People get ready – there’s a train a-comin’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - February 23, 2011 - 1:00am

I would prefer that the occupation ended in orderly fashion, without chaos, with the settlers living near the Green Line feeling unthreatened and the others having plenty of time to relocate. Unfortunately, this is not happening; I’d hoped the Obama administration would pressure Israel out of the West Bank, but nobody’s pressuring it out of anything. The 43-year status quo becomes more entrenched each day.

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Fayyad: US veto obstructed Palestinian efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 22, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Prime Minster Salam Fayyad on Sunday said the US veto of a UN anti-settlement resolution was a clear obstruction to Palestinian efforts to end Israel's occupation. All 14 other Security Council member states voted in favor of the resolution condemning illegal settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land. US President Barack Obama's administration used its veto to torpedo the motion after Obama failed to convince President Mahmoud Abbas to abandon the resolution in a last minute appeal.

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The UN is ripe for advancing the Palestinian agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir - (Editorial) February 22, 2011 - 1:00am

A new era has dawned at the United Nations with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From this point on, new, different rules will characterize discussions of the conflict in the Security Council. The most important and, from Israel's standpoint, alarming change is this: In the one UN body that has the authority to forcibly enforce resolutions, a new alignment of forces is rapidly taking shape, and a new distribution of influence is emerging between the United States and the other four members of the exclusive club of states with permanent membership and veto power.

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Shameful position
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Opinion) February 22, 2011 - 1:00am

The US veto of a draft resolution condemning Israel’s continued settlement programme on Palestinian lands is wrong and fraught with immeasurable dangers. The resolution was sponsored by all Arab delegations at the UN headquarters in New York. It expresses complete Arab rejection of the Israeli construction of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, while fully supporting a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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Analysis: PA is using US veto to bolster its image
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Analysis) February 22, 2011 - 1:00am

In an attempt to bolster its credibility among Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority has decided to take advantage of last Friday’s US veto of a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned construction in the settlements, and depict President Mahmoud Abbas as a powerful leader who dared to say no to the US president. Since Friday, Palestinian officials in Ramallah have been briefing reporters about the details of a 50-minute phone conversation between Abbas and US President Barack Obama.

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Settlements complicate Palestinian state's building: UN official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 21, 2011 - 1:00am

A senior United Nations official on Monday said that Jewish settlement complicates the process of building a Palestinian state. Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, reiterated the UN position that settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal. "We don't only call for an end to settlement construction, we want them not to be in the Palestinian territories," Palestinian official news agency, Wafa, quoted Gaylard as saying, following a tour in the West Bank city of Nablus.

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With settlement resolution veto, Obama has joined Likud
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Editorial) February 20, 2011 - 1:00am

This weekend, a new member enrolled in Likud - and not just in the ruling party, but in its most hawkish wing. Located somewhere between Tzipi Hotovely and Danny Danon, U.S. President Barack Obama bypassed Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan on the right and weakened their position. The first veto cast by the United States during Obama's term, a veto he promised in vain not to use as his predecessors did, was a veto against the chance and promise of change, a veto against hope. This is a veto that is not friendly to Israel; it supports the settlers and the Israeli right, and them alone.

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Palestinians protest U.S. veto of resolution condemning Israel's settlement policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - February 20, 2011 - 1:00am

Angry Palestinians staged a protest here Sunday against the United States' veto Friday of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel's settlement policy, with participants denouncing President Obama and predicting that the move will harm Washington's standing across the roiling Middle East. The gathering, attended by about 300 supporters of the ruling Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and government employees, reflected broader public disappointment here with the veto, the first cast by the Obama administration at the United Nations.

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Obama's veto is the wrong side of history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Daoud Kuttab - February 20, 2011 - 1:00am

US President Barack Obama was on the right side of history when he supported the young nonviolent protesters in Egypt. The Obama administration was on the wrong side of history when Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, raised her hand vetoing a UN Security Council resolution condemning Jewish settlements.

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Obama tried to convince Abbas to withdraw UN resolution up until last minute - Sources
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - February 19, 2011 - 1:00am

As was expected, the US used its veto to put an end to a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's policy of settlement building on occupied Palestinian territory. This represents the 42nd time that the US has vetoed Arab resolutions condemning Israel. This resolution was voted in favor of by the other 14 UN Security Council members; however the US, as a permanent Security Council member, was able to veto it.

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