Palestinians Back Statehood Bid With West Bank Rallies as Israel Resists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Bili Varner - September 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in Ramallah’s Yasser Arafat Square and other cities across the West Bank to support their campaign for statehood at the United Nations. The festive crowds waved Palestinian flags and chanted independence slogans as speakers pledged backing for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas two days before he speaks at the UN General Assembly and is expected to ask for membership. A masked youth set fire to a U.S. flag after the speeches and was detained by police.

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How The Palestinian Statehood Bid May Backfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

On September 19, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas formally told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that he would be submitting an application for full UN membership for the state of Palestine after his speech to the General Assembly on September 23. This reiterates the plan outlined by Abbas in a speech to the Palestinian people last week.

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Why the Middle East will never be the same again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians won't get a state this week. But they will prove – if they get enough votes in the General Assembly and if Mahmoud Abbas does not succumb to his characteristic grovelling in the face of US-Israeli power – that they are worthy of statehood. And they will establish for the Arabs what Israel likes to call – when it is enlarging its colonies on stolen land – "facts on the ground": never again can the United States and Israel snap their fingers and expect the Arabs to click their heels. The US has lost its purchase on the Middle East.

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A new paradigm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

With this week's start of the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian leadership can rightly say that it has begun to reap fruit from its decision to take the Palestinian cause to the international community. The Palestinian people and leadership have suffered for too long from the inattention of the international community, which insisted on leaving Palestinians and Israelis to their own devices to solve their problems. For the Palestinians, this was equal to leaving their people at the mercy of the brutal Israeli occupation.

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How The Palestinian Statehood Bid May Backfire
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

On September 19, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas formally told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that he would be submitting an application for full UN membership for the state of Palestine after his speech to the General Assembly on September 23. This reiterates the plan outlined by Abbas in a speech to the Palestinian people last week.

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Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

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The Palestinian Bid for UN Membership: Rationale, Response, Repercussions Featuring Ghaith al-Omari, Amos Yadlin, and David Makovsky
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In South Asian Pulse - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

On September 12, 2011, Ghaith al-Omari, Amos Yadlin, and David Makovsky addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. al-Omari, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine, previously served as director of international relations in the Office of the Palestinian President and as advisor to then prime minister Mahmoud Abbas. General Yadlin, the Institute's Kay fellow on Israeli national security, served for more than forty years in the Israel Defense Forces, including the last five as head of defense intelligence. Mr.

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Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The National (Opinion) - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

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Al-Wazir: PA could collapse if US withdraws aid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Daniel Bases - (Analysis) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A formal call for Palestinian statehood at the United Nations this week could bring severe financial strains, even a potential collapse of the Palestinian Authority, the territories' top banker told Reuters on Monday. The United States, a major source of financing and aid for the Palestinian Authority, opposes a unilateral call for statehood. Washington has warned of repercussions if President Mahmoud Abbas calls for statehood on Friday, when he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly.

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Face-off at the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The looming United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood is not a cause for celebration — for Palestinians or anyone else. It is merely further evidence of the utter stalemate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which once promised to deliver a two-state solution but which during the last few years has deteriorated into a depressing morass.

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