Israel to demand adjustment of Quartet Mideast peace plan, official says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that he welcomed "the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions," the premier intends to present a list of qualifications to the Quartet's statement on a resumption of Mideast talks that in effect enfeeble that statement.

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The American Veto is also an Iranian One
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Zuheir Kseibati - (Opinion) October 3, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas, ever since he put forward the request for membership of the state of Palestine at the United Nations, is facing not only the American veto prepared in advance, as a first look at the developments of “the day after” indicates a trilateral punishment:

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Where Do We Go from Here?
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Foreign Policy (Opinion) - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am




Abbas to visit Colombia for UN bid talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2011 - 12:00am

BOGOTA (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas will visit UN Security Council member Colombia on October 11 to discuss his bid for UN member state status, President Juan Manuel Santos said. "The Palestinian leader had planned to come to Central America and he proposed a visit. We said he would be welcome and he will be here on October 11," Santos said in a statement. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin had announced the visit on Friday, but said the date was still under discussion.

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Gilad Atzmon and John Mearsheimer: self-criticism, self-hate and hate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - October 1, 2011 - 12:00am

I've long been an advocate that self-criticism, both as an individual and as a group, is an essential element of healthy political engagement. Group-think, political orthodoxy and correctness, and chauvinistic received wisdom are the worst kinds of political poison. Triumphalism and/or paranoia are the inevitable consequences, and they lead to grotesque distortions of perception and judgment. Self-criticism, especially of a group one identifies with and participates in, is not only healthy, it is indispensable.

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Land without peace: Why Abbas went to the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

While diplomatically inconvenient for the Western powers, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to get the United Nations to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state has elicited widespread sympathy. After all, what choice did he have? According to the accepted narrative, Middle East peace is made impossible by a hard-line Likud-led Israel that refuses to accept a Palestinian state and continues to build settlements.

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Some are more equal at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Aijaz Zaka Syed - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama’s shameful turnaround over Palestine has exposed the ‘audacity of hope’ for what it is — a sham. More important, it has turned the spotlight on the world body and the crass hypocrisy that goes on in there in the name of peace and international diplomacy. Let’s face it. The world body has ended up as a plaything in the hands of world powers.

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Standing firmly for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Khalaf Ahmad al Habtoor - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Ever since Yasser Arafat passed away, the Palestinians have lacked a strong leader with the authority to speak on their behalf. His successor Mahmoud Abbas took a different approach on statehood in the belief the road to peace ran through Washington. And to that end, he has been unfailingly conciliatory, even on some of his people's basic demands. His statements were always designed to be non-inflammatory and whereas the Israelis and their American backers thought of him as a good guy, Palestinians themselves expected a lot more from him.

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More snubs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Hardly a week has passed since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an impassioned plea for full Palestinian United Nations membership at the opening session of the UN General Assembly session; the two loud opponents - the US and Israel - have been lambasted by Arabs, Israelis and even some Americans.

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The Three Competing Strategies That Led to the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Steven L. Spiegel - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

The controversial Palestinian request for UN membership is the culmination of three competing strategies pursued by the US, Israel, and the Palestinians over the last three years.

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