September 16th

The UN Vote and Palestinian Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs by Robert Danin - (Opinion) September 14, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinians' effort to attain international statehood recognition at the United Nations in September is aimed at enhancing their leverage in future negotiations with Israel. In a candid May 16 op-ed in the New York Times, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), acknowledged as much. "Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another," he said, "and not as a vanquished people." » Read more

Ten Reasons for a European 'Yes' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Martti Ahtisaari, Javier Solana - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am It is not often that Europe has the chance to play a pivotal role on the world stage. But as the Palestinians push for recognition as a state at the United Nations later this month, the European Union is finding itself courted by each side, and therefore more influential on the Middle East process than at any time since the Oslo Accords. As ever, the biggest challenge facing the E.U.’s 27 member states is presenting a unified front. There are 10 compelling reasons for them to coalesce around a “yes” vote and keep the two-state approach to Middle East peace alive. » Read more

Mousa envisions vigorous and peaceful Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am Amr Mousa, 74, the front-runner in the contest for the presidency of post-revolution Egypt, has called for a renegotiation of the military annexes to the Egyptian-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979. “The Treaty will continue to exist,” he told me in an exclusive interview on September 10, “but Egypt needs forces in Sinai. The security situation requires it. Israel must understand that the restrictions imposed by the Treaty have to be reviewed.” » Read more

Al-Malki, PA Officials Paint US Loser in Palestinian UN Gambit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am Questions of procedure and outcome of the Palestinian UN gambit remain rife with only a week before Mahmoud ‘Abbas stands before the U.N. General Assembly on September 23 and, according to Minister Dr. Riad Al-Malki, “presents the official request for the state of Palestine to be granted full membership” to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Al-Malki said it had been decided to bring the issue of statehood to the Security Council, seemingly daring the US to cast its promised veto and face international isolation. Not certain is whether the U.S. » Read more

Why Israel Should Vote for Palestinian Independence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs by Isaac Herzog - (Opinion) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am This coming week, the Palestinian Authority intends to ask the United Nations to vote for Palestinian statehood during the annual session of the General Assembly. The Palestinian bid represents Israel’s greatest political challenge in years. Although the United States has promised to veto the resolution in the Security Council, it is likely that more than 140 countries in the General Assembly will vote in favor and grant the Palestinians the status of non-member state in the UN. » Read more

Israel - ‘Yes’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am On November 29, 1947, the people of the future Israel were glued to the radio, listening to the United Nations vote on the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. We can still hear in our collective memory the speaker announce – “Soviet Union – Yes, United States – Yes” and then the majority affirmative vote. » Read more

Diplomatic maelstrom ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am The cabinet ministers' diagnosis last week that Israel is facing its most complex strategic situation in decades is turning out to be correct. Even before the focus shifts to the Palestinian arena, with the bid by the Palestinian Authority to have the United Nations recognize it as a state, Israel has had to deal with the return home of senior envoys from three of the region's most important countries. » Read more

Digging in, the essence of Netanyahu's foreign policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Analysis) September 16, 2011 - 12:00am The years-long diplomatic effort to integrate Israel as an accepted neighbor in the Middle East collapsed this week, with the expulsion of the Israeli ambassadors from Ankara and Cairo, and the rushed evacuation of the embassy staff from Amman. This is the lowest point in Israeli foreign policy since the groundbreaking visit to Jerusalem by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977. The region is spewing out the Jewish state, which is increasingly shutting itself off behind fortified walls, under a leadership that refuses any change, movement or reform and is dealing with debacle after debacle. » Read more

Palestinian UN bid puts Obama on defensive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Matt Spetalnick - (Analysis) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama brokered the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks last September and set a one-year goal for reaching a deal, few thought he would succeed where so many others had failed. But hardly anyone could have predicted that Obama would now be facing one of the sharpest blows to U.S. prestige in decades of Middle East diplomacy -- a Palestinian threat to defy him and push for statehood at the United Nations next week. » Read more

Why Palestinian statehood is a question for the U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joshua Goldstein, Shibley Telhami - (Opinion) September 15, 2011 - 12:00am As the Palestinians seek U.N. support for a state of their own, Washington has advanced two arguments to dissuade them: first, that taking the issue of statehood to the United Nations is a unilateral move away from negotiations with Israel; and second, that the effort will be counterproductive because the United States will veto any such U.N. Security Council resolution. » Read more