Bitter betrayal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am The Israelis have frozen the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority, worth about $100 million a month, and say they will speed up settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The US is to stop funding to the UN cultural and scientific organization. Meanwhile, hackers cut the Palestinian Internet and phone systems. » Read more

U.S. pettiness ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am The decision by the United States to withhold $60 million of funding to UNESCO in response to the organization granting Palestine full membership is at once knee jerk and deliberately timed. In the sense that it will harm many unrelated UNESCO projects, it is a childish and shortsighted riposte to an action that only the U.S. and 13 other states – one of them Israel – even saw as a misdemeanor. In the sense that it now nixes any hope of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis for the foreseeable future, it is typical of U.S. dalliance on the issue. » Read more

US support for Israel is futile ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am The Unesco General Assembly's endorsement of Palestine's admission to full membership was greeted with great jubilation by Arab-Americans in Washington, especially Palestinians and Arab diplomats, as witnessed on the internet and the social media. It was also a step that Arabs everywhere felt was long overdue, but came at the right time since expectations were high that the United Nations may soon open its gates wide for the Palestinian people who lost their homeland more than 63 years ago which remains occupied by Israel. » Read more

Palestine in UNESCO ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am During the vote on full state membership for Palestine in UNESCO, it was interesting that the French envoy voted yes, and heard huge applause for the French decision, after it had abstained in the Executive Council vote. The French decision, taken by Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, was in line with France's stance of support for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian victory in UNESCO was truly a victory for justice. It also confirmed, once again, that the White House, as usual, and as it has for decades, stands against justice, even if it acknowledges the cause. » Read more

Needed: A real foreign minister ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am There are times when one person accuses another of the very things he himself is guilty of. For example, take Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s latest attacks on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He called the Palestinian leader the “greatest obstacle” to Middle East peace and said his resignation would be a “blessing” because Abbas is not seeking “compromise, but [rather] to incite friction and conflict.” Hence, “there will be no [peace] agreement” so long as Palestinians are led by a man who is “sacrificing” his people’s interests for his own. » Read more

Jordan a priceless asset ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am It appears that across Israel, from Mount Hermon to Eilat’s shores, there was not even one person last week who remembered the 17th anniversary of the peace treaty with the Hashemite Kingdom, Jordan, which was marked on October 26th. » Read more

Israeli leaders' price tag against the Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am What, for heaven's sake, is so terrible about Palestine being accepted to UNESCO? Why is this considered an "anti-Israeli" step? And in general, what's so bad about the Palestinians relinquishing terror and going over to the international arena? If Israel were to behave intelligently, it would vote to accept the Palestinians to any respectable international organization. » Read more

Israel led by a right-wing, myopic government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am A week after Avigdor Lieberman declared Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas an "obstacle to peace," it turns out the foreign minister is not alone in the campaign to eliminate the Palestinian interlocutor. Shortly after Israel signed the deal to free soldier Gilad Shalit and revealed the PA leadership to be an empty vessel, the forum of eight senior ministers decided on Tuesday to embark on a campaign to punish the PA leadership. » Read more

Will Israel really attack Iran? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am Every few months a new flurry of speculation erupts about whether Israel is about to launch a military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This week the subject is back again — and the smoke seems thicker than usual. The discussion got started this time in a relatively dramatic way: with a banner-headlined story in one of Israel’s best-read newspapers, under the byline of one the country’s most renowned journalists. Nahum Barnea normally writes a column for the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, but last Friday he produced a bombshell story under the headline “Atomic Pressure.” » Read more

The Mideast’s new game ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by David Ignatius - (Opinion) November 2, 2011 - 12:00am Diplomatic versions of the three-cushion shot in billiards are perilous, but let’s suppose you could accomplish the following: Lift the stature of Egypt’s fragile transitional government, support Israel’s desire for Arab recognition, reanimate the Palestinian peace process and deal a blow to Iran. » Read more