Clinton urges Arabs to give more money to Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Arab countries to offer greater financial support to the Palestinian Authority. "It takes more than plans and commitments to support making the state of Palestine a reality," Clinton told the annual dinner of the American Task Force on Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group which calls for a Palestinian state. The chief US diplomat paid tribute to the Palestinian Authority's efforts, saying it needs a "larger, steadier, and more predictable source" of financial support.

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Palestinians Shift Focus in Strategy for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership, near despair about attaining a negotiated agreement with Israel on a two-state solution, is increasingly focusing on how to get international bodies and courts to declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

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Palestinians mull alternatives to peace talks, including UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in limbo over a dispute regarding settlement expansion, Palestinians are starting to think out loud about possible alternatives to peace talks. After investing all of his political capital in talks with Israel, what would President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) do if he concludes there's no chance for a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

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Palestinians plan UN resolution calling for settlement evacuation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership, in conjunction with Arab states, plans to submit a resolution to the UN Security Council stating that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal and must be evacuated, Haaretz has learned. This initiative comes in place of an earlier idea of seeking Security Council recognition for a Palestinian state within pre-1967 lines.

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Israel pushes Palestinians to acknowledge its Jewish character
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

It sounds at first like a familiar Mideast tussle: Israel demands recognition, Arabs refuse to give it. But Israel's recent push to be recognized as a "Jewish" state is actually a new twist on an old struggle, and one that is rapidly turning into the latest stumbling block to faltering peace talks. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its declaration of independence. U.S. Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have embraced the term, which was used in the 1947 U.N. resolution calling for the establishment of two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab.

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Do the Arabs want peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Mudar Zahran - (Opinion) October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Arab League states have announced their support of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for a complete halt of all settlement activity in order to resume negotiations. This decision is not all support for Abbas, as freezing the settlement activities has recently been an Arab states’ demand rather than a Palestinian one. Recently, King Abdullah II of Jordan addressed the United Nations and said the settlements posed a major threat to the peace talks, and could actually lead to a major war. This sentiment has been promoted heavily by the government-controlled Arab media.

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Abbas: No alternative to 2-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that the Ramallah-based government had yet to rule out the 2-state solution to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. "We fully support the 2-state solution, a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders living side by side with Israel in peace, security and stability," Abbas said after meeting with Finland's President Tarja Halonen. "We insist that this is the best solution for the future of both Palestinians and Israelis; there is no other option," Abbas said countering growing calls that the PLO give up talks with Israel.

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Dismay, disillusionment prevail in Palestinian camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Crispian Balmer - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The stalemate in direct peace talks with Israel risks undermining the moderate Palestinian leadership and should force world powers to reassess their Middle East strategy, senior Palestinian officials say. The U.S.-brokered negotiations kicked off in Washington last month, but stalled less than 4 weeks later after Israel refused to extend a freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank, prompting the Palestinians to refuse to carry on talking.

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Demographics may scuttle Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Joseph Chamie - (Opinion) October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Countless words have been spoken and written, several wars and numerous armed clashes have taken place. Thousands have died, with even more injured and suffering. Yet, after more than 60 years of struggle, numerous diplomatic initiatives, agreements and peace offers, intergovernmental conferences and behind-the-scenes negotiations, comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains disappointingly elusive.

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Abbas: What Israel calls itself is none of our business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that it was none of the Palestinians’ business if Israel wanted to call itself a Jewish state, or anything else. “If the Israelis want to call themselves any name, they should address the international community and the United Nations, because this is none of our business,” Abbas told reporters after meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen in Ramallah. Abbas said that the PLO had recognized Israel when the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

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