Support the Palestinian Bid for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Keith Ellison - (Opinion) September 23, 2011 - 12:00am

The United States should support the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the United Nations. The Palestinian people deserve a state now. As the current debate unfolds, I am reminded of what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1965: “The time is always right to do what’s right.”

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Zakaria: I oppose the Palestinian U.N. bid for practical reasons
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Fareed Zakaria - (Opinion) September 23, 2011 - 12:00am

I am opposed to the Palestinian effort at the United Nations because I think that it is going to get them nowhere. This is not the time for romantic gestures. This is the time for them to do something that will actually help them get a Palestinian state - a goal that I support.

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U.S. Jews give Obama mixed reviews for 'pro-Israel' UN speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It was quite clear that U.S. President Barack Obama's speech, which Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he "would sign with both hands," would draw mixed reactions. Its failure to go into details about the Israeli-Palestinian issue was assumed to be due to a combination of re-election concerns and those of slipping Jewish support. But the U.S. Jewish organizations provided varying - in some cases even polar - responses to the speech.

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Stand up against Palestinians' UN statehood bid: It's dangerous to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Daily News
by Steny Hoyer - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Last Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he would ignore international warnings and take his bid for recognition of a Palestinian state to the UN Security Council. The decision facing Abbas was a simple one: return to direct peace negotiations with Israel or rebuff the U.S. and renew diplomatic warfare against Israel. In choosing the latter, Abbas has put at risk not only the Palestinian Authority's relationship with the U.S., but the aspirations of his own people.

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Europe's diluted solution to Palestinian aspirations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Matthew Price - September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians' drive to achieve statehood has had diplomats around the world scrambling to decide their positions - not least within the EU, where it is testing the limits of a common foreign policy. The battle started several months ago, and the battleground was Europe. Cables were sent out across the continent's EU member states. Orders were given: lobby high officials, gather the backing of local supporters, flood the media with sympathetic articles.

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Domestic Politics Produce Three-Way Collision at United Nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Calev Ben-David, Indira A.R. Lakshmanan - (Analysis) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The collision this week over Palestinian statehood at the United Nations has been coming since Israel and the Palestinian Authority hit an impasse in negotiations a year ago and U.S. President Barack Obama was unable to get them back to the bargaining table.

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Europe's diluted solution to Palestinian aspirations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Matthew Price - September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians' drive to achieve statehood has had diplomats around the world scrambling to decide their positions - not least within the EU, where it is testing the limits of a common foreign policy. The battle started several months ago, and the battleground was Europe. Cables were sent out across the continent's EU member states. Orders were given: lobby high officials, gather the backing of local supporters, flood the media with sympathetic articles.

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Netanyahu, Lieberman praise Obama’s U.N. speech, but Palestinians pan it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Obama for his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, but the Palestinians criticized the address. Netanyahu met with Obama at the United Nations on Wednesday afternoon after the president’s speech and reportedly expressed his appreciation for the address. The speech was praised as well by Israel’s hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. “I congratulate President Obama, and I am ready to sign on this speech with both hands,” Lieberman said at a news conference.

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Ready for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Jonas Gahr Store - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The main issue before the United Nations General Assembly this week is the Palestinian quest for recognition. Less attention is being paid to a related, and no less important question: Are the Palestinians capable and ready to run a state?

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Obama at the UN on Israel-Palestine: Good Politics, Poor Diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

If you'd wanted to gauge how strained relations between the Obama administration and the Palestinian leadership have become, all you'd need do is watch the shaking heads of the Palestinian representatives at the United Nations General Assembly during the U.S. President's speech there on Wednesday. Obama reiterated the American commitment to a two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestine, both established U.S. policy. Rhetorically, however, his speech recognized most of the core elements of the Israeli narrative but virtually none of the Palestinian one.

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