The Tsuris
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Magazine
by John Heilemann - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The last time Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu shared each other’s company, you could say that the encounter did not go well—if by “not well” you mean abysmally. This was on May 20, the day after Obama gave his big speech on the Arab Spring, in which he unleashed a tsunami of tsuris by endorsing the use of Israel’s 1967 borders “with mutually agreed [land] swaps” as the basis for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

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A new paradigm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

With this week's start of the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the Palestinian leadership can rightly say that it has begun to reap fruit from its decision to take the Palestinian cause to the international community. The Palestinian people and leadership have suffered for too long from the inattention of the international community, which insisted on leaving Palestinians and Israelis to their own devices to solve their problems. For the Palestinians, this was equal to leaving their people at the mercy of the brutal Israeli occupation.

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Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

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Last-minute deal could avert a collision course at the UN
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The National (Opinion) - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The insistence by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will present a request for full UN membership for Palestine in its 1967 borders to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting later this week - although telegraphed months in advance - has sent shock waves through international relations, and Israeli and US domestic politics as well.

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How The Palestinian Statehood Bid May Backfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

On September 19, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas formally told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that he would be submitting an application for full UN membership for the state of Palestine after his speech to the General Assembly on September 23. This reiterates the plan outlined by Abbas in a speech to the Palestinian people last week.

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How The Palestinian Statehood Bid May Backfire
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

On September 19, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas formally told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that he would be submitting an application for full UN membership for the state of Palestine after his speech to the General Assembly on September 23. This reiterates the plan outlined by Abbas in a speech to the Palestinian people last week.

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Diplomats Scramble as Palestinians Plan to Apply for U.N. Membership on Friday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar, Steven Lee Myers - (Analysis) September 19, 2011 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Monday that he would present an application for Palestine to join the United Nations immediately after he addresses the General Assembly on Friday, as diplomats worked frenetically to try to limit the fallout from the application. Mr. Abbas told Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary general, that he was determined to move forward. “I think it has dawned on everybody that they cannot convince us not to go,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian delegation. “Most people are discussing what is next.”

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Dear U.S. Jews, please don't let Netanyahu deceive you
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) September 19, 2011 - 12:00am

What follows is an emotional and perhaps late appeal to Israel's friends in America, particularly the Jews among them, who see themselves as people looking out for own welfare. Don't bring us ill instead of good. Don't let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman deceive you.

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UN vote adds little to 20 years of failure in Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Opinion) September 19, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's momentous decision to seek statehood at the United Nations has been interpreted in many ways: a bold, decisive move to force Israel's hand and level the playing field in future negotiations; a risky diplomatic gambit that will achieve little in the face of a certain US veto and will fuel tensions in an already volatile environment; a watershed moment in the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Mostly, however, the move is an acknowledgement of failure.

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Cowards and liars
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) September 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The bid for Palestinian statehood, due to be presented this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, seems to have taken some world leaders by surprise. It is difficult to see how. For more than a decade, successive United States presidents have voiced their keenness on a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Bill Clinton, then George W. Bush, then finally Barack Obama have taken turns delaying a formal application for statehood under the guise of wanting to gain more favorable conditions through a continuation of peace talks.

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