Palestinian anger at US rising over UN veto threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinians have long been skeptical of America's ability to help them win independence. But low expectations have turned into frustration and in some cases outright anger after the U.S. threatened to derail a bid for U.N. recognition of an independent state and Congress put a hold on $200 million in badly needed aid.

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Ex-Israeli officials: 'Price tag' attacks could start intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Following a recent increase in 'Price tag' attacks on Palestinian holy sites, former high-ranking Israeli security officials warned of the risk of a surge in violence across the region. The attack this week on a mosque in the village of Tuba-Zangariya in northern Israel, where the interior prayer hall and religious emblems were set on fire, was the most recent in a series of attacks that Jewish settlers label "Price Tag" attacks, signifying payback for any Israeli curbs on settlements in the West Bank.

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Israel may increase PA control in goodwill gesture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

The government is considering a Palestinian request to transfer security control of additional territory in the West Bank to PA security forces as a goodwill gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas. The initiative may be linked to efforts to get Abbas to agree to renew negotiations. The territory under consideration to be transferred is in Area B (assigned under the Oslo Accords to PA civil and Israeli security control) and Area C (assigned under the Oslo Accords to full Israeli control).

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Why Kosovo but not Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
by Zoltan Grossman - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

In his September 21 speech to the United Nations, President Obama announced that he would veto UN recognition of a Palestinian state, because its independence was not a result of a negotiated settlement with Israel. He said that "peace depends upon compromise among people who must live together long after our ... votes have been tallied ... That's the lesson of Sudan, where a negotiated settlement led to an independent state. And that is and will be the path to a Palestinian state - negotiations between the parties."

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Abbas on charm offensive to push UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas flew to Europe on Tuesday to kick off a week-long tour which will also take him to Latin America to shore up support for his UN membership bid. The UN membership request, which Abbas formally presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 23, is being studied by the 15-member Security Council, which is expected to vote on it in the coming weeks. The move is strongly opposed by both Israel and the United States, which say a Palestinian state can only emerge through bilateral negotiations.

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Palestinian lawyers affirm essential role of PLO at UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

As the Security Council considers Palestine's application for full membership of the United Nations, Palestinian lawyers, jurists and legal scholars have signed a joint statement expressing concern over the bid's implications for Palestinians' rights.

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Nigeria: Nation Shies On Palestinian UN Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from All Africa
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Nigeria is refusing to say how it will vote when the United Nations Security Council decides on the Palestinians' request for U.N. membership, as increasing diplomatic pressure mounts on the oil-rich West African nation. Nigeria appears to be a crucial vote as Palestinians try to secure support from at least nine of the 15 council members. The U.S. has said it will veto the request. However, the U.S. could avoid that if Palestinians fail to get those nine votes.

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Palestinian PM: Israel's West Bank separation fence will fall like Berlin Wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Monday said the half-concrete, half fence barrier Israel is building along the West Bank will fall just as the Berlin Wall did. Speaking at a reception at the German Representative Office in Ramallah to mark the Day of German Unity, Fayyad said the barrier, which in places snakes deep into the West Bank, "is going to fall under the will of the Palestinian people just as the Berlin wall had fallen under the will of the German people who wanted to reunite their country."

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Opposing Statehood Bid, Supporting a New Path to Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Logan Bayroff - (Opinion) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

At college campuses across the country this fall, students are lining up on one side or the other of the most current fault line in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: To support the Palestinian statehood bid, or not?

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It's now time for the West to recognise Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sydney Morning Herald
by Malcolm Fraser - (Opinion) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The arguments against recognition of a Palestinian state seem to rest on the simple proposition that agreement must be reached through negotiation and that a resolution granting statehood would set that process back. If that argument was valid it would have been true in 1948 when the United Nations recognised Israel as an independent state. People should then have argued the Israelis must negotiate with the Palestinians, the people who were being pushed out, and once they had come to an agreement, we could recognise Israel.

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