How Unesco countries voted on Palestinian membership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


Breakdown of how Unesco countries voted on Palestinian membership 194 member states 173 votes cast 81 required majority 52 abstentions 14 "no" votes 107 "yes" votes No: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sweden, US, Vanuatu. Abstentions:


Israel's ideal partners are in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


It's a pleasure to do business with Islamic Jihad. It fires Grad rockets, Israel responds with bombs, Egypt mediates indirect talks, there's a cease-fire and everyone is satisfied. Israel once again displays its "deterrent power" (which did not deter Islamic Jihad from launching rockets in the first place ).


Palestinians must say no to negotiations with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


Now that Palestine has been recognized by the United Nations' cultural organization, UNESCO, it will be no more of a non-state and no less occupied than it was before. Its citizens will be no less unfree than they are today, no less under the yoke of Israeli foreign rule. But their civil disobedience versus Israel, the United States and the Quartet raises the hope that the Palestinians will not return to the negotiating table - because negotiations have become an obstacle to the decolonization process, the essential condition for peace.


U.S. Law Enforcement Chiefs to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - October 31, 2011 - 12:00am


After 9/11, American law enforcement had to move quickly to get their expertise up to deal with terrorism. Countering terrorism was nothing new to the Israelis, who have accumulated decades of experience trying to provide security for its citizens, who have suffered suicide bombings and armed attacks by the militant Palestinians and others. During the so-called Second Intifada, over 1,000 Israelis were killed by suicide bombings, but in the last half dozen years the violence has dropped dramatically, largely due to actions by Israel’s security forces.


Israeli PM defends east Jerusalem construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister is defending his decision to expand construction in east Jerusalem. Benjamin Netanyahu says it is Israel's "right" and "duty" to build in all parts of its capital. Israel captured east Jerusalem along with the West Bank in the 1967 war. Palestinians claim that section of the city as their future capital.


Using the United Nations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


In past decades, Palestinian nationalists thought they had to hijack planes or blow up Israeli civilians in order to attract international attention. Some still do, but moderate leaders are lately discovering that the path to recognition might lie instead through the United Nations. On Monday, they won a key victory when Palestine — a state that doesn't technically exist — was granted membership in the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. That's giving the Obama administration fits and angering pro-Israel members of Congress from both U.S.


PA: Hackers attack Internet in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – The Palestinian Authority minister of telecommunications said Tuesday that hackers from more than 20 countries attacked the telecommunications network, interrupting all cable-based services. Mashhour Abu Daqqa said the Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel recorded some 1 million attacks per second on the Palestinian grid, a coordinated effort disrupting services across the occupied territories. Specialists are dealing with the problem and trying to prevent the full collapse of Internet services in Palestine, Abu Daqqa said.


Israel successfully tests advanced missile said capable of reaching Iran with nuclear warhead
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM — Israel on Wednesday successfully test-fired a missile said capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and striking Iran, fanning the public debate over reports the country’s top leaders are agitating for a military attack on Tehran’s atomic facilities. While Israeli leaders have long warned that a military strike was an option, an intense round of public discourse on the subject erupted over the weekend by a report in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak favor an attack.


Erekat: PLO rejects Israeli 'blackmail'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 2, 2011 - 12:00am


RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israel's approval of 2,000 new settlement housing units on occupied Palestinian land and its withholding of Palestinian tax revenue are illegal and amount to blackmail, PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday. "Our condemnation is unequivocal. These steps are illegal and amount to blackmail that we categorically reject," Erekat said in a statement. Israel decided on Tuesday to accelerate Jewish-only settlement building and withhold Palestinian Authority funds, a day after UNESCO awarded Palestine full membership of the UN cultural agency.


Israel Plans to Speed Up Settlement Growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 1, 2011 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM — Israel said on Tuesday that it would accelerate the construction of 2,000 housing units in contested areas of East Jerusalem and in two West Bank settlements. The announcement came a day after the Palestinians won full membership in Unesco in the face of staunch Israeli and American opposition.



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