September 16th

Why Israel Should Vote for Palestinian Independence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs by Isaac Herzog - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am This coming week, the Palestinian Authority intends to ask the United Nations to vote for Palestinian statehood during the annual session of the General Assembly. The Palestinian bid represents Israel’s greatest political challenge in years. Although the United States has promised to veto the resolution in the Security Council, it is likely that more than 140 countries in the General Assembly will vote in favor and grant the Palestinians the status of non-member state in the UN. » Read more

Israel - ‘Yes’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am On November 29, 1947, the people of the future Israel were glued to the radio, listening to the United Nations vote on the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. We can still hear in our collective memory the speaker announce – “Soviet Union – Yes, United States – Yes” and then the majority affirmative vote. » Read more

Diplomatic maelstrom ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am The cabinet ministers' diagnosis last week that Israel is facing its most complex strategic situation in decades is turning out to be correct. Even before the focus shifts to the Palestinian arena, with the bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the United Nations recognize it as a state, Israel has had to deal with the return home of senior envoys from three of the region's most important countries. » Read more

Digging in, the essence of Netanyahu's foreign policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am The years-long diplomatic effort to integrate Israel as an accepted neighbor in the Middle East collapsed this week, with the expulsion of the Israeli ambassadors from Ankara and Cairo, and the rushed evacuation of the embassy staff from Amman. This is the lowest point in Israeli foreign policy since the groundbreaking visit to Jerusalem by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977. The region is spewing out the Jewish state, which is increasingly shutting itself off behind fortified walls, under a leadership that refuses any change, movement or reform and is dealing with debacle after debacle. » Read more

Palestinian UN bid puts Obama on defensive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Matt Spetalnick - (Analysis) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama brokered the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks last September and set a one-year goal for reaching a deal, few thought he would succeed where so many others had failed. But hardly anyone could have predicted that Obama would now be facing one of the sharpest blows to U.S. prestige in decades of Middle East diplomacy -- a Palestinian threat to defy him and push for statehood at the United Nations next week. » Read more

Why Palestinian statehood is a question for the U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joshua Goldstein, Shibley Telhami - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am As the Palestinians seek U.N. support for a state of their own, Washington has advanced two arguments to dissuade them: first, that taking the issue of statehood to the United Nations is a unilateral move away from negotiations with Israel; and second, that the effort will be counterproductive because the United States will veto any such U.N. Security Council resolution. » Read more

Q&A on Palestinian statehood at the UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Yossi Klein Halevi, Hussein Ibish - (Interview) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinians are set to appeal to the United Nations in September for recognition of statehood. Despite opposition from Israel and the United States, a UN vote now looks inevitable. The Guardian and the Forward have brought together two experts to take part in an online Q&A to answer your questions about what may prove a game-changing development in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

Military whistleblower tells of 'indiscriminate' Israeli attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli troops fired tear gas indiscriminately and sometimes dangerously to enforce a daytime curfew inside a West Bank village to stop Palestinians holding a peaceful demonstration on their own land, a military whistleblower has told The Independent. The soldier's insight into the methods of troops comes as the Israeli military prepares for demonstrations predicted when the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submits an application for the recognition of statehood to the UN next week. » Read more

In Jordan, low turnout for anti-Israel march ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - (Analysis) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am AMMAN, Jordan — About 200 protesters ringed by scores of police officers demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador here Thursday, but what was billed by organizers as a “million-man” march on the embassy drew a far smaller crowd, which was kept well away from the building by a tight security cordon. Concerned about a repeat of last week’s storming by protesters of Israel’s embassy in Cairo, the Israeli government brought its ambassador and his staff members home from Amman on Wednesday night for their weekend leave, a day earlier than usual. » Read more

Palestinian officials foresee secular, pluralistic state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from USA Today by Oren Dorell - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian leaders say a future Palestinian state would be secular and open to all religions — even Jews — if they are willing to follow their laws as Palestinian citizens. The Palestinians say they'll seek a vote on Palestinian statehood in the United Nations this month. » Read more