Diplomacy | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel: Adrift at Sea Alone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) September 17, 2011 - 12:00am

I’VE never been more worried about Israel’s future. The crumbling of key pillars of Israel’s security — the peace with Egypt, the stability of Syria and the friendship of Turkey and Jordan — coupled with the most diplomatically inept and strategically incompetent government in Israel’s history have put Israel in a very dangerous situation.

Diplomatic maelstrom
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am

The cabinet ministers' diagnosis last week that Israel is facing its most complex strategic situation in decades is turning out to be correct. Even before the focus shifts to the Palestinian arena, with the bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the United Nations recognize it as a state, Israel has had to deal with the return home of senior envoys from three of the region's most important countries.

An Israel in trouble makes a peace deal more urgent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by John Hughes - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am

If the dramatic upheaval taking place throughout the Arab world is to have a constructive outcome, a critical necessity is peace between Arabs and Israelis. On this issue, the world is now at crunch time. The choice is clear: New descent into the senseless antagonism and violence that has bedeviled the Arab- Israeli relationship for decades, or a two-state agreement providing security for Israel and a sovereign homeland for Palestinians.

'Abbas working on deal with EU, US to avoid statehood bid'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am

London based Arabic daily Al Hayat on Friday reported that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was meeting with European Union and American officials to try and come to an agreement that would avoid bringing Palestinian unilateral statehood before the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council next week. According to the report, of the 20 paragraphs in the proposal, four of them had been agreed upon at the time of publication.

Palestinians Say a U.N. Gamble on Statehood Is Worth the Risks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

It is far from clear what will happen when the Palestinians go to the United Nations next week to seek recognition of statehood. But the initiative is engaging a Palestinian public that had become deeply cynical after 20 years of intermittent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Anxieties mount over Palestinian statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The countdown to a Palestinian bid next week for membership and recognition as a state in the United Nations brought a stark warning from Israel on Wednesday that approval would result in “harsh and grave consequences” for the Palestinians. The threat by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was the sharpest yet in an escalating cycle of rhetoric on all sides of the conflict. While the Palestinians say they will go ahead with the move, the Obama administration dispatched two senior envoys to the region Wednesday to restate the American case against the statehood bid.

Palestinians to seek full UN membership Sept. 23
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians will ask the Security Council next week to accept them as a full member of the United Nations, the Palestinian foreign minister said Thursday, a move that would defy Washington's threat to veto the statehood bid. The remarks by Riad Malki came just ahead of the arrival in the West Bank of a senior U.S. diplomatic team that was in the region in a last-ditch effort to persuade the Palestinians to drop the U.N. bid. Although Malki did not close the door on compromise, his comments signaled the chances of breakthrough were slim.

Israel clears embassy staff from Amman ahead of Jordan protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Concerned about a demonstration planned outside its embassy in Amman, the Israeli government brought its ambassador and most embassy staff back to Israel late Wednesday night. The move reflected concern about a possible repeat of an incident last Friday in Cairo, in which protesters stormed the Israeli Embassy, and Israel’s ambassador in Egypt and his staff were airlifted back to Israel. After intervention by top U.S. officials, Egyptian police and military broke up the protest and commandos extricated six Israeli security guards who were trapped in the embassy. 83 Comments

Israel and New York’s Ninth District
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

There has already been a lot of theorizing about why a little-known Republican businessman, Bob Turner, won Tuesday’s special Congressional election in a traditionally Democratic New York City district. The grim economy appears to have been a big factor in his victory over Assemblyman David Weprin, and some voters also complained about Mr. Weprin’s principled vote in Albany to legalize gay marriage, which was anathema to many ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters.

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