Palestinians deploy Obama speech in UN campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Tom Perry - September 7, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Reuters) - US President Barack Obama is an unlikely participant in a Palestinian campaign to drum up support for a bid to win UN recognition of their statehood -- a diplomatic move opposed by both his administration and Israel. But as part of an official media campaign begun this week, Palestinians have pulled from the archive some words spoken by Obama during the 2010 UN General Assembly, in which he alluded to the prospect of a Palestinian state joining the world body.

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Obama 'star' of Palestinian ad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Mackenzie Weinger - September 7, 2011 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama is the unlikely star of a new Palestinian media campaign. Part of a speech Obama gave in 2010 to the United Nations General Assembly is featured in an ad aimed to rally support for the Palestinians upcoming bid for statehood at the United Nations on Sept. 20, Reuters reported on Wednesday. “When we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that can lead to a new member of the United Nations, an independent, sovereign state of Palestine living in peace with Israel,” Obama said in the 2010 speech in the clip that is played in the radio ad.

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Jewish groups say U.N. resolution is inevitable, but its wording isn’t set
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - September 6, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- All but resigned to the inevitability of a Palestinian push for statehood at the United Nations later this month, Jewish groups are hoping that its effects can be blunted through aggressive diplomacy and the threat of action by the U.S. Congress.

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Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on statehood moves at U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem— Palestinians have everyone guessing about their next move.

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A new poll suggests that most Palestinians prefer continuing negotiations with Israel rather than a UN initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Palestinian Center for Public Opinion
by Nabil Kukali - September 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Poll No. 179 Sept. 06, 2011 The most recent poll prepared by Dr. Nabil Kukali reveals that: (83.6%) of the Palestinians evaluate the US efforts on recognizing the Palestinian state as negative. (59.3%) prefer to resume the negotiations with Israel. (45.2%) expect Palestine to become a new UN member (48.8%) oppose holding peaceful demonstrations after proclaiming the recognition of the State of Palestine at the UN. (49.2%) believe that the PA President, Mahmoud Abbas, should exert more effort to obtain international support for the recognition of the Palestinian state.

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Palestinian statehood must come about by the democratic will of the people
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Guy Goodwin Gill - (Opinion) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am

In August 2011, I drafted an opinion on certain legal questions regarding the issue of "popular representation", so far as they might arise in the context of the push for the state of Palestine to be admitted to membership of the United Nations (to see the updated document click here). The opinion provoked considerable comment, including by those who admitted to not having read it, but the overall result appears to have been a stimulating debate about the link between statehood, UN membership and representation of the people of Palestine.

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Abbas Affirms Palestinian Bid for U.N. Membership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said Monday that he was going to the United Nations this month to seek membership for a state of Palestine, not instead of negotiations with Israel, but in addition to them. His goal, he said, was for a Palestinian state and Israel to live in peace and security next to one another. Even after any recognition by the United Nations, Mr. Abbas said, his hope is to negotiate with Israel.

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INTERVIEW-Palestinians keeping options open on U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Tom Perry - (Analysis) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Palestinians have yet to decide how they will press their statehood agenda at the United Nations this month, a Palestinian official said, indicating less certainty than had previously been signalled on details of the plan. Hanan Ashrawi, a leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the U.N. initiative was a step towards "breaking Israel's power hold over us and the American monopoly over peacemaking".

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Opinion: Why the United States should vote 'Yes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Nidal Foqaha - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians are demanding that the world and the United Nations recognize the State of Palestine within the June 4, 1967 borders. The purpose of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel - which has been in place for 18 years - was to end the conflict between the two parties and to establish an independent Palestinian state living in peace side by side with Israel, within the borders of 1967.

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Egypt, Gaza and the approaching UN vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Egypt escalated its involvement in the Israel-Gaza conflict following the August 18 attack from Sinai against Israelis near Eilat, which caused Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian casualties. Cairo demanded (and got) an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, clamped down militarily in Sinai and may even have begun taking serious steps to seal the Sinai-Gaza border.

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