UN refers Palestine bid to review panel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 28, 2011 - 12:00am

The UN Security Council on Wednesday pushed back a decision on a Palestinian bid to join the United Nations in a move that will give more time to international efforts to revive direct talks. But UN envoys for the two foes wrangled over who is to blame for the latest year-old negotiations deadlock, with diplomats warning both sides are hardening their positions. The 15-member Security Council sent the bid made by President Mahmoud Abbas last Friday to a special membership committee to give its verdict.

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PA: Nigeria to support Palestine statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 28, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Nigeria will vote in favor of the application for full UN membership in the Security Council, foreign minister Riyad Malki said Tuesday after meeting with his Nigerian counterpart. Olugbenga Ashiru stressed Nigeria’s support for the application for a state on the 1967 borders as well as his hopes for a negotiated settlement to end the conflict, the official Palestinian Authority news agency said.

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Border Control / Mideast peace can provide all the security Israel needs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The main, if not the only, innovation in the prime minister's address at the UN General Assembly was the demand that the Palestinians house military bases inside their new state. This, of course, in addition to the need for "defensible borders," that is a result of Israel's narrow middle. In order to illustrate the sensitivity of this shape, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "disclosed" to the world that a fighter jet could cross the width of the country in just three seconds.

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Clinton: Israeli settlement move counter-productive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel's decision to build 1,100 settlement homes on West Bank land is counter-productive to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday. The decision appears to make it even less likely that the two sides will answer a call on Friday by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, collectively known as the Quartet, to resume peace talks within a month.

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Actions, not slogans, for the New Year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Unlike most other countries’ New Years, Rosh Hashana is not simply about festivities and parties. It is, for most of us, a period of introspection, personal and collective, a period when we sit down with ourselves, weigh up our deeds and actions of the past year and, hopefully, resolve to do some things differently in the coming year.

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Palestine, yes, but Israelis draw the line at Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

They wear their wounds well, the buildings of the old "green line". Forget the new Jerusalem hotels across the road, the state-of-the-art tramway that glistens down the highway; just take a look at the bullet holes on the walls to the left, the shell gashes in the preserved façade of what was once an Israeli army bunker and is now Raphie Etgar's little art gallery. You can still peer between the rusting iron shutters, across the road. A hundred metres away was the Arab Legion. Just 300ft from here was the Jordanian frontier.

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After U.N. Drama, Little Hope for Peace Breakthrough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

An intense week of high-profile speeches and backroom diplomacy, which reached its climax with an official Palestinian bid for statehood, has reshaped the Middle East peace process, eroding the American position as lead player — which may, in fact, be President Obama’s strategy.

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Dynamics of Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Joschka Fischer - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Regardless of whether democratisation in the ‘new Middle East' succeeds or authoritarian forms of government prevail once again, one fundamental change has already become clear: no one will be able to govern without taking into account domestic public opinion.

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Three speeches, no progress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Last week, we heard three dramatic speeches at the United Nations General Assembly that were ostensibly intended to offer new ideas for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue. They did not. United States President Barack Obama made an unusually pro-Israel speech that was obviously motivated by domestic American political considerations. Obama made clear that he was abdicating a leadership role regarding Israel-Palestine for the coming US election year. It's doubtful the rest of the Quartet, meaning essentially Europe, can fill the gap.

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Price to be paid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

This past week witnessed the culmination of the Palestinian political move to the United Nations. We have seen key speeches by US President Barack Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in addition to the submission of the Palestinian application for state membership to the United Nations and, finally, a statement by the Middle East Quartet.

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