Netanyahu playing with fire in bid to win EU backing against Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

After the Palestinian Authority leadership announced its (final? ) decision on Sunday to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state in the June 1967 borders, it appears United States President Barack Obama will have to grapple with a challenging dilemma. The formulation of the resolution that is emerging from Ramallah will be a "cut and paste" job of lines from the president's speech on May 19, in which he presented the formula of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed border adjustments. The White House will have to decide whether to order U.S.

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AP Interview: Palestinian PM skeptical of UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state would largely be a symbolic victory and would not change the reality of Israeli occupation, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday. Fayyad's skepticism, voiced in an interview with The Associated Press, set him apart from the rest of the Palestinian leadership. Earlier this week, President Mahmoud Abbas and top officials in his Fatah movement formally decided to seek U.N. membership for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

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Heated diplomacy behind Palestinian statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Barbara Plett - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

For the next two months, a lot of diplomatic capital will be spent on dealing with a Palestinian bid for an international recognition of statehood that appears to be almost certain to fail. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the Palestinian controlled parts of the West Bank, formally announced on Monday its intention to apply for full membership of the United Nations, arguing it can no longer wait for a paralysed peace process to bestow independence on the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

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Palestinians going ahead with statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that with no renewal of peace talks on the horizon, the Palestinians would pursue their unilateral bid for recognition in September. "I say that if negotiations have failed we will go to the United Nations for membership," Abbas told a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah party. "Until now there have been no new incentives to return to negotiations," he said.

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Palestinians seek support for UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian delegations will make the rounds of nearly a dozen countries to try to drum up more support for their bid to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state, senior officials said Monday. Palestinian officials will visit Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries that have not yet endorsed the Palestinian plan for recognition, said Hana Amireh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision-making Executive Committee.

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All eyes on UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian decision to approach the United Nations seeking formal approval for their state appears to have set cat among the pigeons. Although Israel and its powerful backers in the United States initially dismissed the Palestinian move with contempt, there’s increasing signs of nervousness, if not panic, over the possible fallout of such a proposal getting the go-ahead by the world body.

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A guide to September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The PLO leadership has made its decision. In September it will ask the United Nations to recognize the State of Palestine in the pre-June 4, 1967 borders and grant it membership. After submitting an official letter to the secretary-general in which they will request to become a member state of the UN, the representatives of Palestine will declare that they will adhere to the UN Charter and that they are a peace-loving state.

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Peace, cottage cheese and the dentist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israelis and the Palestinians are alike in their inexplicable fear of the dentist. They postpone one appointment after another with various excuses, knowing in their hearts that their teeth will not improve. They avoid the painful operation, but in the end the inevitable will happen. It will be both painful and expensive.

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Erekat: Turkey to aid statehood bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Friday that Turkey had pledged to enlist more nations to recognize Palestine as an independent state at the UN in September. Speaking with Ma'an from Turkey, where he is with President Mahmoud Abbas for meetings with the Turkish leadership, Erekat said they had a made a number of requests of Turkey which were all agreed, without giving further details.

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Ahead of U.N. Vote, Effort to Restart Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 24, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Intensive efforts are under way to stave off a Palestinian bid for United Nations membership in September, with diplomats trying to lure Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to negotiations on the basis of President Obama’s formula of a state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps.

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