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

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. "Fayyad said that the decision to go to the UN had not been made, in other words had not been finalized, which we were pleased to hear," US Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MA), the head of the delegation, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after the talks.

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Abbas says seeking Palestinian state without settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met Thursday with a US Democratic Congressional delegation currently visiting the region, telling them that he is seeking a Palestinian state without settlements, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. According to the report, Abbas told the visiting legislators that regarding paths to statehood, his "first, second and third choice" is negotiations, but added that he does not see going to the United Nations to seek recognition of statehood as being contradictory "with the essence of the peace process."

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NEWS: Pres. Abbas and PM Fayyad send mixed messages on UN bid. The US threatens to halt aid to Gaza. Pres. Abbas says NATO may have a future role in a Palestinian state. The PA is formulating policies to offset future financial crises. Israel prepares for possible Palestinian statehood rallies in September. Israel may freeze defense spending because of cost of living protests. The US urges Israel not to proceed with planed settlement expansions in occupied East Jerusalem. The EU says the plan threatens a two-state solution. PM Fayyad says the move shows “total disregard for Palestinian rights.” Abbas stresses there can be no settlements in a Palestinian state. Israel is accused of systematically denying education to Palestinian prisoners. COMMENTARY: Amos Oz says Israel's middle-class protest movement shows the spirit of the country. Ha'aretz says Israeli leaders are becoming hysterical about September. Israeli Amb. Michael Oren says Israel will not agree to international peacekeepers in a Palestinian state. Joseph Dana says Israeli “social justice” protests are ignoring the occupation. JJ Goldberg looks at the lawsuit on the status of Jerusalem in US passports. The Arab News says the time has come for Palestinians to go to the UN and demand independence. David Newman says the West Bank separation barrier is actually a de facto border between Israel and Palestine. Sharif Omar says the wall has not changed the strategic equation between Israel and the Palestinians. Hussein Ibish looks at the Palestinian financial crisis and its political implications.

Penniless Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

The financial crisis currently facing the Palestinian Authority is not just economic; it is also a symptom of the deep political problems facing the leadership in Ramallah. The PA has based its appeal to the Palestinian public on a strategy that combines working with Gulf Arab states, Israel, and the West to produce improvements in the quality of life for Palestinians under occupation, while at the same time pursuing independence through international diplomacy.

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A PALESTINIAN VIEW Still seeking victory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Sharif Omar - (Opinion) August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

It was in September 2003 that the meaning of the Wall that Israel had constructed between me and my land began to sink in. Despite our refusal to apply for permission to cross the Wall, Israeli officials had gone ahead and issued permits to some of the farmers in Jayyous, where I live. There were 650 permits issued for our village, and my name was not among them.

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AN ISRAELI VIEW Building a future border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by David Newman - (Opinion) August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

The construction of the West Bank barrier has, in reality, been the construction of a border between Israel and a future state of Palestine. This does not mean that the location of the barrier will remain in situ and that there will not be changes in its course if and when a formal agreement is reached.

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Editorial: The UN tactic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has provided no evidence to back his recent claim that the Palestinians were planning “bloodshed and violence the like of which we have never seen” in September as they push for UN recognition of an independent state. But when Lieberman said he feared the Palestinians could organize marches to coincide with the UN General Assembly in September, he was right. Palestinian leaders have drawn up a plan to stage rallies that would boost their drive for UN recognition.

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Fight Over Jerusalem in the Pages of a Passport
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Why is it, friends of Israel often ask, that the Jewish state is the only country in the world that’s not allowed to name its own capital city? King David chose Jerusalem as capital of the original Jewish state 3,000 years ago. And yet America refuses to place its embassy there, despite repeated acts by Congress requiring it. Neither does any other country in the world. The United States won’t even allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to have their passports show Israel as their birthplace. Their passports simply say “Jerusalem.”

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Israeli protests fight injustice - as long as it's convenient
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Joseph Dana - (Opinion) August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Last weekend, more than 300,000 Israelis protested for economic reform throughout the country. In Tel Aviv, the epicentre of the housing protests, 250,000 Israelis marched to the defence ministry chanting the slogan "the people want social justice". The demonstrations were some of the largest in Israel's history and have pumped new life into the corpse of Israel's leftist political movement.

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The Lessons of the Second Lebanon War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Michael B. Oren - (Opinion) August 12, 2011 - 12:00am

South of Lebanon's Litani River, many villages lay in ruin. Others were deserted, their inhabitants having fled northward to Beirut. Across the border, Israeli civilians emerged from shelters to find their neighborhoods ravaged by thousands of Katyusha rockets. The surrounding forests were scorched. Israeli troops deployed throughout southern Lebanon, poised to deal a decisive blow to Hezbollah, but they did not. At that moment, 8 a.m. on Aug. 14, 2006—five years ago this weekend—the guns of the Second Lebanon War fell silent.

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