Campaigns to hurt Israeli economy really hurt Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Jon Haber - (Opinion) September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

After three years of relative quiet, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns have been making a comeback in the past 12 months. The BDS movement demands that organizations divest from Israel’s economy as a protest against claims of human-rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Certainly, loud divestment protests on well-known college campuses and boycott decisions by aging pop stars may make sexier headlines than the quieter work of peace negotiations.

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Palestinians able to establish a state - World Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
(Analysis) September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority is well-positioned to establish a state but will remain dependent on foreign aid unless it can attract private investment and spur economic growth, a World Bank report said on Thursday. The report to donors by the poverty-fighting institution comes amid new U.S.-led peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians aimed at forging a deal on Palestinian statehood within a year.

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Palestinian refugee agency presses Arabs for funds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Marwa Awad, Dina Zayed - September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees called on Arab nations to give it more money on Thursday, saying a lack of funds was endangering its work supporting Palestinians scattered across their region. Arab leaders regularly condemn Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories but give less than 5 percent of the funds the agency uses to alleviate one of the world's longest running refugee crises, according to the agency's figures.

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Our Man in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Review Of Books
by Nathan Thrall - (Analysis) September 16, 2010 - 12:00am

On August 31, the night before President Obama’s dinner inaugurating direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Hamas gunmen shot and killed four Jewish settlers in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest and most populous governorate. The attack—the deadliest against Israeli citizens in more than two years—was condemned by Palestinian and Israeli officials, who said that it was meant to thwart the upcoming negotiations.

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Bringing the Palestinian economy out of recession
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 14, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The potential for the Palestinian economy to rise out of the recession caused by the outbreak of the Second Intifada and a dramatic increase in per capita GDP are deeply entrenched in the success of talks. "Economy is related to politics. There is no way one can sustain complete economic growth without complete stability in politics," says Jawad Sayyed Al-Herbawi, the adviser to the mayor of Hebron and a business development expert.

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PA to continue reducing public expenses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority will continue efforts to reduce public sending to reduce dependence on external financial support, a spokesman told Ma'an on Tuesday. Ghassan Al-Khatib said that while the reduction alone would not suffice to limit dependence on external support, the PA would also increase revenues through investment and the development of the Palestinian economy.

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IMF: Israel Keeps Palestinian Economy Booming
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Joffe-Walt - September 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel’s decision to relax controls on movement in the Palestinian Territories has allowed the Palestinian economy to continue to boom in 2010, with growth rates of 14 percent in the Gaza Strip and 11 percent in the West Bank, the International Monetary Fund has said.

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The Future Palestinian State Takes Root
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Hussein Ibish, Michael Weiss - September 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Many contentious issues could bedevil the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that began Wednesday, but on one subject both sides can largely agree: The state-building program launched last year by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has made measurable progress. While the terrorist group Hamas rules in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in the West Bank are trying to build the framework of a future state. The West Bank economy grew by 8.5% last year (according to the International Monetary Fund), despite the global recession and

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A state of Palestine in the making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Kenneth Chasen - (Opinion) August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The short drive from Jerusalem to Ramallah begins as you'd expect. The pristine setting of the old-new holy city slowly morphs into a more disordered vista on the outskirts of town — small Arab villages, humbly built of stone, displaying signs of economic decay. The streets are nearly empty.

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Support builds for boycotts against Israel, activists say
Media Mention of ATFP In The Boston Globe - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

In May, rock legend Elvis Costello canceled his gig in Israel. Then, in June, a group of unionized dock workers in San Francisco refused to unload an Israeli ship. In August, a food co-op in Washington state removed Israeli products from its shelves. The so-called “boycott, divestment, and sanctions’’ movement aimed at pressuring Israel to withdraw from land claimed by Palestinians has long been considered a fringe effort inside the United States, with no hope of garnering mainstream support enjoyed by the anti-apartheid campaign against South Africa of the 1980s.

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