October 6th

Clinton: UNESCO should rethink vote to admit Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the UN cultural agency UNESCO should "think again" on plans to vote on Palestinian membership, noting that such a move could cause the United States to cut funds for the organization. Clinton, speaking to reporters in the Dominican Republic where she was on an official visit, said she found it "inexplicable" that UNESCO would consider moving ahead on a Palestinian vote while the issue was still before the United Nations Security Council.

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Palestinians Win a Vote on Bid to Join Unesco
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Despite strong opposition from the United States, Germany and several other European states, the Palestinians gained initial approval on Wednesday of a bid for full membership in Unesco — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — as part of their broader campaign for recognition as a state by the United Nations Security Council. But full membership in Unesco could mean a legally mandated cutoff of all contributions from the United States, both dues and voluntary.

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October 5th

NEWS: Israeli cost-of-living protesters now must try to develop political momentum. Pres. Abbas is touring Europe and Latin America to shore up support for Palestine's UN membership application. The hunger-strike by Palestinian prisoners held by Israel grows. A small group of Palestinians berate US officials in Ramallah. The US says both Israel and the Palestinians have accepted the new Quartet statement. There may be a generation gap in US rabbis' support for Israel. Palestinians demonstrating against the torching of a mosque in Israel are met with tear gas. Egypt may be preparing a sharp increase in the price of its gas exports to Israel. Congress now is considering reducing but not eliminating aid to the PA. Palestine requests membership in UNESCO. Pres. Obama's team develops strategies to win support from Jewish voters and donors. COMMENTARY: Walter Rodgers says GOP presidential candidates are showing more loyalty to Israel than their own country. A group of Palestinian lawyers expresses concerns about the impact of the UN bid on the status of the PLO. Shlomo Avineri says there's no realistic chance for peace under present circumstances. Zohir Andreus says there's so much racism in Israeli society, no wonder mosques are being torched. Mohammad Darawshe says no lessons have been learned between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel in the last 10 years. Ravi Menon says Mohandas K. Gandhi was not a supporter of Zionism. Ori Nir looks at the development of "price tag terrorism." Emily Cadei says members of Congress are trying to blackmail the UN over Palestinian statehood. Hussein Ibish says Gilad Atzmon spreads anti-semitic hate and John Mearsheimer was wrong to endorse his new book.

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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General Disassembly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Emily Cadei - October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

To hear Republican politicians tell it, the failure of the United States to stop the Palestinians' headlong drive for member-state status at the U.N. Security Council was the result of employing too many carrots and not enough sticks. That line of reasoning was on full display this week, as Congress froze $200 million in assistance earmarked for the Palestinian Authority in retaliation for its statehood bid. But a number of GOP figures are thinking even bigger -- or smaller, as it turns out: Seeking a tougher U.S. line on a U.N.

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"Price Tag" Terrorism Crosses the Green Line
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Ori Nir - October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

The extremist settlers call it "Price Tag." We have always called it by its proper name: Terrorism. Now, Israel's Shin Bet, the IDF's top brass and Israeli Cabinet members agree with us. On Monday, shortly after a mosque was torched in an Israeli-Arab village in the Galilee and "Price Tag" graffiti was found nearby, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, a member of the extreme right wing Yisrael Beitenu Party, told an Israel Radio reporter that he prefers not to use the perpetrators self-serving jargon. "This is an act of terrorism," he said.

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Gandhi and Zionism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Ravi Menon - October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian issue, more than any other wrangle in modern times, has huge overtones of a morality play and as an Indian living in this region, I have always been intrigued about what Gandhi, that apostle of peace and a strong advocate of morality above all in politics, had to say on this troubling matter. And all this takes on a special meaning on the eve of the upcoming historic debate and the move to table a resolution to recognise Palestine as a state in the UN.

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Obama's Jewish Team Lays Out Path Back to White House
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - (Analysis) October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

For the past three months, a group of President Obama’s Jewish supporters has been getting together for a weekly conference call to discuss strategy. The group, includes, among others, former White House adviser David Axelrod, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Congress members Robert Wexler and Mel Levine, Chicago Jewish activist and attorney Alan Solow, and mega-donors Penny Pritzker and Lester Crown.

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No lessons learned
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Mohammad Darawshe - October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

For the Arab public in Israel, the October 2000 clashes remain an unresolved case. Thirteen families who lost their loved ones, joined by the entire Arab community, still ask out loud how it is possible that lethal fire was opened on demonstrators yet justice never prevailed. After all, tense, and occasionally violent, demonstrations were not invented by the Arab public: protesters have repeatedly blocked roads in Jerusalem, and settlers in Amona threw rocks at police officers, yet no one ever conceived of ordering sniper fire in response to those actions.

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Palestinians seeking membership in UNESCO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
by Angela Charlton - (Analysis) October 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian officials are set to seek membership in the U.N. cultural agency Wednesday, diplomats say, as they expand and accelerate their push for international recognition despite opposition from the United States and Israel. With peace talks stalled and landmark efforts to get Palestine recognized at the United Nations inching along a labyrinthine path, Palestinian diplomats are pursuing other, potentially faster avenues toward getting the world to consider their territories a nation.

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