Fayyad signs $40 million World Bank agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- 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. |
Fayyad signs $40 million World Bank agreement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 30, 2010 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- 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. |
A Jewish state or an Israeli democracy?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shlomo Sand - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am A Jewish state or an Israeli democracy? In the talks that appear to be taking place between Israel and the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked his negotiating partner to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. One can understand the prime minister: A man so little observant of the Jewish religious tradition is unsure of his Jewish identity, hence his insecurity about the identity of his state - and the need to seek validation from our neighbors. |
'Obama guarantees Bibi: Only 2 more months of freeze'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama administration is pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the settlement construction moratorium by two months, Jewish senators were told at a White House briefing. |
Netanyahu to US: I'm leading Israel's policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Atilla Somfalvi - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with US special envoy George Mitchell, who arrived in Israel in a bid to save the peace talks following the end of the settlement construction freeze. The two officials were forced to deal with another issue – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's UN General Assembly address on Tuesday, in which he mentioned his land exchange plan and said that it could "take decades" to reach a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians. |
PA official: Israel to be blamed if talks breakdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 30, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian officials on Wednesday expressed skepticism about the resumption of peace talks and signaled they would accept nothing less than an extension of the West Bank settlement construction moratorium ahead of the scheduled arrival of US Mideast Envoy George Mitchell and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton to the region on Thursday. Veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said Israel should be blamed for any breakdown of the negotiations if it insists on expanding settlements on lands claimed by the Palestinians for their state. |
Israeli forces 'Tasered' activist on Gaza aid boat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli air force pilot turned peace activist, said he was shocked with a Taser gun while passively resisting arrest. And a British journalist said he was "ambushed" and "almost strip-searched" by commandos on board the vessel. Israel's military had said the vessel was seized peacefully on Tuesday. It declined to comment on the activists' accounts. Earlier this year, Israeli commandos killed nine people in clashes on board a Turkish ship trying to reach Gaza. |
Lieberman's speech / Petty politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - (Opinion) September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly that "petty politics" must not be allowed to get in the way of Israeli-Palestinian peace. Five days later, Israel's foreign minister addressed the same forum and showed everyone whom Obama was talking about. Petty politics is Israel's specialty. |
Obama sets out guarantees to Netanyahu for 60-day freeze extension
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama administration reportedly is promising Israel broad security and diplomatic guarantees in exchange for extending a settlement moratorium by 60 days. According to an article posted Wednesday evening by David Makovsky, a senior analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a letter from President Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges that the United States will: *Not ask for additional extensions on the partial ban on settlement building, which expired Sunday; |