Palestinian PM ploughs ahead with future state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Waked - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad got behind a horse-drawn plough in the West Bank on Tuesday and drilled a furrow in protest against Israeli control of Palestinian land. Wearing a T-shirt and a hat, the former World Bank economist put his foot to the rusty plough as Jewish settlers watched from a hilltop outpost nearby. Arab protestors attend special ceremony in Sakhnin, cry out: 'Barak, how many children have you killed today?' MKs present complain of Israel's 'racist policies', say they won't stop fighting for 'stolen land'

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PNA approves 3.9-bln-USD budget for 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) cabinet on Monday approved its budget for 2010, which amounts to 3.9 billion U.S. dollars. The cabinet, which is chaired by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said in a statement after it held its weekly meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah that around 50 percent of the PNA budget was devoted to the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by the Islamic Hamas movement, President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party's rival.

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Palestinians to start using Ramallah highway
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities are preparing to implement a High Court decision allowing Palestinians to use a West Bank highway that had previously been designated for exclusive Israeli use. Israel's military released a statement Thursday evening affirming that Palestinians will be allowed to travel on highway 443, which runs near the villages of Beit Sira, Beit ‘Ur Al-Fauqa, Kharbatha Al-Misbah, and At-Tira. Palestinian cars using the Ramallah-area highway will first undergo inspection at a military checkpoint to be erected near the Ofer detention center, the military statement said.


Palestinians await Israeli nod on W.Bank project
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - (Interview) March 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority has asked Israel for jurisdiction over West Bank land in the Jordan Valley for a development project valued at $2.1 billion, the head of Palestine Investment Fund said. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority's plan comprises investment of $1.4 billion in a tourist resort on the Dead Sea shore and further spending of $700 million on a new city near Jericho, Mohammad Mustafa, head of the PIF, told Reuters.

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First planned Palestinian city receives US grant
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The US government signed two grant agreements on Monday in support of Rawabi, the first Palestinian planned city outside Ramallah, and to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance. The grants, offered by the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) Awards Grants, will go toward two projects for technical assistance to develop an IT master plan for the new city, and a tertiary waste water treatment feasibility study for Rawabi and surrounding communities, a statement said.

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What is Israel afraid of?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ali Jarbawi - (Opinion) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The program of the 13th Palestinian government, commonly referred to as the Fayyad Plan, called for all Palestinian institutions, and Palestinian society as a whole, to unite behind a state-building effort. The program embodies an authentically Palestinian initiative to work pro-actively and constructively toward establishing the state of Palestine through non-violent means over a two-year timeframe, despite the lack of progress in negotiations and continued military occupation.

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USTDA ASSISTS PALESTINIANS IN ADVANCING INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United States Trade and Development Agency
March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

USTDA supports local efforts in the West Bank to develop information and communications technologies (ICT) and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The two grants awarded today will support the Rawabi Project, a private sector development that will create an affordable and environmentally sustainable residential community in the West Bank. The project is being developed on a 250-acre site in the West Bank, six miles north of Ramallah and is envisaged to eventually grow to accommodate 40,000 residents, plus a commercial center, schools, a clinic and a hotel.

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OECD is ushering Israel in too easily
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) March 9, 2010 - 1:00am

Despite all the diplomatic disquiet over Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, actions speak far louder than words when it comes to Israel's international status. In May, the country seems set to be ushered into the OECD, following years of campaigning from successive Israeli governments. Such a move would be another step in welcoming Israel in from the cold, and demonstrates certain states' willingness to overlook Israel's questionable behaviour as an occupier in favour of enhanced fiscal and political ties.

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Palestinian Authority sees lower deficit in 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 8 (Reuters) - The Western-backed Palestinian Authority said on Monday its recurrent budget deficit will fall to 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from 22 percent in 2009. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government, which relies on international aid to meet its needs, forecasts its 2010 recurrent deficit falling to $1.21 billion from $1.45 billion in 2009. "This would be the lowest deficit as a share of GDP since the year 2000, and a major step forward towards enhancing financial sustainability," the authority said in a statement.

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Palestine's strongest weapon is peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

To live under occupation is to face many indignities and dilemmas. How to deal with the occupier? By violence or by peaceful means? History has examples of both. But parallels are never exact. The dilemma facing Palestinians is whether to go on working with the international consensus that supports our independence, or to wage war against the overwhelmingly superior forces of the occupier, Israel.

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