Abbas to visit Colombia for UN bid talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 2, 2011 - 12:00am BOGOTA (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas will visit UN Security Council member Colombia on October 11 to discuss his bid for UN member state status, President Juan Manuel Santos said. "The Palestinian leader had planned to come to Central America and he proposed a visit. We said he would be welcome and he will be here on October 11," Santos said in a statement. Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin had announced the visit on Friday, but said the date was still under discussion. » Read more

Will the U.S. Congress kill the two-state solution? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) October 2, 2011 - 12:00am Why would an Israeli prime minister mount the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to rebut a historic address over Palestinian statehood, only to sound like a man running for Congress in a Tea Party district? He opens by attacking the United Nations, calling it a place of darkness and quoting a fundamentalist leader as branding it a "house of many lies." » Read more

Report: Ashton tells Abbas no cut in EU aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 3, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told President Mahmoud Abbas that the EU would not cut aid to the Palestinian Authority after Palestine's bid for UN membership, media reports said on Monday. The Ramallah-based government is facing a financial shortfall after the US Congress declined to transfer $200 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority. The EU will not block aid payments, Ramallah-based daily al-Quds reported, quoting European sources. » Read more

Israel and Palestinians must accept the other's legitimacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 3, 2011 - 12:00am The response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his flock of spokesmen to international criticism regarding the approval of construction plans for Gilo recalls the joke about the servant who pinched the king's behind. En route to the gallows, the servant apologized: He thought it was the queen's behind. » Read more

Israelis and Palestinians embrace only parts of peace initiative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - October 2, 2011 - 12:00am Reporting from Jerusalem— Israelis and Palestinians are struggling to respond to the latest international peace initiative, with each side embracing parts they liked and dismissing those they didn't. More than a week after the group known as the Mideast quartet launched its effort to get the two sides back to the bargaining table, neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority has formally accepted or rejected the initiative as a whole, reflecting an apparent desire to avoid alienating the body, which is composed of the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia. » Read more

Two Weeks at the United Nations: a New Regional Order Taking Shape ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am Over the past two weeks, the UN General Assembly witnessed a historic event that soon became the focus of diplomats and the media equally. The event was none other than the address by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the international community, demanding full membership for Palestine at the United Nations, in what has proven to be a stand for pride and one that has changed the balance of power at numerous levels, both regionally and internationally. Yet the Palestinian episode did not alone engross the heads of state and ministers. » Read more

Palestinian Authority risks funding squeeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - October 2, 2011 - 12:00am TEL AVIV // The Palestinian Authority faces possible financial ruin for defying Israeli and American opposition to its quest to seek statehood recognition from the United Nations. Israel's finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, has repeatedly threatened in recent weeks that Israel would stop transferring the customs and tax revenue that it collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf. That US$1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn) in annual fees is critical to the Palestinian Authority, accounting for about two thirds of its revenue. » Read more

Mahmoud Abbas: 'Of whom should I be afraid?' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Raghida Dergham - (Interview) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am Raghida Dergham, a columnist for the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, is a contributing correspondent to the Global Viewpoint Network. She met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in New York earlier this week. It was the first interview with Abbas following his historic Sept. 23 speech before the UN General Assembly. Raghida Dergham: Mr. President, how did you feel at the moment you stood before the General Assembly? At that historic moment as you stood there, how did you feel personally? » Read more

Panetta: Congress decision to freeze PA aid a mistake ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yoav Zitun - October 3, 2011 - 12:00am US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday that Congress's decision to freeze $200 million in aid to the Palestinians was a mistake. Panetta, who is visiting Israel for the first time since he assumed the role of US defense secretary, also noted that any Israeli strike on Iran must be coordinated with countries in the region. » Read more

Panetta Says Israel Is Risking Isolation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times October 3, 2011 - 12:00am Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned on Sunday that Israel was becoming increasingly isolated in the Middle East, and said Israeli leaders must restart negotiations with the Palestinians and work to restore relations with Egypt and Turkey. » Read more