Palestinians to present UN bid on Nov. 29: Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 13, 2012 - 1:00am

CAIRO, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians are set to present their bid for the status of an observer state in the United Nations on Nov. 29, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said here Monday evening. Abbas made the remarks after meeting with Arab League (AL) chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo during an AL ministerial meeting on the Syrian crisis.

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We Already Are Politically "Normalized"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by James J. Zogby - (Opinion) November 13, 2012 - 1:00am

There is a wonderful old Indian tale about three blind men who come upon an elephant and ask, "What is this?" One grabbing the elephant's tail says, "I think it is a rope." Another putting his arms about the elephant's leg says, "No, it is more like a tree." While the third touching its side says, "I think it is like a huge, smooth rock." The elephant, of course, is more than it's individual parts.

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From his West Bank Italian villa, Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri calls for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ben Sales - (Analysis) November 13, 2012 - 1:00am

NABLUS, West Bank (JTA) -- Dozens of photographs line the wall of a room on the first floor of Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri's West Bank villa, depicting a man of global influence but also of divergent impulses.

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Israeli threat a sign of growing anxiety
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Palestinian people should take satisfaction from Israel's latest bit of bluster, because it reveals growing alarm over the world's steadily growing support for Palestine. To be sure, there is nothing pleasing about the threat, made on Saturday by the Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, that Israel will stop collecting taxes on the PA's behalf, and withhold money already collected, if the Palestinians persevere in their effort to take a step, via the United Nations, towards statehood.

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Palestinians Snub President Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Diana Atallah - (Opinion) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Ramallah - Palestinians will not succumb to United States President Barak Obama’s request to postpone their United Nations bid and will ask members the UN’s General Assembly to vote on a resolution to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to a non-member state no later than the 29th of this month.

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Abbas tells Obama he'll seek Palestinian UN upgrade, defying U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Noah Browning, Matt Spetalnick - November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank/WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - P alestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told President Barack Obama on Sunday he was intent on pressing ahead with a Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition as a non-member state, despite the U.S. leader's objections. Abbas explained his decision to Obama in a phone conversation, according to Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdaineh. Continued defiance of Washington on such a sensitive issue casts further doubt on the chances for any renewed U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian peace drive following Obama's re-election on Tuesday.

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Breast Cancer Screening Comes to Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

DURA, Occupied West Bank, Nov 12 2012 (IPS) - Fatmeh Abu Hrar Tabeel has had her first ever breast cancer screening. “It feels good to know, of course. Thanks to god, I am well,” the 51-year-old mother of seven told IPS. “Now I can examine myself once a month from home; the doctor showed me how.”

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Who has a tighter iron fist, Hamas or Israel? It's hard to tell
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The police dispersed the protesters by force. Female protesters, actually, which might make everything more readable and enticing, especially when we go on to say that it was the Hamas police who used clubs and fists to break up a demonstration organized by the General Federation of Palestinian women.

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The Israeli documentary putting military rule in Palestine on trial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - (Film Review) November 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Law In These Parts, an Israeli documentary awarded this year's Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury prize, examines how the country created a military-legal system to control the Palestinians in the lands Israel occupied in 1967. And at some point during the film, it becomes clear that it's the judges who are on trial. The documentary, which just screened as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, features forceful archive footage, alongside a line-up of Israeli legal experts, explaining how they made Israel's occupation laws.

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Israel says to close cash tap if Palestinians seek UN statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - November 11, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel will stop collecting tax revenues for the Palestinian Authority and not hand over any money if President Mahmoud Abbas continues to seek observer state membership of the United Nations, Israel's finance minister said Saturday. "If the Palestinians continue to advance their unilateral move they should not expect bilateral cooperation. We will not collect their taxes for them and we will not transfer their tax revenues," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said.

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