at UN With Lowered Aims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Flavia Krause-Jackson - September 26, 2012 - 12:00am


This time last year Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a hero to his people as he waved an application for statehood recognition from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly.


Palestinians likely to ask UN GA for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


NEW YORK — A Palestinian legislator says President Mahmoud Abbas will likely ask the United Nation's General Assembly to vote on recognizing Palestine in November.


September 25th

Americans for Peace Now Launch Campus Group
Media Mention of ATFP In The Jewish Daily Forward - September 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Americans for Peace Now is establishing a presence on college campuses aimed at reaching students and faculty. The left-leaning group is working “in full coordination” with J Street U to provide information and speakers that can be used on campuses across the country, said APN spokesman Ori Nir. Campuses in the Washington area have been sent information kits, and other universities will be receiving them as well, he said.


NEWS: At the upcoming UN meeting, Pres. Abbas is expected to suggest non-member observer state status for Palestine. Israeli officials, especially DM Barak, are mulling unilateral actions in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders dismiss the ideas, and Israeli right-wingers also express strong opposition. Israeli officials say shells fired by the Syrian military accidentally landed in the occupied Golan Heights, without any reported injuries. More Hamas leaders say Khaled Misha'al has decided to step down as head of the Politburo. The fuel crisis in Gaza is intensifying as smuggling from Egypt is curtailed. The Syrian government denies it shelled a Palestinian refugee camp in Aleppo. Palestinians are becoming both two-time refugees and combatants in the Syrian conflict. A group of Jewish American leaders reportedly cancel a meeting with Abbas after pressure from PM Netanyahu. American Jewish Democrats are openly critical about Netanyahu's attitude towards the United States and Pres. Obama. Pres. Ahmadinejad reportedly says Israel will be “eliminated.” Americans for Peace Now establishes a campus wing. COMMENTARY: Karim Sadjadpour and Blake Hounshell ask what would happen if Israel actually bombed Iran. Patrick Tyler says Israel needs to abandon militarism in favor of negotiations and compromise. David Newman says the lack of a peace process is disastrous. Gershon Baskin says both publics need to know there is an alternative to war between Iran and Israel. Linda Gradstein looks at the complications surrounding ID cards for residents of occupied East Jerusalem. Ken Schechtman says Israel's real friends should be honest with it, not sycophantic. Rajab Abu Sariya says Abbas has another chance to achieve something useful at the UN this year.

Abbas Has One Last Chance At The UN General Assembly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Rajab Abu Sariya - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am


Up until now, the Muslim Brotherhood presidency in Egypt has been pursuing the worst possible policy when it comes to the Palestinians. Cairo has made no effort in the peace process, nor have they assigned their intelligence agency — or any other agency — to work on this issue.


Real Friends Are Honest — Even With Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ken Schechtman - (Opinion) September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


During his July experiment with international diplomacy, Mitt Romney’s encomium about the Israeli health care system provided a delicious illustration of one of our few remaining bipartisan sports: pandering to all things Israel. “Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of GDP in Israel? Eight percent,” Romney intoned. “You spend 8% of GDP on health care. And you’re a pretty healthy nation. We spend 18% of our GDP on health care. Ten percentage points more.”


Who are You? ID Cards and East Jerusalem’s Identity Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Linda Gradstein - (Opinion) September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


In the United States, you need a passport to travel abroad, and a drivers’ license to cash a check. In Israel, you need an ID card just to cross the street.


There is a way out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am


I am sitting in a workshop at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non- Proliferation. The meeting is taking place a few days after the after the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the room are some of the people who negotiated arms control and disarmament treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union. There are several Arab ambassadors who represent their governments to the IAEA and were present at the annual meeting in which Shaul Horev, the Israeli head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Authority, spoke.


A time for war, a time for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am


It is with regret that I recently read about the closing of the Bitterlemons website dedicated to bringing Israeli and Palestinian voices together. Run for over a decade by Yossi Alpher and Ghasan Khatib, the site was produced on a weekly basis. Each issue focused on a single topic relevant to the Israel-Palestine conflict, around which there were four short essays – two from Israelis (including Alpher) and two from Palestinians (including Khatib).



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