Netanyahu: If Palestinians act unilaterally, so will Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel would respond to any unilateral Palestinian steps - particularly declarations of statehood - with one-sided steps of its own. This was the prime minister's first response to a Palestinian initiative to ask the United Nations Security Council to endorse a Palestinian state, seen as an appeal for international backing.

»

Erekat: Determined to declare state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinians are making it clear that they will not hesitate to take their fate into their own hands: Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Sunday said the Palestinians are determined to obtain the international support necessary to approach the UN Security Council with the demand to declare a Palestinian state in the borders of June 1967.

»

Press split on Palestinian statehood move
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Arab and Israeli press commentators are divided over a possible move by Palestinian leaders to ask the UN to recognise an independent Palestinian state. They have also been considering the warning issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israeli countermeasures. Some in the Arab world feel that the Palestinians have been left with little alternative, since Middle East peace talks have "gone astray" and "reached gridlock".

»

Palestinian threat to declare statehood seeks to put onus on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Frustrated by a lack of progress toward statehood, the Palestinians are considering taking their case to the United Nations. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had hopes a more Muslim-friendly U.S. administration would press Israel into a peace deal on terms favorable to the Palestinians. When this failed to materialize, Abbas announced plans to resign. Now he is following up with a threat to go to the U.N. Security Council to ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

»

Palestinian push for an independent state causes Israeli alarm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Interview) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian leaders from President Mahmoud Abbas down have alarmed Israeli ministers by swinging their weight behind a planned effort to secure UN backing for a unilaterally declared independent state in the West Bank and Gaza. In an innovative strategy which would not depend on the success of currently stalled negotiations with Israel, the leaders are preparing a push to secure formal UN Security Council support for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders as a crucial first step towards the formation of a state.

»

Peace can be made despite Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

It might be tempting to dismiss as diplomatic bluster the statement by Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinians, that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation would declare statehood unilaterally in the near future. Certainly it would not be a novel analysis given how rife the peace process is with grandstanding and brinkmanship on both sides. The PLO tried it twice before under Yasser Arafat, who backed down both times in return for concessions and reassurances. But this time is different.

»

Washington Committed to Middle East Peace Process- US Officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mina Al-Oraibi - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Many questions are being asked whether it is possible to resume peace negotiations in the Middle East that can achieve real and concrete results after the peace process has been faltering over the past few months. A total of 10 months have passed since US President Barack Obama announced his determination to bring peace to the Middle East on his first day in the White House. However, there have been no indications that such a peace would be reached.

»

New voices for Palestinian conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Although the peace process is at an impasse, two recent debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have started to redefine some of the most fundamental issues of the conflict: the first started in the US and focuses on the nature and appropriateness of the unconditional American support for Israel; the second is taking place in Israel itself and addresses such fundamental issues as the very nature of being a Jewish state, and, crucially, the wrongs the Palestinian people have suffered.

»

Between a rock and a hard place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

It is almost impossible to adequately convey the present degree of Palestinian despair but the recent announcement that President Mahmoud Abbas might resign and that the rest of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership may follow – in effect dissolving the PA – should provide some indication.This seems to many to be the only real remaining weapon the Palestinian leadership has, albeit something of a doomsday scenario. Abbas and the others clearly feel all their other options have been systematically foreclosed.

»

A Mideast Truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

I’ve grown so pessimistic about Israel-Palestine that I find myself agreeing with Israel’s hard-line foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman: “Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict simply doesn’t understand the situation and spreads delusions.” That’s the lesson of early Obama. The president tried to rekindle peace talks by confronting Israel on settlements, coaxing Palestinians to resume negotiations, and reaching out to the Muslim world. The effort has failed.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017