Hoyer: Abbas, Fayyad sent mixed messages on UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - August 11, 2011 - 12:00am

PA prime minister tells visiting US lawmakers no final decision yet made on statehood bid, while Abbas talks as if deal is done. 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.

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APNewsBreak: Israel and Arabs tentatively agree to exploratory talks on Mideast nuke-free zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Associated Press - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

VIENNA — Israel and Arab nations have tentatively accepted an invitation by the U.N. nuclear agency to discuss a Middle East free of atomic arms, in correspondence shared with The Associated Press. Whether the meeting takes place may depend on the participants’ willingness to compromise on preconditions. An official from a delegation accredited to the International Atomic Energy agency says IAEA chief Yukiya Amano planned to meet with the Arab group on Sept. 5 to try and bridge differences.

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Peres: Israel-Palestinian peace still possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 10, 2011 - 12:00am

President Shimon Peres on Wednesday told a delegation of visiting U.S. Democratic congressmen that he believes that it is still possible for Israel to reach peace with the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported. Peres said that both sides understand that they need to overcome differences and renew negotiations before the United Nations General Assembly session in New York next month at which the Palestinians have said they will seek recognition of statehood.

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Palestinians for dummies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gabriel Bacalor - (Opinion) August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

According to recent opinion polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), an overwhelming majority of the Palestinians (61 percent) want their government to follow the peace policies of Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas, while only 18% support the agenda of Hamas. The survey also highlights a broad popular perception of threat in Palestinian society, with 81% of the West Bankers and 82% of Gazans believing that Israel’s long-term goal is to annex the West Bank and expel its inhabitants or deny them their political rights.

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Israeli minister: Cut ties with Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ian Deitch - August 7, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's foreign minister on Sunday accused the Palestinian Authority of planning "unprecedented bloodshed" next month after an expected symbolic U.N. endorsement of Palestinian independence. Accenting his warning, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for Israel to sever ties with the West Bank-based government. Lieberman's allegation runs counter to other Israeli assessments and stands in stark contrast to public and private statements by the Palestinians.

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ANALYSIS-EU struggles to win influence in Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Justyna Pawlak - (Analysis) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

BRUSSELS, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The European Union is working to build its credentials as a Middle East power broker but its efforts are complicated by internal divisions over Palestinian plans to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state. The paralysis in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has encouraged EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to try to play more of a leading role, in the absence of any initiative by Washington.

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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: Approval of 900 new homes in East Jerusalem draws ire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - August 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel's Interior Ministry gave the final green light Thursday to the construction of more than 900 new homes in a Jewish development built on land seized during the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians and anti-settlement groups said the Har Homa expansion, which has been working its way through Israeli regulatory agencies since last year, will occupy one of the last remaining undeveloped hillsides in the area and effectively cut off direct access between Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

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Netanyahu's latest peace initiative not to bear fruits: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - August 3, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be willing to renew peace talks with his Palestinian counterpart in an effort to stave off a Palestinian bid for UN- backed statehood. The new negotiations would focus on a formula to set borders of an independent Palestinian state, Israeli officials told local media. They would also include Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a demand that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has so far rejected.

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US, Israel propose new talks to head off Palestinian UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 2, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel is willing to begin new peace talks using the 1967 lines as a basis for negotiations, if the Palestinians drop their UN membership bid, an Israeli government official confirmed on Tuesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official confirmed that Israel has been working with Washington and members of the international peace-making Quartet to draw up a new framework that could relaunch stalled talks.

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