Abbas: We want settlements-free state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with US lawmakers visiting the West Bank and Gaza Strip and urged them to lend their support to the formation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, the PA's WAFA news agency reported on Friday. Abbas reportedly stressed that the future state must be "empty of settlements." The US delegation was led by Senator Steny Hoyer (D), who is the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives. They toured the area on Thursday.

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Palestinian official slams U.S. stance on Jewish settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official criticized the United States Wednesday for not taking a firm stance against the Jewish settlement activities in the occupied territories. The Obama administration's statement that it is concerned by the Israeli activities "is insufficient for anything on the ground, " said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee.

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Hoyer: Abbas, Fayyad sent mixed messages on UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

PA prime minister tells visiting US lawmakers no final decision yet made on statehood bid, while Abbas talks as if deal is done. The Palestinian leadership sent mixed messages to a Democratic Congressional delegation visiting Ramallah, with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad saying that no decision on the UN bid in September has been finalized, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas gave the impression that going to the UN was a done deal.

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Western diplomat: UN statehood bid will harm U.S.-Palestinian Authority ties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Cooperation between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority will be harmed if the PA goes through with its plan to seek United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly session in September, a senior Western diplomat told Israeli journalists on Wednesday during a briefing in Tel Aviv.

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Why the US must support bid for Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ibrahim Sharqieh - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

In 1998, while attending a peace process conference in Germany, I witnessed intense discussions about whether Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat should unilaterally declare a Palestinian state. (The Oslo Accord’s five-year interim phase was to end one month after the conference date.) European diplomats argued aggressively against the declaration, insisting that more time should be given to negotiations. Ultimately, pressure, particularly from Europe and the United States, changed the course of action for Mr. Arafat, and no state was declared.

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Some lessons gleaned from living with the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Advertiser-Tribune
by Paulette Schroeder - (Opinion) August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

How strangely I'm ending my time in Palestine. Having lived three years in Hebron, Palestine, I find that I'm surprised but finally keen to what it really means to be a citizen of the United States. At the same time, I've come to appreciate more clearly what it means for me to be Christian in our world today.

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PA leaders invited to Washington in bid to avoid UN plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 4, 2011 - 12:00am

In the context of its efforts to persuade the Palestinian Authority to drop its plan to ask the UN in September to recognize a Palestinian state, the US Administration has invited PA officials to Washington for talks on ways of avoiding the statehood bid. PA sources said that Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, will travel to Washington shortly for talks with US government officials on the statehood plan.

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Middle East drama on Capitol Hill
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Analysis) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

This summer is much busier than usual in Washington, DC, even without taking the debt ceiling drama into account. Here are some updates on what is going on in the U.S. capital: 1. Congressmen press the Obama administration to take a more decisive position on Syria The U.S. administration has pretty much exhausted all the possible ways to put pressure on Assad's regime - sanctions, rebukes, hints that the regime "is not indispensible" – other than explicitly calling for Assad to step down. And that's exactly what members of Congress would like the Administration to do.

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What Obama needs to do
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) July 22, 2011 - 12:00am

These are not the best of times for Americans, especially their leaders in government, President Barack Obama and Congress, in view of the bad state of the economy (i.e., the federal debt) and foreign policy, particularly towards the Arab world. Many here and there are pointing a finger at the president, or as one headline pointed out, “the too-quiet president”. An unidentified Republican, who expects Obama to win a second term in office next year, asked much-respected Washington Post columnist David Ignatius: “Why does he so often seem to react rather than lead?”

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What Obama needs to do
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Jordan Times - July 22, 2011 - 12:00am

These are not the best of times for Americans, especially their leaders in government, President Barack Obama and Congress, in view of the bad state of the economy (i.e., the federal debt) and foreign policy, particularly towards the Arab world. Many here and there are pointing a finger at the president, or as one headline pointed out, “the too-quiet president”. An unidentified Republican, who expects Obama to win a second term in office next year, asked much-respected Washington Post columnist David Ignatius: “Why does he so often seem to react rather than lead?”

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