Palestinians and the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) August 7, 2011 - 12:00am

In little more than a month, the Palestinians are expected to ask the United Nations to recognize their state. We have sympathy for their yearning and their frustration. For years, they have been promised a negotiated solution — President Obama called for a peace deal by September — and they are still empty-handed. But the consequences could be profoundly damaging for all involved.

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Intifada of candles not tears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by As'ad Abdul Rahman - (Opinion) August 6, 2011 - 12:00am

It is almost a reality now that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis see any possibility of resuming peace negotiations following recent speeches by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress and the Jewish lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). With a clear voice and determination, Netanyahu annihilated all possibilities of establishing two independent states; Israel and a Palestinian state peacefully co-existing and equally thriving together.

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Lebanon to recognize Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
August 6, 2011 - 12:00am

BEIRUT: Lebanon is set to recognize the Palestinian state, various media reports said Saturday, adding that President Mahmoud Abbas will visit the country in mid-August. Lebanon’s decision comes as it is preparing to head the United Nations Security Council in September coinciding with the Palestinian Authority’s plan to campaign to win U.N. recognition. It is the only Arab country that has not yet recognized the Palestinian state.

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News Analysis: Palestinians insist on approaching UN for establishing state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Over the past few months, the Palestinian leadership has been insisting that its only choice is to approach the United Nations in September to demand a full membership. Fifty days ahead of the annual UN General Assembly meetings in New York, observers said Palestinians will not retreat from applying to the UN. The Palestinians announced on Thursday that they had finalized the preparations for approaching the UN through out coordination with Arab countries. ARAB COUNTRIES' SUPPORT

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Palestinian Authority orders forces to prevent violence after September UN vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority has ordered its security forces to prevent demonstrations planned for September from escalating into violent confrontations with Israel, especially in potential friction points like the roadblocks and settlements. Senior Palestinian Authority figures issued the orders to the Palestinian security forces in recent weeks out of concern that there may be violent clashes between thousands of Palestinian demonstrators and Israel Defense Forces at the end of September, following a vote at the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of a Palestinian state.

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Examining the Palestinians’ Unilateral Bid for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Maen Areikat, Danny Ayalon, Alan Elsner, Lara Friedman, Shlomo Gazit, David Harris, Hussein Ibish, Gabriela Shalev - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Experts Weigh In on Implications of September Move Give Them A Reason Not To Do It By Hussein Ibish The wisdom of the various plans for Palestinians to approach the United Nations in September with a statehood-oriented diplomatic initiative may be debated, but not the Palestinians’ right to make the approach. Israel was, in effect, created by the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 and gained U.N. membership in 1949 without the agreement of Palestinians or any of its neighbors.

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Could Arab staying power ultimately defeat Zionism?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by David Hearst - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

There is an Arabic word you come across a lot when Palestinians talk about their future. Sumud means steadfastness, and it has turned into a strategy: when the imbalance of power is so pronounced, the most important thing to do is to stay put.

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UN vote piles more pressure on Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Washington's political theatre in May featured high-stakes betrayal. In his keynote Middle East speech, President Barack Obama called for peace talks between Israelis and Arabs based on modified 1967 borders. A few days later, on the floor of the American Congress, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to deal those borders a death blow, saying they would be indefensible. Nearly two months later, Mr Netanyahu has changed his tune. In recent days, the Israeli administration has made noises about renewing negotiations with the Palestinian Authority premised on the 1967 borders.

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Israel's "empty promise" won't stop Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- As Israel extended an olive branch to the Palestinians by renewing peace negotiations, the Palestinians said Israel can not halt their bid for recognition of a full membership in the United Nations and of a Palestinian state within the lines that existed prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. EMPTY PROMISE

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Israel chides Honduran envoy over support for Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 4, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Foreign Ministry earlier this week summoned Honduran ambassador Jose Isaias Barahona, in order to clarify his country's declared intention to support recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September. The ministry's Deputy Director for Central and South American and the Caribbean, Dorit Shavit, met with Barahona on Sunday, according to a statement sent to Xinhua on Thursday.

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