The "Abu Mazen Spring" in the Security Council
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Salam Fayyad has been the prime minister of the Palestinian government since 2009, and tasked with the seeming "mission impossible" of building all of the institutions needed to prepare for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Fayyad has succeeded, despite the huge difficulties resulting from Israeli occupation, settlement and other policies.

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Palestinian leadership considering French proposals on peace process: official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership is studying ideas proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to revive peace talks with Israel, a senior official said Thursday. Sarkozy's ideas, revealed Wednesday in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, aim at defusing an increasing tension between the United States and the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) over the latter's plan to request a full UN membership.

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Show, don’t tell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama couldn’t have said it any better when he told the United Nations General Assembly that there was “no shortcut” to peace in the Middle East. Obama was responding to the drive by the Palestinians to secure official U.N. recognition for their independent state. The U.S. president probably thought he was being statesmanlike and realistic by solemnly declaring that “statements and resolutions” at the U.N. will not bring such a state into existence. Obama is resoundingly and definitively correct when he says there is no short-cut to a durable peace.

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Abbas presses Palestinian case with new defiance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas looks certain to fail in his bid to win United Nations membership for a Palestinian state, but his move has rekindled admiration for him back home, revealing the defiant side of an often understated man. The initiative is fiercely opposed by the United States and his decision to forge ahead has thrust the Palestinian issue to the top of the U.N. agenda, challenging the view of critics who accuse him of yielding too swiftly to foreign pressure.

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Why Palestinian leadership should remain firm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Let us think out loud as Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas plans to give UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a letter tomorrow seeking full membership for his state: The normal, orthodox road map to UN membership comprises two steps: (1) a recommendation to the General Assembly by the Security Council (requiring nine affirmative votes and NO negative vote — “veto” — by one of the five permanent members) followed by (2) approval by the General Assembly (requiring a two-thirds majority of those voting — i.e., ignoring abstentions and no-shows).

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Political war between Israel and Palestinians enters critical stage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Blog) September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The political war between Israel and the Palestinians enters its critical phase today, with the start of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Both sides are hoping that the battle will remain there, in New York, rather than moving to the checkpoints and settlements of the West Bank. Violence in Ramallah and in Psagot, in Nablus and Yitzhar, would cast a shadow over the peace process and call into question the extent of the Palestinian Authority's control of the territory - control that is very important for the PA to demonstrate at this time.

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With 'all hell' breaking loose, is Abbas looking for an exit?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

When the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks of being under "unbearable pressure" from foreign partners, that can be a prelude to retreat. That was the phrase he used a year ago to explain why he'd joined a new round of talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against his own better judgement. Those talks, demanded by the Obama administration, went nowhere.

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Abbas to meet Obama on sidelines of UN summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- US President Barack Obama will hold talks with President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at 6 p.m. Wednesday, White House official Ben Rhodes said Tuesday. Abbas is also willing to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he told Fox News Monday. "I will meet any Israeli official any time," the president said. "But there is no use if there is nothing tangible." The Israeli news site Ynet reported Tuesday that Netanyahu was also willing to meet Abbas.

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The votes the Palestinians (and the Israelis) really need
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by David Rothkopf - (Blog) September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

As H.L. Mencken might have observed, no one ever went broke underestimating the abilities of the current Israeli or Palestinian leadership. But in the competition for the region's top cluelessness prize, one has to give Bibi Netanyahu the edge. After all, he has done the near impossible and edged out Mahmoud Abbas.

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Obama Rebuffed as Palestinians Pursue U.N. Seat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper, Steven Lee Myers - September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

A last-ditch American effort to head off a Palestinian bid for membership in the United Nations faltered. President Obama tried to qualify his own call, just a year ago, for a Palestinian state. And President Nicolas Sarkozy of France stepped forcefully into the void, with a proposal that pointedly repudiated Mr. Obama’s approach. The extraordinary tableau Wednesday at the United Nations underscored a stark new reality: the United States is facing the prospect of having to share, or even cede, its decades-long role as the architect of Middle East peacemaking.

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