Olmert’s offer - ‘too good to be true’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Musa Keilani - (Opinion) November 6, 2011 - 12:00am Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said last week that prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace are far worse today than when she left office. » Read more

The Mystery of 1948 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am The most basic question about Israeli democracy has existed from before its birth: What would be the status of Arabs in a Jewish state? The answer is riddled with contradictions. » Read more

U.S. renews financial aid to Palestinians after UN statehood row ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Associated Press - (Analysis) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinians are slated to receive some 200 million dollars in U.S. security assistance after a top House Republican ended her hold on the money. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, informed the Obama administration in recent weeks that she no longer would block 50 million dollars in economic support funds for the Palestinian Security Forces and 148 million dollars in other assistance. » Read more

Fighting for Jerusalem, passport by passport ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by David Frum - (Opinion) November 5, 2011 - 12:00am Two can play at this game. Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have abandoned negotiations with Israel. They are seeking UN recognition of Palestinian statehood: statehood without peace. Already they have gained one victory: acceptance as a full member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Yet this victory may be their last. The United States has cut off its support for UNESCO, a warning to other UN agencies to take care. » Read more

This is Israel? Not the one I love ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Chronicle by Jonathan Freedland - (Opinion) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am All credit to Israel's friends in the British Jewish community: they are nothing if not energetic. A matter of months after they gathered for BICOM's We Believe in Israel rally in London, they are now erecting a Big Tent for Israel in Manchester. According to an ad for a spin-off event, once again the focus will be the "delegitimisation of Israel". » Read more

Extracting a price ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Graham Usher - (Opinion) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinians scored a victory on 31 October when UNESCO (the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation) admitted them into its ranks as a full member, despite an immediate cut of $60 million in American dues, or 22 per cent of the organisation's budget. Membership will enable the Palestinian Authority (PA) to register as its heritage such sites as the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and the Ibrahimi Mosque (or Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, both encircled by the Israeli occupation. » Read more

Israel won’t commit to clearing Iran op with U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) (Analysis) November 6, 2011 - 12:00am U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly failed in his bid to have Israel clear any attack on Iranian nuclear facilities with the United States. Panetta in a visit to Israel last month tried to get a commitment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Israel would clear any operation on Iranian nuclear facilities, Haaretz reported Sunday. » Read more

Israeli diplomat: Le Pen lunch was an 'error' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am Israel's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the country's ambassador to the UN made an "error of judgement" by chatting and being photographed with Marine Le Pen, leader of France's extreme right wing National Front, at a New York reception. » Read more

The state of Israel: Internal influence driving change ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Tim Franks - (Analysis) November 5, 2011 - 12:00am The view, as our plane banked, was familiar: the sea, the sand, the skyscrapers of the Tel Aviv coastline. It was my first return to Israel since the end of my posting as Middle East correspondent, 18 months before. What I wanted to discover was how far that familiar picture had changed. After all, there was the same right-leaning government, the same absence of peace talks with the Palestinians. But all around, the region had transformed, as the winds of the Arab Spring had blown. Was Israel's apparent quiescence all that it seemed? » Read more

Israel’s saber rattling against Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am Everybody knows the scene from school: A small boy quarrels with a bigger boy. “Hold me back!” he shouts to his comrades, “Before I break his bones!” Our government seems to be behaving in this way. Every day, via all channels, it shouts that it is going, any minute now, to break the bones of Iran. » Read more