Palestinian, US president discuss UN initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
November 11, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank —A spokesman for the Palestinian president says the Palestinians will proceed with asking the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state, despite a personal call from President Barack Obama to abandon the bid. Nabil Abu Rdeneh said President Mahmoud Abbas had a long phone conversation with Obama on Sunday evening. He said Obama "expresses his opposition to this step," but Abbas replied he would carry on.

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PA says to pay partial salaries Sunday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority finance ministry announced Sunday that it would pay part of salaries owed to public sector employees by the end of the day. The salaries of prisoners families will be paid completely while public sector employees will receive 52 percent of their salaries, the ministry said in a statement. The aid-dependent Palestinian economy in the West Bank faces a financial crisis due to a drop in aid from Western backers and wealthy Gulf states, as well as Israeli restrictions on trade.

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Abbas says Russia to join in Arafat's death investigation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 11, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday revealed that Russia will take part in investigating the death of his predecessor Yasser Arafat alongside France and Switzerland. "There is a complete coordination between us and the French and also experts from the Russian government to exhume Arafat's body," Abbas said during a festival in the West Bank city of Ramallah marking the eighth anniversary of Arafat's death.

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Palestinians Renew Push for Enhanced U.N. Status
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 9, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian official in the West Bank said Friday that the distribution of a draft resolution at the United Nations headquarters in New York a day earlier was the “first big step” toward a vote this month on enhancing the Palestinians’ status in the General Assembly.

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Erekat: UN bid aims to preserve two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 8, 2012 - 1:00am

JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Israel's settlement policy is threatening the two-state solution, not the PLO's bid to upgrade Palestine's status at the UN, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday. Erekat said Palestine's request for non-member statehood of the UN did not contradict the two-state solution, in separate meetings with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, US consul Michael Ratney and French consul Frédéric Desagneaux.

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After jail sentence, Bassem Tamimi declared prisoner of conscience
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 8, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi, who has been sentenced to four months in prison in a plea bargain with an Israeli court, is a prisoner of conscience and should be released, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. Tamimi was detained on Oct. 24 during a protest at an Israeli supermarket in a Jewish settlement near Ramallah. Ofer military court sentenced him to four months in prison and fined him 5,000 shekels ($1,280) in a plea bargain on Tuesday, Amnesty said.

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Sovereignty over occupied territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Kamel S. Abu Jaber - (Opinion) November 7, 2012 - 1:00am

A voice is being heard loud in the wilderness of Arab politics. It carries with it the weight of experience and a deep knowledge of Arab politics. It is the voice of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, joined, lately, by that of Farouk Qaddoumi of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

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‘The forgotten people’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) November 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Two years ago, Palestine was the international community’s primary regional focus. At the end of May, the Israeli navy intercepted and boarded a flotilla of ships and yachts sailing to break the blockade of Gaza and Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists, having boarded a Turkish ferry.

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Court addresses fumes, moving Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yonah Jeremy Bob - November 6, 2012 - 1:00am

The High Court of Justice on Monday held another hearing in which settlers say Palestinians around Wadi Ara are harming them with the fumes created through coal production, while the Palestinians say that the settlers are just trying to force them off their land.

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Israel preparing to ‘ensure collapse’ of Palestinian U.N. bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
November 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel is preparing to counter a Palestinian bid for enhanced United Nations status later this month, a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. The comments came as Israel’s private Channel 10 reported that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman last month pledged to ensure the “collapse” of the Palestinian Authority if the bid for non-member status at the General Assembly goes forward.

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