Israel's West Bank phone delay hurts growth: Blair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - June 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's delay in releasing frequencies for a second West Bank mobile phone network is holding up economic development, Middle East envoy Tony Blair said on Tuesday. Blair said if Israel released frequencies for Wataniya Palestine mobile, it would create thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. "I hope that we can get this moved satisfactorily in the next few weeks," he told Reuters in an interview. "But again it has been very frustrating because we have an agreement, we secured the agreement. All we need is the frequency released."

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Bottom line for Palestinian entrepreneurs: Reinvent the economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - June 10, 2009 - 12:00am

nder pressure from visiting US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Israeli cabinet ministers mulled easing a siege on the Gaza Strip that was designed to weaken Hamas. Amid US-Israeli disagreement over the Gaza blockade, West Bank settlements, and other issues involved in restarting the peace process, there is one point both sides agree on: The promises to boost the Palestinian economy during the recent round of talks stretching the final year of the Bush administration have produced insufficient results.

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ACP Begins Delivery of $200,000 Worth of Laptop Computers to Palestinian Schools
Press Release - Contact Information: Mohammed Maraqa - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Washington, DC, May 28 – The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is proud to announce that its sister organization, American Charities for Palestine (ACP), has initiated the delivery of laptop computers to schools in Palestine. This project has been coordinated with One Laptop Per Child, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Palestinian Ministry of Education.


Former PA official sentenced to seven years for embezzlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority court in Ramallah sentenced a former deputy undersecretary of the Interior Ministry to seven years in prison on Tuesday. In addition to the former undersecretary, Muhammad Abdul-Latif Abu Hajja, the court also convicted his wife, Samira Arif Turkiyya, and son, Ayman, to seven years imprisonment and penal servitude, along with a fine of 375,000 US dollars.

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Mitchell urges two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The US president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy today told Israel’s ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state. With Mr Libeerman at his side, George Mitchell told reporters: “I reiterated to the foreign minister that US policy favours, with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel. “We look forward also to efforts to achieving comprehensive peace throughout the region.”

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Trembling earth under economic peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Alon Cohen-Lifshitz - April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The West Bank is returning to center stage amid expectations that the new U.S. administration will do more to push the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians forward. The United States faces the old vision of two states living side by side and enjoying independence, security and prosperity. Unfortunately, this vision relies on false assumptions about the West Bank's development potential.

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Bibi’s ‘Economic Peace’ Faces Key Test at Quarries
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Complaints over Israel’s conduct on Palestinian land are well-known. Less commonly heard, however, is the accusation that Israel is actually removing the land. “How is it that they are taking our land to Israel?” asked Ibrahim Abder, a Palestinian man standing at a stone quarry near his home a few miles south of Bethlehem during an interview with the Forward.

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The Economic Piece of the Puzzle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress
April 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Can you tell us about the work that OPIC and its partners, both on the ground and in the United States, are doing to help develop the Palestinian economy?

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Clinton Says She Pressed for Gaza Border Opening
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - March 4, 2009 - 1:00am

A day after announcing a new diplomatic initiative in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled here Wednesday to show support for the Palestinian Authority, saying she had pressed the Israeli government to open border crossings to war-torn Gaza. “We have obviously expressed concern about the border crossing,” Mrs. Clinton said after a meeting with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. “We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to help alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza.”

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Re-Engagement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
(Analysis) March 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton answered the question yesterday of who in the West is driving policy on the Middle East. She began her first visit to the region as Secretary of State with the most intractable issue: what to do about Gaza. At a pledging conference in Sharm el-Sheikh she joined dozens of others promising Gaza substantial cash to rebuild houses and infrastructure destroyed by three weeks of Israeli air attacks.

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