Could a U.N. Upgrade Help the Palestinians Prosecute Israeli Officials?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Would a Palestinian state recognized by the United Nations have the right to bring legal action against Israel and Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court or the U.N.'s own International Court of Justice?

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Go-it-Alone Strategy Leaves Palestinians Divided
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Huffington Post - September 23, 2011 - 12:00am

For months Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has traversed the globe, lobbying members of the United Nations to vote in support of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. This is the week when he will take this long-threatened action, and when the member states will decide to support or oppose the Palestinian bid.

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The Do-Nothing Strategy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Analysis) September 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Governing is about choosing. And a much-diminished American president has made his choice. Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking isn't and shouldn't be Barack Obama's top priority. Getting reelected is. And that means carefully husbanding his eroding political currency and expending it on matters domestic and economic. Despite all the kerfuffle at the United Nations this week, the last thing he needs to do is pick an unproductive fight with Israel or the Republicans on an Israeli-Palestinian peace process that has been dead for some time now.

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For love or money?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It is easy to get the impression the GOP-led House of Representatives is trying to out-Likud the Likud. The reaction on Capitol Hill to Palestinian plans to seek UN membership may be more strident than that of the Israeli government. But it’s hard to tell because the Israelis are delivering a very mixed message.

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Time is running out for Israel to salvage a two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Taufiq Rahim - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

In the fall of 2002, Prof Sari Nusseibeh, now the president of Al Quds University in Jerusalem, argued that Palestinians needed to adjust to practical realities on the ground, and should avoid living in the dream of a greater Palestine. It was a comment that went to the heart of the right of return for Palestinians to modern-day Israel, which continues to be a contentious point.

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PLO to give UN council time to mull bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership -- despite firm US and Israeli opposition -- will give the UN Security Council "some time" to study their application for full membership in the United Nations, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday. He also said the Palestinian delegation would politely reject US President Barack Obama's demand in his UN General Assembly speech on Wednesday that the Palestinians drop their bid for membership in the United Nations, a plan that is doomed to failure if Washington keeps its promise to veto it.

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The "Abu Mazen Spring" in the Security Council
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Salam Fayyad has been the prime minister of the Palestinian government since 2009, and tasked with the seeming "mission impossible" of building all of the institutions needed to prepare for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Fayyad has succeeded, despite the huge difficulties resulting from Israeli occupation, settlement and other policies.

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Abbas stands to gain from UN gambit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - (Analysis) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — The drama over the Palestinians' bid for U.N. recognition is still unfolding, but President Mahmoud Abbas appears to have won new respect at home for standing up to the United States and moving their decades-long quest for statehood back to the center of the world stage. Recognition of Palestine — even in a possible watered-down form, since full U.N. membership is blocked by a certain U.S. veto — won't bring the Palestinians true independence anytime soon. It might not even be enough to improve their hoped-for leverage in future border talks with Israel.

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Palestinian leadership considering French proposals on peace process: official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership is studying ideas proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to revive peace talks with Israel, a senior official said Thursday. Sarkozy's ideas, revealed Wednesday in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, aim at defusing an increasing tension between the United States and the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) over the latter's plan to request a full UN membership.

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Show, don’t tell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama couldn’t have said it any better when he told the United Nations General Assembly that there was “no shortcut” to peace in the Middle East. Obama was responding to the drive by the Palestinians to secure official U.N. recognition for their independent state. The U.S. president probably thought he was being statesmanlike and realistic by solemnly declaring that “statements and resolutions” at the U.N. will not bring such a state into existence. Obama is resoundingly and definitively correct when he says there is no short-cut to a durable peace.

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