Ready for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Jonas Gahr Store - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The main issue before the United Nations General Assembly this week is the Palestinian quest for recognition. Less attention is being paid to a related, and no less important question: Are the Palestinians capable and ready to run a state?

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Israel and America are on the wrong side of history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Gareth Evans - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Shortly before Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination by a right-wing Jewish extremist in November 1995, I met him in Tel Aviv. I was visiting Israel as Australia's foreign minister to argue the case for rapid implementation of the Oslo peace accords - all the way through to negotiated acceptance of Palestinian statehood. I concluded my pitch by saying, with perhaps a little more cheek than was appropriate, "But of course I'm preaching to the converted." Mr Rabin's response is etched in my memory.

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Obama at the UN on Israel-Palestine: Good Politics, Poor Diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

If you'd wanted to gauge how strained relations between the Obama administration and the Palestinian leadership have become, all you'd need do is watch the shaking heads of the Palestinian representatives at the United Nations General Assembly during the U.S. President's speech there on Wednesday. Obama reiterated the American commitment to a two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestine, both established U.S. policy. Rhetorically, however, his speech recognized most of the core elements of the Israeli narrative but virtually none of the Palestinian one.

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Peace Now, or Never
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ehud Olmert - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

AS the United Nations General Assembly opens this year, I feel uneasy. An unnecessary diplomatic clash between Israel and the Palestinians is taking shape in New York, and it will be harmful to Israel and to the future of the Middle East. I know that things could and should have been different. I truly believe that a two-state solution is the only way to ensure a more stable Middle East and to grant Israel the security and well-being it desires. As tensions grow, I cannot but feel that we in the region are on the verge of missing an opportunity — one that we cannot afford to miss.

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Palestinians' U.N. gamble could backfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Saree Makdisi - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It goes without saying that Palestinians and Arabs are outraged by the idea that the United States is threatening to block recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations. What is less obvious, perhaps, is that some of the most vociferous critics of the Palestinian bid for upgraded U.N. recognition are Palestinians themselves. How could it be that advocates of Palestinian rights could be suspicious of, if not altogether opposed to, the U.N. gambit? Isn't the creation of an internationally recognized independent state the goal shared by all Palestinians?

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The Palestinians are the new Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Look at the Palestinians and look at us. Look at their leaders and recall ours. Not, of course, those we have today, but those we once had, the ones who established the state for us. The Palestinians are the new Jews and their leaders are amazingly similar to the former Zionist leaders.

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Palestine an Israeli interest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Frances Raday - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli government has brought us to absurdity, using all its powers of diplomatic persuasion to preempt UN recognition of a Palestinian state, when it is in Israel’s strategic interest that Palestine should be recognized as a state. A march of folly has brought us to this point: the settlement policy of this and previous governments and Netanyahu’s failure to promote genuine negotiations with the moderate leadership of Abbas and Fayyad, to make concessions, which are in any case foregone conclusions, or to freeze building in occupied areas.

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Obama veto of Palestinian statehood: What can he do after that?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

During his nearly three years in office, President Obama has tried a new type of American leadership in the Middle East, one that is more moral than muscular, less unilaterally assertive and more humbly collaborative. While he’s been mostly successful and consistent, all that may now be viewed in the region as meaningless if the United States effectively vetoes a request by the Palestinians for the United Nations Security Council to recognize their homeland as a state.

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Defending Obama’s pro-Israel credentials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Robert Wexler - (Opinion) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It is ironic that Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, as well as numerous other Republican groups and individuals, have chosen this month to escalate their smear campaign against President Obama’s pro- Israel record. While President Obama has consistently acted to protect Israel’s safety and interests over his entire time in office, the events of this month in particular – both in the US and in the Middle East – serve as a sharp rebuttal to these partisan efforts to spread misrepresentations and falsities.

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Palestinian delegation reacts angrily to Obama's UN speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - (Analysis) September 22, 2011 - 12:00am

New York, Asharq Al-Awsat – The feeling amongst the members of the Palestinian delegation to the UN in New York ranged from resentment to outright anger following the speech given by US President Barack Obama yesterday. As for French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech to the UN, this was received with praise and applause from the Palestinian delegation.

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