Lieberman: Palestinian UN bid undoes Oslo Accords ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 17, 2011 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Israeli foreign minister said Friday there was zero chance of talks resuming and all past agreements could be broken if Palestinians go to the UN, Israeli press reported. Avigdor Lieberman made the comments at a breakfast with European foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, as she began a day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to revive peace talks between the two sides. » Read more

Netanyahu and the Arab spring ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am Two regionally and globally crucial spectacles have been unfolding in the Arab world this year. The first is the wave of "revolutions", or "uprisings", or whatever they might be called that have variously overthrown regimes, striven to overthrow others, and made yet others so uncomfortable that not a day goes by without them announcing various reforms. » Read more

Negotiator: UN bid with or without negotiations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 17, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (AFP) -- Palestinians will seek UN recognition and membership regardless of whether there is a resumption of peace talks, negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh said on Thursday. His comments were made as the international community pushes a raft of new peace initiatives in a bid to head off the Palestinian push for UN membership. But Shtayeh said the Palestinians were determined to seek recognition and that talks could proceed alongside their bid. » Read more

Boom in Palestinian soccer seeks to score points for statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post June 17, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — For years, Palestinian soccer was disorganized, underfunded and hindered so much by Israeli travel restrictions that games were often forfeited because players couldn’t arrive for kickoff. But the sport is growing, with new stadiums rising across the West Bank, the local soccer federation hosting international competitions, and the Palestinians set to host their first-ever World Cup qualifying match next month. On July 3 the Palestinian team will welcome Afghanistan in an early-round World Cup qualifier. » Read more

Palestinians stick to call for settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 16, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Palestinians are sticking to their demand for an Israeli settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday, complicating President Barack Obama's latest peace drive. Obama recently outlined his vision of two states based on the pre-1967 war lines, with mutually agreed land swaps. The president's call for talks did not mention a new settlement freeze, and U.S. officials have indicated it is not essential to the restarting of talks. » Read more

Hopeful ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am Most everybody seems to have given up on the idea that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could resume. Not France, however. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has recently proposed holding a peace conference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict this summer in Paris, rekindling optimism and, in the process, apparently “surprising” the US whose Secretary of State Hillary Clinton questioned the practicality of holding such a conference when the two sides are so far apart. » Read more

‘Declaration of war’? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am Saudi Arabia has apparently dropped the gauntlet in its loud tiff with the Obama administration’s “misguided policies” towards the Middle East, and particularly its stance on the Palestinian debacle, now in its 64th year, whereby Barack Obama recently reiterated the “unshakeable” US support for Israel. » Read more

Peres warns: Israel in danger of ceasing to exist as Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - June 17, 2011 - 12:00am President Shimon Peres is concerned that Israel might become a binational state, in which case, he warned, it would cease to exist as a Jewish state. "I'm concerned about the continued freeze [in the peace talks]," Peres said to people who visited him this week. "I'm concerned that Israel will become a binational state. What is happening now is total foot-dragging. We're about to crash into the wall. We're galloping at full speed toward a situation where Israel will cease to exist as a Jewish state." » Read more

The Steve Simon call ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - (Blog) June 16, 2011 - 12:00am The Washington Post's left and right columnists are having a grand old time mixing it up over a call that Steve Simon, the White House go-to guy on Israel, had last Friday with the Jewish leadership. I heard the call. To put it gently, Greg Sargent, the Plum Line, or "left" columnist, has it right. And I don't know where Jennifer Rubin, the "Right Turn" columnist, is getting her info. The short story I put out Friday did not quote Simon at length, but I did not expect his remarks would be misreported. » Read more

U.S. Pushes New Effort on Peace in Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Jay Solomon - June 17, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON—The Obama administration and European governments are stepping up efforts to revive Arab-Israeli peace talks, saying they have little time to head off a Palestinian drive to seek United Nations recognition as a state. The White House this week dispatched its top Middle East negotiators, Dennis Ross and David Hale, to the region to try to gain Israeli and Palestinian agreement to resume negotiations based on parameters President Barack Obama laid out last month, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. » Read more