International Community | The American Task Force on Palestine

You and I and the next Yom Kippur War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Here's a new law of nature: The further we get from the Yom Kippur War, the closer it gets to us. At the end of this week we will once again recall that war, the pages of the newspapers and the television programs will be full of stories of heroism - and the real lesson will once again be blurred beyond recognition, as always happens here.

Palestinians seeking membership in UNESCO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
by Angela Charlton - (Analysis) October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian officials are set to seek membership in the U.N. cultural agency Wednesday, diplomats say, as they expand and accelerate their push for international recognition despite opposition from the United States and Israel. With peace talks stalled and landmark efforts to get Palestine recognized at the United Nations inching along a labyrinthine path, Palestinian diplomats are pursuing other, potentially faster avenues toward getting the world to consider their territories a nation.

‘Price Tag’ Vandals Mark Up Violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The escalation in “price tag” attacks on Arab targets and even on the property of the Israeli establishment is a sign of a sense of growing alienation among the Jewish extremist fringe, analysts say. The latest attack suspected of being carried out by Jewish extremist was the torching Monday of a mosque in a Bedouin village in northern Israel. It was the first time vigilantes are believed to have struck inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders rather than in the West Bank.

Egypt sees new Israel gas deal soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Reuters - October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Egypt will soon finish drafting a new contract for gas exports to its neighbour Israel that includes a big increase in prices, a newspaper cited the petroleum minister as saying on Tuesday. Gas supplies to Israel have been disrupted by a series of attacks on the pipeline in the Sinai border region by assailants believed to oppose the sale of gas to the Jewish state. The attacks became more frequent and supplies were halted after the overthrow of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in February.

US Defense Chief Criticizes Palestinian Aid Block
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has criticized U.S. lawmakers for suspending $200 million in aid slated to fund development projects in the Palestinian territories. Panetta said Monday at a news conference in Tel Aviv with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that this is "no time to withhold those funds." He said it is a "critical" moment in the region, as U.S. officials continue to urge Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate a peace deal.

Nigeria: Nation Shies On Palestinian UN Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from All Africa
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Nigeria is refusing to say how it will vote when the United Nations Security Council decides on the Palestinians' request for U.N. membership, as increasing diplomatic pressure mounts on the oil-rich West African nation. Nigeria appears to be a crucial vote as Palestinians try to secure support from at least nine of the 15 council members. The U.S. has said it will veto the request. However, the U.S. could avoid that if Palestinians fail to get those nine votes.

Palestinian PM: Israel's West Bank separation fence will fall like Berlin Wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Monday said the half-concrete, half fence barrier Israel is building along the West Bank will fall just as the Berlin Wall did. Speaking at a reception at the German Representative Office in Ramallah to mark the Day of German Unity, Fayyad said the barrier, which in places snakes deep into the West Bank, "is going to fall under the will of the Palestinian people just as the Berlin wall had fallen under the will of the German people who wanted to reunite their country."

The American Veto is also an Iranian One
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Zuheir Kseibati - (Opinion) October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas, ever since he put forward the request for membership of the state of Palestine at the United Nations, is facing not only the American veto prepared in advance, as a first look at the developments of “the day after” indicates a trilateral punishment:

Palestinians press Security Council members to back UN statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - (Analysis) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to leave for Colombia next week, in an attempt to convince officials in the South American nation to support a bid for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations Security Council. A Palestinian official speaking with Haaretz on Friday, said that "within the Security Council there are nine nations who had already recognized a Palestinian state, so the Palestinians expect those countries to support the [UN] proposal too."

Land without peace: Why Abbas went to the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

While diplomatically inconvenient for the Western powers, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to get the United Nations to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state has elicited widespread sympathy. After all, what choice did he have? According to the accepted narrative, Middle East peace is made impossible by a hard-line Likud-led Israel that refuses to accept a Palestinian state and continues to build settlements.

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