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. » Read more

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." » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

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.” » Read more

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. » Read more

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. » Read more

Israeli leaders in hysterics ahead of September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) August 12, 2011 - 12:00am As the UN vote on Palestinian statehood within the June 4, 1967 borders approaches, Israel's government is showing increasing symptoms of hysteria. » Read more