Why more pathetic attempts to revive a dead process?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Blog) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

For nearly three years now, since the demise of negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas, there have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The reasons center on the apparent recognition by both Abbas and Olmert's successor, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that the gaps separating them on issues of substance are too wide to justify the political risks entailed in rejoining a serious negotiations effort.

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Netanyahu is dooming Israel to live eternally by the sword
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Author Etgar Keret, on assignment from Haaretz, accompanied the prime minister on his trip to Italy this week and reported on Benjamin Netanyahu's perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "This is an insoluble conflict because it is not about territory," Netanyahu said. "It is not that you can give up a kilometer more and solve it. The root of the conflict is in an entirely different place. Until Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, there will be no way to reach an agreement."

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Negotiator: UN bid with or without negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (AFP) -- Palestinians will seek UN recognition and membership regardless of whether there is a resumption of peace talks, negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh said on Thursday. His comments were made as the international community pushes a raft of new peace initiatives in a bid to head off the Palestinian push for UN membership. But Shtayeh said the Palestinians were determined to seek recognition and that talks could proceed alongside their bid.

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Palestinian statehood: Individual nations, not the U.N., will have the final say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
(Editorial) June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

In their Op-Ed articles on Palestinian statehood, Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook and John R. Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, both misunderstood the nature and function of U.N. recognition in international law. Bolton's claim that President Obama is "the most anti-Israel president since 1948" was particularly galling. Was it not the president of the administration in which Bolton served who claimed to have had a "vision" of an Israeli and a Palestinian state "living side by side in peace and security," exactly as Obama wants?

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Official: Netanyahu fears third intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Attila Somfalvi - June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Jerusalem officials told Ynet Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears a third intifada this summer ahead of a planned Palestinian declaration of statehood in September. "Netanyahu fears he will not be able to stop (what will happen in) September," a top official told Ynet. "The prime minister is making an effort to convince European states that if riots begin after the declaration of statehood responsibility will not fall on Israel."

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Palestinian Strategy and the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Jerome M. Segal - (Opinion) June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Many questions have arisen about the wisdom of seeking United Nations recognition of the State of Palestine in September. In particular, two issues stand out: 1) Once recognition is obtained from the United Nations General Assembly, then what? Is there a step-2? 2) Is there really any long-term alternative to negotiations, given that without Israeli agreement issues such as Jerusalem and refugees cannot be resolved? Will a UN strategy lead to productive negotiations at some point in the future, or will it make resolution more difficult?

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Egyptian FM: Palestine UN membership doesn’t negate Israel’s legitimacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Arab efforts to enable Palestinians to obtain membership in the United Nations do not aim to render Israel an illegitimate state, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Araby said in a Thursday statement. Araby said that diplomatic efforts to request Palestinian state membership in the UN General Assembly are expected in September, and that these efforts are justified in light of ongoing Israeli intransigence and refusal to bring an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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September declaration of the Palestinian State: Is it possible?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian determination to go to the UN Council for recognition of the Palestinian state increases everyday. Reports about secret channels of negotiations were denied by the Palestinian official Sa’ab Erekat who confirmed that without a complete freeze of the settlements building, no progress can be achieved in the peace process.

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And what about statehood?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian strategy to achieve statehood is making significance progress among certain international political circles, but it is still lacking the necessary coordination and cohesion to bear the desired results. President Mahmoud Abbas and his West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have succeeded in detonating the familiar anti-Palestinian arsenal that Israel's public relations teams have employed against Palestinian aspirations.

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Saudis throw down the gauntlet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Saudi Arabia has apparently thrown down the gauntlet in its loud tiff with the Obama administration's "misguided policies" toward the Middle East and particularly its stance on the Palestinian issue, now in its 64th year, on which President Barack Obama recently reiterated the "unshakeable" US support of Israel.

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