Germany to abstain from UN Palestine vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany said it would abstain in a vote on Thursday at the UN General Assembly on changing the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic status, citing fears that it could be counterproductive to the peace process. "We did not take this decision lightly. Germany shares the goal of a Palestinian state ... but the decisive steps towards real statehood can only be the result of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

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The time is now: Support Palestine’s UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nabeel Shaath - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Today, Palestine will ask the UN General Assembly to vote on a resolution to enhance its status to that of Observer State. This step will be a milestone in realigning international efforts to achieve peace in the region, within the framework of international law and the values embodied in the UN Charter. There should be no doubt: Supporting this initiative will create a new, positive, and effective momentum for a just path to peace in our region.  

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UN vote on Palestinian statehood just another cautious step forward
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

The card players of the Al-Amari cafe have been around long enough to take a sceptical view of the United Nations vote on Thursday torecognise Palestinian statehood

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Supporting Palestine at the UN today is a vote for peace in the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hanan Ashrawi - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

It might seem stating the obvious that Palestinians and Israelis find solutions only through negotiation, until you look at the record. It is a story in which one side makes proposals for nothing in return; one side makes agreements that the other side breaks; and one side keeps commitments that the other side ignores.

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Germany backtracks on Palestinian bid; Israeli official: 'We lost Europe'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian people are enjoying sweeping support in the lead up to Thursday night's vote at the UN General Assembly over whether to upgrade the Palestinians' standing to non-member observer status. By Thursday morning Israel time, that support had turned into a full-on landslide, as more European nations decided to alter their positions, essentially leaving Israel to fend for itself.

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Rival Palestinian groups show support for UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM —Israel's leader, having failed to block the Palestinians from taking their quest for a state to the U.N., defiantly declared Thursday that they would have to back down from long-held positions if they ever hope to gain independence. Ahead of Thursday's vote, thousands of Palestinians from rival factions celebrated in the streets of the West Bank. In a departure from its previous opposition, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said they would not interfere with the U.N. bid, and its supporters joined some of the celebrations.

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Palestinian Realism Triumphs Today
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

65 years after the decision to divide their country, the Palestinians return to the United Nations today to obtain the long-delayed recognition of their sought-after state with its borders delineated as per Resolution 181, i.e. as they had been before the 5th of June 1967, and East Jerusalem as its capital, after Israel has been persistently eating away at it and Judaizing it during 45 years of occupation and still today.  

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Settlers: Annex Area C in response to PA's UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Settlers and right-wing activists called on Israel to annex Area C and threatened to burn the Palestinian flag, in response to Palestinian plans to Thursday to ask the UN General Assembly to grant it the status of non-member state. Left-wing Israelis, in turn, planned to rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Palestinian move, which constitutes a de facto UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. Settlers argued that now was the moment to strengthen Israel’s hold on the West Bank, particularly since the Palestinian bid was an abrogation of the 1993 Oslo Accord.

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Supporting Palestinians’ UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Opposition to or reservation about the Palestinian UN bid to gain non-member observer state status is ill-advised, hypocritical and wrong, especially on part of the US, Germany and Britain.

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GOP senators introduce proposed penalties for enhanced Palestinian status
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
November 29, 2012 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican U.S. senators introduced the first efforts to penalize the Palestinians and the United Nations should the body affirm enhanced Palestinian status. Language proposed this week as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would cut assistance to the Palestinians by 50 percent and U.S. fees to the United Nations by the same amount should the effort by the Palestinians to gain recognition as a non-member observer state succeed in the General Assembly. It would also cut by 20 percent U.S. aid to any country voting to approve.

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