Hamas cracks down on saggy pants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Ilan Ben Zion - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Hamas is cracking down on a new threat to the well-being of the citizens of the Gaza Strip: low-riding pants. Several Gazan teenagers from Rafah were recently arrested by Hamas police because the clothes they wore were “foreign to Palestinian society, and contradicted the culture, values, and ethical code of the Strip’s residents,” the Hebrew daily Maariv reported on Sunday. The perpetrators had adopted “Western street fashion” and wore pants that rode so low as to show their underpants. » Read more

Palestinian authority aims to securitize $200 million of debt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Martin Dokoupil, Sylvia Westall - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am KUWAIT (Reuters) - Palestinian authorities are aiming to securitize an initial $200 million of some $1.3 billion worth of government debt by the first quarter of 2013 to help reduce state borrowing from local banks, a top banker said on Sunday. » Read more

Jordan appoints new ambassador to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am (JTA) -- Jordan reportedly has appointed a new ambassador to Israel. The appointment late last week of career diplomat Walid Obeidat was reported by the French news service AFP and Ammon News. The position has been vacant since mid-2010, when Ali al-Ayed left to become the country's minister of media affairs. Jordan did not fill the position immediately, citing the lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. » Read more

Yasser Arafat's exhumation may answer questions over his death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am Within the guarded walls of the Palestinian presidential compound, known as the Muqata, the body of Yasser Arafat lies inside a gleaming limestone and glass mausoleum. It is here that political figures, dignitaries, devotees and tourists come to pay their respects to a man who was revered and reviled across the world as the face of the Palestinian struggle for decades. » Read more

Barak: Lieberman's comments on Abbas harm Israel's interests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak harshly criticized Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the weekend, for naming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as “the biggest obstacle to peace.” » Read more

Poll: 72 percent plan to vote in October's local elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 29, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A new poll shows 72 percent of Palestinians plan to vote in elections taking place in three weeks, but supporters of Hamas are much less likely to participate in the vote, which is being boycotted by the party. In a poll published on Saturday by the Arab World for Research & Development, 85 percent said they support holding local elections, which will take place on Oct. 20 in the West Bank only. » Read more

PA finance ministry to cut fuel prices from Oct. 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced Sunday that fuel prices are set to be reduced, a statement said. The price cuts, which will be implemented on Oct. 1, will see a liter of diesel reduced from 6.95 shekels ($1.77) to 6.70 ($1.70). A liter of benzene will now cost 7.60 shekels ($1.93), down from 7.98 shekels ($2), and a 12kg canister of domestic-use gas will be reduced to 64 shekels ($16), down from 65. » Read more

Electricity company: Govt bodies have not paid bills ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Some Palestinian Authority government institutions have not paid their electricity bills for more than two years, the head of the indebted Jerusalem electricity company has revealed. The company, which supplies power to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho, still owes its Israeli supplier around 300 million shekels ($76 million), Director-General Hisham al-Umari told Ma'an on Sunday. The Israeli company has repeatedly postponed threats to cut power supplies. » Read more

Activists: Now, yes now, is the time for US to push for MidEast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Ariel Zirulnick - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am Cambridge, Mass. A major Israeli-Palestinian activist group is bucking conventional wisdom by arguing that now is the right time to engage Americans in the moribund Middle East peace process. The presidential campaign season is traditionally a terrible time to make any progress on foreign policy, especially during elections focused on pocketbook issues. » Read more

Daystar, TBN ready for Messiah in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - October 1, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — If the Messiah descends from the Mount of Olives as foretold in the Bible, America's two biggest Christian broadcasters are well-positioned to cover it live thanks to recent acquisitions of adjacent Jerusalem studios on a hill overlooking the Old City. » Read more