France, 5 Palestinian banks sign deals for private sector growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The French Bank Natixis signed agreements in Bethlehem with five Palestinian banks on the sidelines of the Palestine Investment Conference 2010, a statement from the French Consulate read.

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Abbas: Investment can liberate nation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Arab and Palestinian businessmen and women gathered in Bethlehem Tuesday, to open the Second Palestinian Investment Conference (PIC), with President Mahmoud Abbas dedicated to the lives of some 10 activists killed delivering aid to Gaza. In his opening speech, Abbas formally named the PIC the "Freedom Conference," in commemoration of the loss of life and upheaval swelling from Israel's decision to attack the Freedom Flotilla of six ships en route to Gaza with 10,000 tons of aid for the besieged Gaza Strip.

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Israel to permit entry to Arab investors for PIC
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel will permit an exceptional 815 Middle East businessmen and women to enter the West Bank for Bethlehem's second Palestine Investment Conference (PIC) in June, officials announced on Tuesday. Executive director of PIC Ja’far Hdeib called news of the permits, communicated by Israel's Civil Administration late Monday night, the first signs of success for the conference, titled Investing in Palestine: Empowering Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

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'Palestinians are hijacked by Iran'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas came out against Iran on Wednesday, calling his people "hijacked, at the hands of the Iranians." "The decision-making power is not in our hands," he told Egyptian television station Nile TV, possibly referring to Hamas's refusal to reconcile with Fatah at Teheran's behest. "The Palestinian people's unity... is not in our hands."

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PA, PLO slam Israeli stance on boycott
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas continued to insist on the necessity of boycotting Israeli settlement products, in the face of ballooning Israeli criticism, highlighting again on Monday the parameters of the movement. The statement followed the publication of accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleging the boycott was one of several Palestinian "steps that in the end hurt themselves," and soil the atmosphere for "economic peace" with Israel.

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Minister Shalom: Gov't may sanction PA over boycott
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Atilla Somfalvi - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee Silvan Shalom threatened Tuesday to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority for its organized boycott of Israeli products, which consists of a ban on all products made in settlements and a prohibition against working in Israeli factories in the West Bank.

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Palestinians: Israeli threats meaningles
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority sources say they are unimpressed by Minister Silvan Shalom's threats to impose sanctions against the PA to counter a Palestinian boycott on settlement goods. PA spokesman Dr. Ghassan al-Khatib said Tuesday that threats by "settler leaders and manufacturers as well as by ministers and settler sympathizers do not deter us." "We are not interested in maintaining the welfare of settlements any longer. We are interested in boosting the local Palestinian industry and economy," al-Khatib said

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An understandable but ill-planned gesture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

I don't like boycotts. Israel suffered from a comprehensive Arab boycott prior to 1967, when settlements and territories were not an issue. Israel is today targeted for academic and economic boycotts by elements in the West whose hostility toward it in many cases goes far beyond the West Bank, Jerusalem and the settlements.

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Settlement goods no longer sold in Italian grocery chains
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 22, 2010 - 12:00am

The Italian Coalition Against Carmel-Agrexco announced Saturday that two major Italian supermarket chains, COOP and Nordiconad, said they would suspend the sale of products from a settlement good exporter. Products from Agrexco, what the coalition calls a "principal exporter of produce from Israel and the illegal Israeli settlements" will be cleared from stores by the end of the month, the director of Nordiconad told the coalition.

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Boycott volunteers say army searching for them
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Volunteers with the Palestinian Authority's House to House settlement goods boycott campaign said Israeli forces entered the Husan village, west of Bethlehem, searching for them. Volunteer Ahmad Jaz'ul told Ma'an that four Israeli military jeeps "raided the village at 1pm in the afternoon, searching for the campaign's volunteers, stopping passer-bys and asking where we were." "We hid our uniforms and ID cards. Some volunteers stayed hidden in their homes until the Israeli army withdrew," he added.

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