United Nations Resolutions | The American Task Force on Palestine

Journey from Oslo to New York after 20 Years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by George Semaan - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

All the efforts to prevent the Palestinian authority from heading to the United Nations to ensure the proclamation of the state were expected to fail. The Israeli prime minister who kept knocking on Europe’s doors among others after he knocked on the United States’ doors to thwart this step maintained his position. He wants unconditional negotiations. This is the same position that froze the talks over a year ago, and the one that foiled all the American efforts to activate the settlement and reach the promised Palestinian state.

A new paradigm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

With this week's start of the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian leadership can rightly say that it has begun to reap fruit from its decision to take the Palestinian cause to the international community. The Palestinian people and leadership have suffered for too long from the inattention of the international community, which insisted on leaving Palestinians and Israelis to their own devices to solve their problems. For the Palestinians, this was equal to leaving their people at the mercy of the brutal Israeli occupation.

Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The National (Opinion) - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

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.

Will the US declare independence at UN?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

WHILE many questions relating to the State of Palestine's imminent application for UN membership are being raised and vigorously debated, one relevant question has not been. That question is how American national interests would be harmed if Palestine were to be admitted as the 194th member of the United Nations, as it clearly would be in the absence of an American veto. Perhaps the question is not being raised and debated because no potential adverse consequences — at least for the United States and the American people — can be envisioned and cited to justify a veto.

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 express doubts and fear over UN statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

If you think all West Bank Palestinians are enthusiastic about next week's vote at the United Nations for Palestinian statehood, just ask Hurriyah Ziada. Ms Ziada, a 22-year-old sociology student at Birzeit University in the West Bank, insists UN recognition of a Palestinian state is a mistake because it also represents a tacit acknowledgement of Israel's permanence as a Jewish state.

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