Officials: Mideast Quartet talks failed due to disagreement over Israel as Jewish state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

The foreign ministers of the Middle East Quartet failed to reach an agreement on Monday surrounding the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and therefore did not issue a public statement on their meeting meant to renew Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Western diplomats and senior officials in Jerusalem said Tuesday.

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A Palestinian View: September needs Israel's awakening and not politicians' bluffs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mahdi Abdul Hadi - (Opinion) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am

The proposal made by Yossi Alpher and several other Israelis of "Buying into Palestinian Statehood" (New York Times, June 24, 2011) is based on several wishful assumptions for the "day after".

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An Israeli View: Why we are going to the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Blog) July 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestine Liberation Organization has now officially decided to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Leaving aside speculation as to whether this really will happen in September and what the consequences might be on the ground back home in Palestine and Israel, this is a good occasion to ask how we arrived at this juncture. The conventional wisdom that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's intransigent behavior has driven the Palestinians to adopt the international track is important, but hardly offers a complete explanation.

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In Balata, the future is scarier than September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - July 1, 2011 - 12:00am

BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, NABLUS - Several days before the first intifada broke out, a few hundred people in the Balata refugee camp marched toward the drawn guns of raiding Israeli soldiers. The soldiers withdrew at the order of then-GOC Central Command Amram Mitzna, who wanted to avoid bloodshed, and Balata became a symbol of the struggle against the Israeli occupation that broke out on December 9, 1987.

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Don't play into Zionist hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Sobhi Ghandour - (Opinion) June 29, 2011 - 12:00am

The Arab region is witnessing several political changes similar to those that followed the First World War. Among the key consequences of that war was the end of the Ottoman Empire, which was referred to as ‘the sick man of Europe’, as well as European colonialism in the region. Back then, Arabs bet on European powers to support their right to independence and the creation of a single unified Arab state. The era was referred to as the ‘Great Arab Revolt’ (1916–1918). It was led by Sharif Hussain Bin Ali, Emir of Makkah, against the Ottomans in 1916 with support from Britain.

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'UN says Syria allowed Naksa Day border crossings'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Report on Naksa, Nakba clashes on northern border says Syria didn't organize the demonstrations but Syrian armed forces were always nearby. Syrian armed forces allowed Palestinian demonstrators to cross the Israel-Syrian border in the Golan Heights during Nakba and Naksa Day protests, a United Nations report released on Wednesday said, AFP reported.

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Netanyahu distorts the refugee problem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed his great deception skills again on Sunday. He stated that the clashes on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights that day proved that the Palestinians were not interested in a solution based on 1967 borders, but rather sought a solution based on 1948 borders. For once there was a nugget of truth in his comments, because he correctly mentioned the importance of 1948 in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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The Old Man's 'day of horrors'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ami Gluska - (Opinion) June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Toward the end of May 1967, the Egyptian army had deployed in eastern Sinai, the Straits of Tiran were blocked to Israeli shipping and transport of oil to Eilat, the reserves were called up, the economy was paralyzed, shelters were dug in backyards and public parks were readied to serve as temporary cemeteries. Great excitement prevailed in the whole Arab world. Fiery speeches and Cairo Radio broadcasts informed the masses that the end of the "Zionist entity" was near. On the Israeli home front, the sense of isolation and existential foreboding only grew.

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Time for Israel to wake up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

These must be heady days for Palestinians, certainly most, if not all, of those who live inside their usurped homeland and among the Palestinian diaspora in the Middle East or western countries. There were lots of good news lately, now topped by the endorsement by the Arab League of the Palestinian intention to ask the UN General Assembly in September to recognise the State of Palestine, a course that does not necessarily guarantee smooth sailing thanks to US and Israeli objections.

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Fayyad: State will be on 1967 borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 31, 2011 - 12:00am

Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday that the Palestinian state would be established on all territories occupied in 1967. "On 1967 territories, there are no disputed areas. There is no A, B, or C area, nor are there H1 or H2 zones. It is all Palestinian territory that has been occupied since 1967," Fayyad said. "The independent Palestinian state will be on all these territories including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine."

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