Mosque torching in Israel: Could it spark Arab Spring-style protests?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

A mosque was torched in northern Israel early Monday, prompting a clash between police who fired tear gas canisters and hundreds of Arab citizens of Israel who threw stones and briefly closed down a highway. The incident, seen as part of an ongoing campaign of Jewish vigilantism, underscores fears by Israeli officials that such attacks could spark Arab Spring-style protests among Palestinians.

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US discusses ways to keep aid flowing to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The Obama administration is lobbying Congress to unblock $200 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority that was frozen due to its bid for UN recognition of statehood over US and Israeli objections. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Monday the administration was in "intensive" discussions with key lawmakers who had put holds on the money, a financial lifeline for the Palestinian Authority.

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Rick Perry Wins Support Among Right-Wing Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

It could have been an awkward moment even for a seasoned politician like Texas Governor Rick Perry. Surrounded by a group of Orthodox rabbis in black hats and black suits during a Hanukkah ceremony at the Texas State Capitol, Perry, now a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was swept into a hora dance, holding hands with the Jewish leaders as they surrounded the lighted menorah. But Perry did not seem to mind. “That was a real ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” he said jokingly.

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Israel to demand adjustment of Quartet Mideast peace plan, official says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that he welcomed "the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions," the premier intends to present a list of qualifications to the Quartet's statement on a resumption of Mideast talks that in effect enfeeble that statement.

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Abbas to visit Colombia for UN bid talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2011 - 12:00am

BOGOTA (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas will visit UN Security Council member Colombia on October 11 to discuss his bid for UN member state status, President Juan Manuel Santos said. "The Palestinian leader had planned to come to Central America and he proposed a visit. We said he would be welcome and he will be here on October 11," Santos said in a statement. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin had announced the visit on Friday, but said the date was still under discussion.

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Land without peace: Why Abbas went to the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

While diplomatically inconvenient for the Western powers, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to get the United Nations to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state has elicited widespread sympathy. After all, what choice did he have? According to the accepted narrative, Middle East peace is made impossible by a hard-line Likud-led Israel that refuses to accept a Palestinian state and continues to build settlements.

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Some are more equal at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Aijaz Zaka Syed - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama’s shameful turnaround over Palestine has exposed the ‘audacity of hope’ for what it is — a sham. More important, it has turned the spotlight on the world body and the crass hypocrisy that goes on in there in the name of peace and international diplomacy. Let’s face it. The world body has ended up as a plaything in the hands of world powers.

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Standing firmly for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Khalaf Ahmad al Habtoor - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Ever since Yasser Arafat passed away, the Palestinians have lacked a strong leader with the authority to speak on their behalf. His successor Mahmoud Abbas took a different approach on statehood in the belief the road to peace ran through Washington. And to that end, he has been unfailingly conciliatory, even on some of his people's basic demands. His statements were always designed to be non-inflammatory and whereas the Israelis and their American backers thought of him as a good guy, Palestinians themselves expected a lot more from him.

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More snubs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Hardly a week has passed since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an impassioned plea for full Palestinian United Nations membership at the opening session of the UN General Assembly session; the two loud opponents - the US and Israel - have been lambasted by Arabs, Israelis and even some Americans.

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The Three Competing Strategies That Led to the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Steven L. Spiegel - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

The controversial Palestinian request for UN membership is the culmination of three competing strategies pursued by the US, Israel, and the Palestinians over the last three years.

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