Palestinians get first private equity fund at $15m start up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 31, 2010 - 1:00am

Two Arab investment companies on Sunday announced the launch of the first private equity fund designed to boost the Palestinian economy. The semi-official Palestine Investment Fund and Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital will provide an initial $15 million, they said in a statement, hoping to raise the total to $50 million this year. The investments would target small- and medium-sized businesses in the Palestinian territories.

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Palestinians working with Mitchell toward talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
January 28, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says conditions aren't yet right to return to peace talks with Israel but that the Palestinians are working with U.S. envoy George Mitchell on ways to break the deadlock. Fayyad, in an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, said Mitchell and the Palestinians "are working on trying to get talks restarted."

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Forum seeks ways of bringing Gaza Strip back to life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by David Lepeska - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am

More than a year after Israel’s extensive bombing campaign, life inside the Gaza Strip is growing increasingly desperate. Four out of five Gazans depend on some form of foreign aid. Lorries carrying medical supplies are often refused entry by Israeli officials, who enforce a three-year-old blockade of the Strip. Sick and dying patients face weeks-long delays for permission to leave for necessary treatment. Education is lagging, as nearly half of Gaza’s schools remain damaged, and unemployment stands at 40 per cent, according to a December report from the United Nations.

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Fayyad launches settlement good boycott fund
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 13, 2010 - 1:00am

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad launched on Tuesday the National Dignity Fund, as part of an initiative undertaken by the Palestinian Authority to rid the Palestinian market of settlement goods at a ceremony in the Red Crescent headquarters in Al-Birreh, Ramallah. The National Dignity Fund aims at increasing the availability of Palestinian produce in local markets, in addition to strengthening their presence in global markets as an alternative to goods made on illegal Israeli settlements, Fayyad said during his speech.

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Israeli Robots Remake Battlefield
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Charles Levinson - (Analysis) January 12, 2010 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare. Sixty years of near-constant war, a low tolerance for enduring casualties in conflict, and its high-tech industry have long made Israel one of the world's leading innovators of military robotics. "We're trying to get to unmanned vehicles everywhere on the battlefield for each platoon in the field," says Lt. Col. Oren Berebbi, head of the Israel Defense Forces' technology branch. "We can do more and more missions without putting a soldier at risk."

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Palestinians Bid to Join International Finance Body
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Joffe-Walt - January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is forming a "national team" to drive the bid to gain membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), it was announced on Monday. The team, approved during Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah, will lead efforts to reform Palestinian economic institutions as part of the campaign to gain permanent observer status and eventually membership in the international trade body.

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How Israel is implementing the settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Marcy Oster - January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

While an Israeli magician sat in an ice cube in Tel Aviv for 64 hours in a bid to shatter a world record, settler leaders in Jerusalem prepared to smash an ice cube of a very different sort this week opposite the prime minister’s residence.

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US market brief expects several growth sectors in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Bethlehem - Ma’an - Growth in several Palestinian sectors including energy and telecommunications is expected over the next few years, a report by the US Commercial Service published Tuesday. The Service, a division of the US Department of Commerce, highlights opportunities for American investors in emerging market.

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Israel: American-style college for Palestinians hopes students stay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Danielle Cheslow - (Blog) December 18, 2009 - 1:00am

On a crisp November morning, six Palestinian men and women read passages aloud in halting English about a Mexican-American boy struggling with his Hispanic identity. Their professor, Rebecca Granato, pushes them: “What does this metaphor mean? What’s going on here?”

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France to deliver €200m in aid to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The French government will deliver 200 million Euros for the support and development of Palestinian infrastructure over three years, officials announced Wednesday. Palestinian Minister of Foreign affairs Riyad Al-Maliki and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner signed three agreements for the funds in the French minister’s office in Paris shortly before the announcement.

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