November 1st, 2011

Palestinians to push heritage agenda at UNESCO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - November 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamdan Taha, a Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, said UNESCO membership was the Palestinians' natural right. He described as "regrettable" the objections of some governments including the United States. UNESCO's board decided last week to let member states vote on a Palestinian application for full membership, seen as part of a Palestinian drive opposed by Israel and the United States for recognition as a state in the U.N. system.

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Palestinian Membership in Unesco Comes at a Price as U.S. Cuts Off Funding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Flavia Krause-Jackson - November 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Acceptance into the UN cultural agency Unesco, best known for its designation of “world heritage” sites, hasn’t brought the Palestinians any closer to full membership in the United Nations itself. If anything, the victory has come at a price. A day after Palestine gained full membership in the UN group with 107 votes in favor and 14 against, the U.S. has retaliated by cutting off funding that supplies almost a quarter of the agency’s budget. Moreover, swing votes the Palestinians need to bolster their support on the Security Council for full UN membership have evaporated.

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In Israel, Press Freedom Is Under Attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dimi Reider - (Opinion) October 31, 2011 - 12:00am

ON Sunday, the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Anat Kamm, a 24-year-old journalist and former soldier, to four and a half years in prison for leaking documents containing evidence of what she suspected might be war crimes committed by her commanders. Uri Blau, a prominent Israeli investigative reporter at Haaretz who received the documents from Ms. Kamm, is now waiting to hear whether the attorney general will indict him.

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UNESCO Palestine decision sets off U.S.-U.N. confrontation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - November 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem and Washington— A decision by the United Nations' cultural organization to admit Palestine as a member state set off a confrontation between the U.S. and the U.N., threatening to strip Washington of influence in several key international agencies while cutting off a major source of contributions to the world body.

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Israel and the Apartheid Slander
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Richard Goldstone - (Opinion) October 31, 2011 - 12:00am

THE Palestinian Authority’s request for full United Nations membership has put hope for any two-state solution under increasing pressure. The need for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians has never been greater. So it is important to separate legitimate criticism of Israel from assaults that aim to isolate, demonize and delegitimize it.

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October 31st

NEWS: Palestine joins UNESCO as full member. After a deadly exchange of rocket fire, there are efforts to restore the cease-fire between Israel and militant groups in Gaza, but tensions continue to run high. The death toll in Gaza reaches 12. Both sides are using new technology. The attacks suggest Islamic Jihad may becoming a threat to Hamas. Pres. Abbas says the Arab rejection of the UN partition plan in 1947 was “a mistake.” The Arab League says it will look into alternatives to the bid for full UN membership for Palestine. A former Israeli soldier is jailed for leaking secret documents to Ha'aretz. UN officials say Israel should take the idea Palestinians might dismantle the PA seriously, as outlined in Asharq Al-Awsat. Palestinians say they will ask for full UNESCO membership in a vote later today, despite US threats to cut off funding to the agency. COMMENTARY: Robert Blackwill and Walter Slocombe say Israel is a true ally to the United States. Ha'aretz says Israel must end the Gaza blockade. Sefi Rachlevsky warns Israel's “radical leadership” might drag the country into war with Iran. Daniel Friedmann says a decision to strike Iran should be by the West, not Israel. JJ Goldberg notes that prominent Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea has suggested that PM Netanyahu and PM Barak are pushing for an attack on Iran. The Jordan Times says the US is blackmailing the UN over Palestine's UNESCO membership. Newsweek interviews Moshe Dayan's widow, who says the current government cannot think in terms of peace. ATFP releases a full transcript of PM Fayyad's address to its Sixth Annual Gala.

Remarks by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the Sixth Annual Gala on October 19, 2011
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from American Task Force on Palestine
October 31, 2011 - 12:00am

Thank you. Thank you so very much. This gives a whole new meaning to what Woody Allen must have had in mind about the importance of showing up. Let me see what I can do with the ten percent.

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Moshe Dayan's Widow Ruth: Zionist Dream Has Run Its Course
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Rula Jebreal - (Opinion) October 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Elegantly dressed and perfectly made up, Ruth Dayan, 95, receives me with a wide smile in her Tel Aviv home overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The charismatic, alert, and extremely intelligent Dayan is the widow of Moshe Dayan, legendary chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces and a key leader in the war of independence in 1948. Indeed, Moshe Dayan was transformed into a symbol of national strength during the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The Israelis felt invincible with this imposing figure at the helm.

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Intimidating and malicious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) October 31, 2011 - 12:00am

The US threat to stop supporting UNESCO financially if it votes for the admission of Palestine as a full member amounts, simply, to blackmail. Washington has been taking an actively hostile position on the Palestinian quest for recognition as an independent state by international organisations; now it is UNESCO’s turn to come under direct pressure from the US, acting as a proxy for Israel, of course.

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Israeli Brass Astir Amid Pressure for Iran Strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Blog) October 28, 2011 - 12:00am

“Have the prime minister and defense minister sealed a deal between them, one on one, to attack the nuclear reactors in Iran?” So asks Nahum Barnea, commonly described as Israel’s senior and most respected political journalist, in an article leading the top of the front page of today’s Yediot Ahronot. He writes that growing rumors to that effect have created a quiet but urgent buzz within Israel’s political and military elites.

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