One-State or Two-State: If Israel Doesn’t Decide, the UN Will
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Felice Friedson - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am

It is conceivable within the course of realpolitik that despite obfuscation; political filibustering; dancing the diplomatic two-step (direct, indirect); wading through a plethora of plans, initiatives, think-tank reports, white papers and expert opinions (from Madrid to Oslo to Allon to Arab to Faya’d); it appears increasingly likely that all might boil down to a single resolution enacted by the United Nations Security Council.

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Israelis have mixed feelings about flotilla inquiry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 15, 2010 - 12:00am

With a sense of relief and a touch of anxiety, Israelis braced themselves Monday for another high-profile probe of their military's conduct. Relief stemmed from the hope that an Israeli-led commission, approved by the government Monday, will head off U.N. calls for an international inquiry into Israel's May 31 raid on an aid flotilla seeking to break its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine Turkish activists were killed in the operation. Anxiety persists, however, because recent inquiries into the military have led to political shake-ups and painful soul-searching.

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ANALYSIS-UN rebukes of Israel permitted in US policy shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Louis Charbonneau - June 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation. The subtle but noticeable shift in the U.S. approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in U.S.-Israeli relations in years. Under Obama, the United States seeks to reclaim its role as an impartial Middle East peace broker which critics say it lost during the previous administration of George W. Bush.

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J'lem fears PA may seek UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh, David Horovitz - April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

While Israel and the Palestinian Authority are finally expected to begin US-mediated indirect “proximity” talks in the very near future, concern is growing among some in the Israeli government that the PA is planning to marginalize the diplomatic process and instead unilaterally seek UN recognition for a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.

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'U.S. told Palestinians it would consider allowing UN censure of Israel'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration would consider allowing the United Nations Security Council to censure Israel over its activity in West Bank settlements in order to encourage the Palestinians to participate in peace talks, a Palestinian source told The Guardian on Friday. According to the source, U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell's deputy, David Hale, told Abbas that the Obama administration views Israeli construction in East Jerusalem as "provocative."

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Israel defies international law, again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) April 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli amendments to standing military orders that took effect last Tuesday were fresh punitive measures in a long line of destructive and illegal acts designed to deny Palestinians their basic human rights. The orders, signed by Major General Gadi Shamni, former commander of Israel's armed forces in the West Bank, broaden the interpretation of "infiltrator" to mean anyone who does not have a valid Israeli residence permit, and expand the powers of Israeli forces to deal with anyone they decide is a "security threat".

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To achieve Mideast peace, Obama must make a bold Mideast trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Stephen Solarz - (Opinion) April 11, 2010 - 12:00am

More than three decades ago, Israeli statesman Moshe Dayan, speaking about an Egyptian town that controlled Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea, declared that he would rather have Sharm el-Sheikh without peace than peace without Sharm el-Sheikh. Had his views prevailed, Israel and Egypt would still be in a state of war. Today, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, with his pronouncements about the eternal and undivided capital of Israel, is conveying an updated version of Dayan's credo -- that he would rather have all of Jerusalem without peace than peace without all of Jerusalem.

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PNA urges Washington to endorse Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday called on the United States to take the initiative and announce it would recognize the future Palestinian state. "The Palestinians don't want to see new ideas to settle the conflict in the Middle East. They want international resolutions to be implemented," Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio. Erekat explained that the Palestinians want Washington "to go to the Security Council and announce its acceptance of the international law which accepts a Palestinian statehood, with Jerusalem as its capital."

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Support for Palestinians grows in UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Sharmila Devi - March 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Two unrelated diplomatic upsets have underlined growing impatience with the behaviour of the Israeli government among western countries that are traditionally supportive. Backing from the European Union and Australia in the United Nations to sustain the issue of Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza more than a year ago has coincided with controversy over Israel’s apparent use of western passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a Hamas official, in Dubai.

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Goldstone Report back on UN agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - February 23, 2010 - 1:00am

The UN General Assembly is scheduled to convene Friday in order to vote on an extension period of five months for Israel's internal investigation of Operation Cast Lead as well as the investigation announced by the Palestinian Authority following the Goldstone Report. Outcomes According to a resolution submitted by Western countries, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be asked to once again report on the progress of the individual probes to member states after the five month period comes to an end.

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