Moving Middle East Peace Forward After the U.N. General Assembly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Center for American Progress
by Ian Bomberg - (Analysis) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians’ bid for statehood at the United Nations will not improve daily life in the West Bank or Gaza. Instead, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians will increase, potentially leading to violence. As a result, the Palestinian state-building program, which is developing sustainable Palestinian institutions, will remain an essential tool for addressing these challenges. All parties involved, including the international community, will need to overcome a desire for punitive actions by working together on the state-building program in order to resolve shared day-to-day problems.

»

Israel and New York’s Ninth District
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

There has already been a lot of theorizing about why a little-known Republican businessman, Bob Turner, won Tuesday’s special Congressional election in a traditionally Democratic New York City district. The grim economy appears to have been a big factor in his victory over Assemblyman David Weprin, and some voters also complained about Mr. Weprin’s principled vote in Albany to legalize gay marriage, which was anathema to many ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters.

»

Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

What will we tell the world next week, at the UN? What could we say? Whether in the General Assembly or the Security Council, we will be exposed in all our nakedness: Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period. And it doesn't have a single persuasive argument against the establishment and the international recognition of such a state.

»

Will the US declare independence at UN?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

WHILE many questions relating to the State of Palestine's imminent application for UN membership are being raised and vigorously debated, one relevant question has not been. That question is how American national interests would be harmed if Palestine were to be admitted as the 194th member of the United Nations, as it clearly would be in the absence of an American veto. Perhaps the question is not being raised and debated because no potential adverse consequences — at least for the United States and the American people — can be envisioned and cited to justify a veto.

»

In Jordan, low turnout for anti-Israel march
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - (Analysis) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

AMMAN, Jordan — About 200 protesters ringed by scores of police officers demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador here Thursday, but what was billed by organizers as a “million-man” march on the embassy drew a far smaller crowd, which was kept well away from the building by a tight security cordon. Concerned about a repeat of last week’s storming by protesters of Israel’s embassy in Cairo, the Israeli government brought its ambassador and his staff members home from Amman on Wednesday night for their weekend leave, a day earlier than usual.

»

Why Palestinian statehood is a question for the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joshua Goldstein, Shibley Telhami - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

As the Palestinians seek U.N. support for a state of their own, Washington has advanced two arguments to dissuade them: first, that taking the issue of statehood to the United Nations is a unilateral move away from negotiations with Israel; and second, that the effort will be counterproductive because the United States will veto any such U.N. Security Council resolution.

»

Anxieties mount over Palestinian statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The countdown to a Palestinian bid next week for membership and recognition as a state in the United Nations brought a stark warning from Israel on Wednesday that approval would result in “harsh and grave consequences” for the Palestinians. The threat by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was the sharpest yet in an escalating cycle of rhetoric on all sides of the conflict. While the Palestinians say they will go ahead with the move, the Obama administration dispatched two senior envoys to the region Wednesday to restate the American case against the statehood bid.

»

EU's Ashton extends mediation trip to Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Justyna Pawlak - September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton extended a Middle East trip on Wednesday to hold more talks aimed at averting a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, officials said. Ashton is in the region to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders as well as diplomats from Arab countries, part of an intense international effort to revive peace talks.

»

U.S. Scrambles to Avert Palestinian Vote at U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by David Kirkpatrick - September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

The United States faced increasing pressure on Tuesday as the Palestinian quest for statehood gained support from Turkey and other countries, even as the Obama administration sought an 11th-hour compromise that would avoid a confrontation at the United Nations next week. With only days to go before world leaders gather in New York, the maneuvering became an exercise in brinkmanship as the administration wrestles with roiling tensions in the region, including a sharp deterioration of relations between three of its closest allies in the region: Egypt, Israel and Turkey.

»

The UN Vote and Palestinian Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Robert Danin - (Opinion) September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians' effort to attain international statehood recognition at the United Nations in September is aimed at enhancing their leverage in future negotiations with Israel. In a candid May 16 op-ed in the New York Times, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), acknowledged as much. "Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another," he said, "and not as a vanquished people."

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017