Debating a UN Debate on a Palestinian State: Noe and Raad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Nicholas Noe, Walid Raad - (Opinion) August 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to take a statehood bid to the United Nations in September has triggered a robust media debate over the wisdom of the move.

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All systems are on go for Palestine’s march to the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

If anyone outside Palestine had doubts that the Palestinian Authority was hesitant about going to the UN to request the recognition of Palestine as a full member, a trip to Ramallah would quickly put an end to this scepticism. Ramallah’s hotels are full of members of the Palestine Central Council (the second highest representative body in Palestinian politics after the Palestine National Council). PNC Speaker Salim Zannoun has held meetings in Amman, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah in preparation for a crucial central council meeting in Ramallah this week.

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Bill would shut down PLO office for statehood action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

An appropriations bill would shut down the PLO office in Washington if Palestinians pursue statehood recognition absent talks with Israel and fail to take steps to stop incitement. The bill, referred Wednesday by the foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to the full committee, for the first time restricts the broad presidential waiver that applied to the 1988 law that originally banned setting up a Palestine Liberation Organization office on U.S. soil.

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Is Abbas setting the stage for a third intifada?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he doesn’t want to see a third intifada, and I believe him. So why does he persist in laying the groundwork for it? His two-pronged strategy of powersharing with Hamas and making a bid for UN recognition is foundering, increasing the risk that the high expectations he sparked among his people will dissolve into frustration and violence.

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Palestinian leader wants rallies to back UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Invoking the Arab Spring, the Palestinian president on Wednesday urged his people to take to the streets for massive rallies in support of his government's bid to get the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestinian state. The call by President Mahmoud Abbas for peaceful, "popular resistance" throughout the West Bank was likely to fuel Israeli concerns that the U.N. vote in September and any large demonstrations could spark a new round of violence.

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PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Abbas not deterred by U.S. threats regarding Palestinian state recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, does not seem deterred by U.S. threats of financial cuts or political castigation if he proceeds with plans to ask the U.N. for recognition of a Palestinian state in September. Abbas Wednesday summoned his Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council, a 120-strong legislative body in exile, to ask its blessings for his plans.

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Encountering Peace: In search of a rational discourse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) July 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Despite the threats of a US veto and a congressional decision to cease US financial support to the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian leadership is resolute to bring the issue of Palestinian statehood to the United Nations.

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Security Council Debate Offers Preview of Palestinian Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar - July 26, 2011 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS — A preview of the expected showdown over whether to admit a Palestinian state as a full member of the United Nations when world leaders gather here in September played out in the Security Council on Tuesday. Supporters evoked the Arab Spring, in which millions of people across the Middle East sought freedom from oppression, as a fitting backdrop for an endorsement of the Palestinian people’s release from 44 years of Israeli occupation.

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September: Why Israelis Are Anxious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Talking Points Memo
by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

This week, the Fatah leadership of the Palestinian Authority announced a full-bore diplomatic effort to gain UN membership for a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem. President Mahmud Abbas is touring Europe and Turkey. Emissaries will be traveling to China, India and other rising powers. Saeb Erekat, Abbas's indefatigable chief negotiator, called the campaign for statehood "massive."

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Abbas: UN bid will not affect peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

BARCELONA (AFP) -- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said his efforts to seek UN membership for the Palestinians would not affect negotiations "that we want to continue to have" with Israel. Abbas is in Spain as part of a foreign tour aimed at drumming up support for United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state amid a long stalemate in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

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