Israel’s opportunity to stop a train wreck ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by James Carroll - (Opinion) July 18, 2011 - 12:00am EVER SINCE outgoing Middle East envoy George Mitchell used the phrase “train wreck’’ with Charlie Rose in May, it has become jargon for what will happen in September when the Palestinian leadership goes to the United Nations seeking “full membership for the state of Palestine.” The Netanyahu government is so gravely threatened that it has made opposition to the UN affirmation of Palestinian independence a litmus test of loyalty to Israel. A catastrophe looms. » Read more

Force and anti-force in the United Nations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gidi Grinstein - (Opinion) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am Israel and the Palestinians may be advancing toward understandings with regard to recognition of Palestinian statehood in 2011. While it seems that both parties are determinedly heading toward confrontation, this outcome is made possible by the powerful interests that are at stake. » Read more

Political Elites Have Failed Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Howard Sumka - (Opinion) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am Weeks away from the anticipated and highly contentious United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood, it's timely to ask what went wrong and what might move the issue in a better direction. Despite fears of the Palestinian streets reacting in frustration, it is appropriate now to look to the street for the solution. » Read more

Jews Want Obama To Do More for Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week by Douglas Bloomfield - (Analysis) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am Jews give President Obama a higher overall job approval than most other voters although they're still unhappy with his handling of the economy and don't think he's doing enough to broker Middle East peace. But that doesn't mean they're ready to vote for someone else next year, according to a survey of 800 Jews earlier this month for J Street. » Read more

America’s attempted Quartet sophistry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) July 22, 2011 - 12:00am As more information seeps out from the Quartet principals meeting held in Washington on July 11, it becomes harder not to reach the conclusion that American policy on Israel-Palestine is now being driven almost exclusively by a desire to prevent any possible U.N. vote on the matter in the Autumn. Reading the draft text proposed as a Quartet statement by the U.S. (the text is not yet public, but the authenticity of the draft described here has been reliably confirmed) and rejected by the EU, Russia, and the U.N. Secretary General entrenches that conclusion -- and worse, that the U.S. » Read more

A political baksheesh everyone needs to pay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am A Riddle: Which fleet did not reach its destination but fulfilled its mission? Well, it’s this year’s Gaza solidarity flotilla. It could be said, of course, that last year’s “little fleet” — that’s what the word means in Spanish, much as “guerrilla” means “little war” — is also a reasonable candidate. It never reached Gaza, but the commander of the Israeli navy could well repeat the words of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose victory over the Romans was so costly that he is said to have exclaimed: “Another such victory, and I am lost!” » Read more

Not forgotten ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Opinion) July 25, 2011 - 12:00am The uprisings in several Arab countries may have temporarily turned the limelight away from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but that does not mean it will be on the back burner for long. Palestinians, Arab peoples at large, cannot forget the occupation, with all it entails, especially now that a showdown over the recognition of an independent Palestinian state is looming on the horizon. Israel must not deceive itself into believing that the Arab nation can ignore the Palestinian plight; it should not take comfort in the spread of Arab demonstrations calling for democracy and freedom. » Read more

COLUMN-Desmond Tutu, Israel and US pensions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Bernd Debusmann - (Analysis) July 24, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - What's the connection between a South African Nobel Peace Prize winner, Israel, and one of America's biggest pension funds? An international campaign for economic, cultural and academic boycotts of Israel and Jewish settlements on the West Bank. » Read more

Captive hearts fly free with kites in Jerusalem's Old City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - July 24, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM // At dusk, the skies over the city's ancient and congested heart erupt into a frenzy of activity. That is when the Palestinian youth of Jerusalem's Old City congregate near Damascus Gate or climb on to the roofs of their clustered homes with plastic kites. For the casual observer, it is a spectacle of brilliantly coloured objects overhead. For children in this claustrophobic corner of East Jerusalem, lacking the recreational facilities that are so abundant in the city's Jewish areas, the kite channels pent-up energy into the skies above. » Read more

Gaza fishermen swamped by Israeli gunboats and water cannon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - July 24, 2011 - 12:00am Hani al-Asi, a fisherman since the age of 11 and a father with 12 mouths to feed, had just begun throwing his lines into the Mediterranean when an Israeli gunboat sped towards his traditional hasaka. With a machine gun mounted at the rear and half a dozen armed soldiers on the bridge, the navy vessel repeatedly circled the small fishing boat. The rolling waves caused by the backwash threatened to swamp it. » Read more