Israeli-Palestinian commerce works against the clock
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Dave Bender - July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, July 27 (Xinhua) -- On a media tour on Tuesday featuring commercial, health and hi-tech cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, representatives sought to project a " business-as-usual" mien, while, half a world away both sides sparred at the United Nations Security Council over a possible Palestinian National Authority (PNA) bid for statehood at the UN General Assembly in September.

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Fayyad seeks $300 million to ease cash crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

CAIRO (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority needed $300 million "urgently" to help ease a financial crisis. The PA "urgently needs $300 million to overcome the bottleneck and deal with the financial crisis," he told reporters in Cairo after an extraordinary meeting of Arab League representatives. The crisis stems from the fact that pledged aid has not yet come through. Fayyad said the PA had received $331 million in 2011, including $79 million from Arab countries, as well as an additional $30 million from Saudi Arabia.

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Before a Diplomatic Showdown, a Budget Crisis Saps Palestinians’ Confidence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — As the Palestinian Authority faces some of the hardest choices in its history regarding relations with Israel, membership in the United Nations and unity with Hamas, it is mired in a severe economic crisis, leading many here to a sense of foreboding and despair.

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Building A 21st-Century Palestinian City
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week
by Gary Rosenblatt - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am

It’s a phrase we’ve come to associate over the years with Israel’s West Bank settlements, seen by supporters as a tangible Jewish presence to serve as a bulwark against Arab incursions, a vanguard to protect larger Jewish population centers.

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The greening of Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestine may soon become the newest nation on the planet.

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Dubai's Rasmala Investment Bank starts Palestinian fund
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Farah Halime - June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Rasmala Investment Bankis the latest financial institution to launch a Palestinian-focused fund even as it is cutting costs elsewhere as part of a debt restructuring programme it announced in November. The bank, based in Dubai, is hoping to raise US$115 million (Dh422.3m) for the fund, which will target stocks listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange.

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Can Start-Ups Move Forward Israeli/Palestinian Peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forbes
by Peter Cohan - June 13, 2011 - 12:00am

A long-time professor of Entrepreneurship has an idea for how to move forward relations between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s a small step and who knows how it will go. The professor is Ted Grossman, who in 1993 helped invent one of the signature course at Babson College — Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME). Babson freshmen take this full-year course — in the Fall, students plan a business and in the spring they execute the plan.

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Israeli navy forces Gazan fishermen to cast nets inland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Rebecca Collard - June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Bassam El-Najjar once made his living from the seas off Gaza's coast. For two decades he set out each morning to catch tuna, sardines and mackerel from the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Not any longer. Now El-Najjar drops his nets into a large fish pool dug in the earth of a 0.5 hectare farm near Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip. "The sea is closed," he says, scooping a handful of pellets and scattering them across the water. Freshwater tilapia come to the surface, swallowing the feed.

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$1 billion Gaza investment fund unveiled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Muhammad Mustafa, the Palestine Investment Fund president, announced Thursday the establishment of a $1 billion investment fund for the reconstruction of Gaza. The rumored top candidate for the role of prime minister in the new technocrat government arrived in Gaza on Wednesday, to coordinate reconstruction efforts and meet with prominent contractors and businesspeople.

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World Bank finds 'significant' PA progress, some lags
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 18, 2011 - 12:00am

The World Bank released a report Wednesday, commending the Palestinian Authority for its work in creating strong public institutions, but recommended continued reforms to prevent corruption and better public services. The report was released as Palestinian officials continue to push a program of state building in conjunction with diplomatic efforts to have a state recognized by the UN in September. In an opinion article in the New York Times on Tuesday, President Mahmoud Abbas noted that Palestine fits the international guidelines for statehood.

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