Fayyad signs $40 million World Bank agreement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2010 - 12:00am World Bank representative Miram Sherman signed an agreement with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Thursday to deliver a $40 million grant to the PA. Fayyad said the grant was aimed at enabling the PA to continue building state institutions and developing the infrastructure for a Palestinian state. During the signing ceremony at Fayyad's Ramallah office, the prime minister thanked the World Bank for empowering the Palestinian state to meet the needs of Palestinians, particularly as the PA worked to complete its state-building initiative.

Commentary: Instant diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) by Arnaud De Borchgrave - (Analysis) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Along with instant coffee, instant soup, instant oven cleaners, instant Viagra, instant pain relief from four-hour Viagra, it was only a matter of time before instant diplomacy made its debut on the nation's comedy channels. Some foreign leaders have concluded American youth -- and many older Americans, too -- have tuned out serious news and tuned in comedians who make fun of everything from the nuclear ambitions of superannuated Iranian mullahs to Osama bin Laden's air-conditioned deluxe cave in the Hindu Kush. » Read more

Rachel Corrie, an Israeli bulldozer, and our shared global fate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Courtney E. Martin - (Opinion) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am Last month, several state witnesses took the stand in a Haifa District Court to testify in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the state of Israel. Many may still recall the disturbing photographs that wallpapered the world’s media outlets of Ms. Corrie, a 23-year-old activist from Walla, Walla, Washington, being crushed under a military bulldozer while trying to defend a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza under threat of demolition. » Read more

Israeli principal summoned over history textbook that adds Palestinian view ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Catrina Stewart - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Israel’s Education Ministry is locked in a row with a liberal high school over its use of a history textbook that gives both the Israeli and Palestinian versions of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The ministry has summoned the principal of Shaar Hanegev high school in southern Israel for “consultations” over the decision to continue using the textbook, which has been banned from the national school curriculum. Critics denounced the move as a regressive step by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government to assert the Israeli narrative over the Palestinian one. » Read more

The unorthodox Israeli settlement leader - who isn't even a settler ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am It's no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision not to extend the Israeli settlement freeze this week was due in large part to pressure from settlers. But the man some credit as the driving force behind Mr. Netanyahu's controversial move is not the stereotypical settler. In fact, Naftali Bennett – director general of the umbrella settler leadership group, the Yesha Council – is not even a settler at all. » Read more

White House offers Israel a carrot for peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am In its scramble to salvage Middle East peace talks, the Obama administration has dangled incentives before the Israeli government that touch on some of the most sensitive issues of final status talks between the two sides, administration sources said. » Read more

U.S. Presses Israelis on Renewal of Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Helene Cooper, Mark Landler - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama administration is trying to cajole the Israeli government into a 60-day renewal of the freeze on Jewish settlement building by offering it security guarantees, ranging from military hardware to support for a long-term Israeli presence in the strategically sensitive Jordan Valley, according to lawmakers and other officials briefed on the proposals. » Read more

White House offers Israel a carrot for peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Glenn Kessler - (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am In its scramble to salvage Middle East peace talks, the Obama administration has dangled incentives before the Israeli government that touch on some of the most sensitive issues of final status talks between the two sides, administration sources said. » Read more

U.S. Presses Israelis on Renewal of Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Helene Cooper, Mark Landler - (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to cajole the Israeli government into a 60-day renewal of the freeze on Jewish settlement building by offering it security guarantees, ranging from military hardware to support for a long-term Israeli presence in the strategically sensitive Jordan Valley, according to lawmakers and other officials briefed on the proposals. » Read more

The West Bank's reluctant movie star ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - October 1, 2010 - 12:00am Away to the west of Budrus, a startlingly red sun was sinking towards the horizon behind Jaffa as the Israeli border police patrol arrived. They had driven at speed in their two jeeps along the military road beside the footprint-detecting sand track and the electronic fence that help to make up the separation barrier here. To the north, beyond a straggling, rocky olive grove and perched on top of a 160ft pylon, we could just make out the security camera, capable of taking a recognizable image of a human face from three miles. » Read more