March 26th

Palestinians seek political, financial support from Baghdad Arab summit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 25, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership is looking forward to gain decisions of full Arab political and financial support for their cause in the Arab League annual summit due to be held in Baghdad, Iraq on March 29, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday. Despite the concerns that the Arab summit this year will be more involved in discussing the outcomes of the Arab revolutions, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua that President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to chair the senior Palestinian delegation that will attend the summit. » Read more

Palestinian PM says freed US aid to help ease crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 24, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 24 (Reuters) - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Saturday the release of $88.6 million in development funds by U.S. lawmakers would help ease a fiscal crisis in the aid-dependant Palestinian economy. "This is very important in order to help us deal with the economic crisis," Fayyad told reporters in Ramallah. » Read more

U.S. lawmakers release $88.6 mln in aid to Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Susan Cornwell - March 23, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Friday released $88.6 million in development aid for the Palestinians that they had held up since last summer, a move that should help ease a fiscal crisis in the aid-dependent Palestinian economy. Representative Kay Granger announced she was ready for the entire $147 million in U.S. assistance that had been frozen since August to go to the Palestinians. » Read more

Fayyad says Hamas officials no show at Cairo fuel talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 26, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Sunday an expected Hamas delegation had not arrived in Cairo to join talks on ending the Gaza Strip's fuel crisis. Palestinian officials headed to Egypt on Saturday to discuss the mechanism for ongoing fuel pumping into Gaza after Egypt cut off supplies through an underground tunnel network. While an Egyptian security official said Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar crossed from Gaza to Egypt on Egypt, Fayyad said a Hamas delegation did not join talks. » Read more

Abbas approves changes in Lebanon refugee camps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 25, 2012 - 12:00am BEIRUT (Ma’an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday gave his approval to several resolutions affecting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a statement from the embassy in Beirut said. The resolutions were initially discussed during a visit by Fatah central committee member Azzam Ahmad on March 16. Ahmad had met with Palestinian faction representatives in Lebanon to discuss ways to improve the situation of refugees. » Read more

Islamist Victors in Egypt Seeking Shift by Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by David Kirkpatrick - March 24, 2012 - 12:00am CAIRO — As it prepares to take power in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is overhauling its relations with the two main Palestinian factions in an effort to put new pressure on Israel for an independent Palestinian state. Officials of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s dominant Islamist movement, are pressing its militant Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, which controls Gaza, to make new compromises with Fatah, the Western-backed Palestinian leadership that has committed to peace with Israel and runs the West Bank. » Read more

Israel’s Top Court Orders Settlers to Leave Outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - March 25, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a West Bank settlers’ outpost built on private Palestinian land to be dismantled by Aug. 1, rejecting a government compromise with the settlers that would have allowed them to stay put for another three years. The decision was much anticipated, because the panel of three judges who decided the case included the court’s conservative new chief justice, Asher Grunis, and because the case involved the politically explosive issue of moving settlers in the face of potentially violent resistance. » Read more

Israel’s Top Court Orders Settlers to Leave Outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a West Bank settlers’ outpost built on private Palestinian land to be dismantled by Aug. 1, rejecting a government compromise with the settlers that would have allowed them to stay put for another three years. The decision was much anticipated, because the panel of three judges who decided the case included the court’s conservative new chief justice, Asher Grunis, and because the case involved the politically explosive issue of moving settlers in the face of potentially violent resistance. » Read more

March 23rd

Gourmet Palestinian Food Takes Tel Aviv ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Naami Shefi - March 23, 2012 - 12:00am When the bohemian Tel Aviv restaurant Joz and Loz opened eight years ago, it began serving an appetizer called Palestinian kubenia. The menu described it as a traditional dish consisting of bulgur and sirloin tartare, mixed with fresh mint leaves, preserved lemon and chilies. The dish quietly lived on the menu, not making waves. » Read more

Beinart’s boycott plan deals a blow to peace bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Steven Bayme - (Opinion) March 22, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK (JTA) -- Far from charting a path toward peace for Israelis and Palestinians, Peter Beinart’s advice, “boycott the settlements to save Israel,” would make peace far less likely. Beinart’s boycott plan assumes that Jewish settlement on the West Bank is what is holding up a deal for a two-state solution. Therefore, his logic goes, branding the settlements as “nondemocratic Israel” and declaring economic war on their residents will somehow induce an Israeli pullback and the emergence of a Palestinian state at peace with its Jewish neighbor. » Read more