NEWS: UN officials express concern about the PA financial crisis and the economy in Gaza. The World Bank says the Palestinian economy is unsustainable given Israeli restrictions and a combination of reliance on foreign aid and reduced international assistance. A PA official says the economy is unlikely to be fixed this year. Gaza Christians say they fear for the future of their small community. Israeli and foreign tourists are gathering in the occupied Golan Heights to watch fighting across the border in Syria. Iran accuses Israel itself of being behind the terrorist attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. Hamas denounces PA plans for municipal elections in the West Bank. Pres. Abbas says Palestinians and the Arab League will decide on September 6 what, if anything, they will do at the UN. The PA says it has finished restoring Gaza's only power plant. Israel's Interior Ministry says there are now more than 350,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, but Peace Now says the figures are inflated. PM Fayyad is reportedly suing a Fatah parliamentarian for defamation. A joint Israeli-Palestinian concert scheduled for the Mount of Olives is canceled because some Palestinians claimed it would have been an act of “normalization.” The world Jewish population is enjoying an unexpected revival, according to the Economist. Forces loyal to Syrian Pres. Assad bomb a hospital in Damascus' Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
COMMENTARY: Donald McIntyre interviews Fayyad. Settler leader Dani Dayan says the international community should abandon the two-state solution, without clearly specifying any alternative. Aluf Benn says DM Barak is the only Israeli leader who could challenge PM Netanyahu. Douglas Bloomfield says Dennis Ross has a 12 point plan to improve conditions for peace. The Forward says it's irrelevant that Mitt Romney is visiting Israel while Pres. Obama has not done so during his term of office. Oren Kessler says Romney is trying to poach votes from Obama by going to Israel. Jonathan Schanzer says Hamas is growing in regional strength as the PA suffers under a financial crisis. Aaron David Miller says if Obama is reelected, there will be a very tense relationship with Netanyahu.
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