Israel: UN bid risks 'far-reaching consequences'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel on Wednesday threatened "difficult and far-reaching consequences" of plans to upgrade Palestine's status in the United Nations next month. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman relayed the warning during talks with visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Jerusalem, a statement from his office said. If President Mahmoud Abbas "continues unilateral measures against Israel in the UN General Assembly, there will be difficult and far-reaching consequences," Lieberman told Ashton.

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Qatar initiative in Gaza signals a regional shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

For a visit that last just six hours - the same as a return flight from Doha to Cairo - the visit of the Emir of Qatar to the Gaza Strip could have remarkable consequences for long-term regional events. For Palestinians hammered by Israel's blockade since 2007, it represented a victory: not merely a challenge to the blockade by an Arab state, but a reminder that Gazans are not alone and not forgotten. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the first Arab leader to visit the Strip since Jordan's King Abdullah in 1999.

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Why Is Qatar Mucking Around in Gaza?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by David B. Roberts - (Opinion) October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

A deeply contrarian streak has taken hold in Qatar these days. Insulated by U.S. security guarantees, eager to use its burgeoning fiscal reserves, and propelled by its elites' reformist zeal, Doha continues to exert a disproportionate influence on regional politics. Emir Hamad bin Khalifah Al Thani's latest move was a dramatic visit to the Gaza Strip, becoming the first head of state to visit the Palestinian territory since Hamas wrested control of it in 2007.

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Why The Palestinian Authority Is Broke
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by George Hale - (Opinion) October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

File under: Reading the writing on the wall. As the United States withholds vital aid for the Palestinians, Israel handed over $78 million last week. The early transfer of tax revenues reflects Israeli fears of wider unrest as the crisis strains the Palestinian Authority's budget to the point of government shutdowns over unpaid wages. 

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Palestinians, Israeli left-wingers protest settlement supermarket
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 24, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists on Wednesday blocked the entrance to a supermarket located in a West Bank settlement industrial zone north of Ramallah. The protesters, waving Palestinian flags, burst into the branch of the Rami Levy chain and called for the boycott of settlement- manufactured foods and goods marketed at the store.

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Momentum builds for Gaza to secede, Israel and West Bank to become one
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - October 24, 2012 - 12:00am

After decades of the "two states for two people" blueprint more or less dominating proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace, a new paradigm is gaining momentum. Under this model, Israel absorbs the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians, while Hamas-run Gaza becomes a separate entity aligned with the Middle East’s rising Islamist powers.

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Palestinians Stage Elections; Young Voters Shrug
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from 972 Magazine
by Lena Odgaard - October 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Ramallah, West Bank — Despite Hamas’ boycott of the Palestinian municipal elections and a discouraging 55% turnout, candidates and observers alike saw the Oct. 20 poll as essential to re-establish political legitimacy in the city councils after a seven-year voting hiatus. But among the young electorate, Al-Monitor found few who believed their vote mattered.

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Israel denies West Bank permits for students on US-funded scholarships
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - October 23, 2012 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV // Ghadir Abu Rokba has become one of the latest victims of Israel's years-long bid to separate the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The 18-year-old from Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp last spring applied for a US-sponsored scholarship to study mathematics at Birzeit University in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Apartheid without shame or guilt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 23, 2012 - 12:00am

As elections draw near, the season of public opinion surveys is upon us. But here is a survey that is more disturbing and significant in its revelations than those informing us whether Yair Lapid is taking off or Ehud Barak is crashing in the polls. This one lays bare an image of Israeli society, and the picture is a very, very sick one. Now it is not just critics at home and abroad, but Israelis themselves who are openly, shamelessly, and guiltlessly defining themselves as nationalistic racists.

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Israel's grand illusion on Palestinian UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Hanan Ashrawi - (Opinion) October 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The artful magician relies on basic tricks in order to perform his illusions. He talks to distract the audience, giving irrelevant details to keep their minds occupied. He uses his skills to draw their attention to a certain place. Then, while all eyes are focused in one direction, he subtly and deftly carries out his deception, making them believe in a distorted reality; something their common sense tells them cannot be, but that their minds are inclined to accept.

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