A captive Palestinian market
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - (Opinion) September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

It's boom time in the West Bank – the right kind of boom this time. Weeks ago, you couldn't flick on an Israeli TV or radio channel without hearing the good news. Parts of the international press did the same, with a flurry of articles pronouncing the West Bank open for business. The boost in financial fortunes is attributed to Israel easing up on some checkpoints, the Palestinian Authority (PA) police tackling city street crime and the Israeli government's promotion of something called economic peace.

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While Ramallah prospers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ilana Hammerman - (Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

There is new life in the West Bank, according to reports in the press. Freedom of movement, successful commerce, nightlife. Many Israelis certainly feel pride, especially the humanists among them.

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Peace in the Middle East is possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Benny Morris is one of today's most serious and disturbing pessimists about peace in the Middle East, because he used to be a card-carrying leftist and has been instrumental in uncovering Israel's role in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem in 1948. He reaffirms his pessimism in a recent article in the Guardian, and says Barack Obama is taking on mission impossible; that his attempt at renewing the peace process is doomed to failure.

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Middle East peace effort's missing key: female negotiators.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Rachel Brown - (Opinion) September 15, 2009 - 12:00am

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the MiddleEast Quartet debate whether evictions of Palestinian families are a barrier or catalyst to a two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian women alike confront the realities of the conflict on the ground. These women work toward a sustainable peace as committee members, as demonstrators, and as mothers raising and educating their children despite occupation. But their representation in formal negotiations is inadequate.

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West Bank economy heading toward growth for first time in years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The economy in Palestinian West Bank remains on course to grow about 7 percent this year, for the first growth since 2005, according to the International Monetary Fund. In notes to media accompanying a report the IMF will present to donors at the United Nations on Sept. 22, the international lending agency said on Sunday achieving the projected figure largely depended on Israel's policy towards the Palestinians.

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Rattling the Cage: The mother of all missed opportunities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

So there's a stalemate in the peace process, so what else is new? Actually, there is something new. What's new is that the Palestinians in the West Bank are doing what we've dreamed the Palestinians would do for more than a century - and we refuse to see it. They've effectively stopped terrorism. They're building up their economy. They're enforcing the law. They're being trained by the Americans and they're cooperating with Israeli military and intelligence. They're arresting Islamic militants by the thousands, and they're not hesitating to shoot it out with them.

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Build Palestine, and they will come
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ziad Asali - September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for what he has called “de facto Palestinian statehood” offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians hinges on recognition and security for Israel and freedom and independence for a Palestinian state. Fayyad’s model emphasizes the importance of the reality of the Palestinian state as a functioning entity, irrespective of international recognition and grand diplomatic gestures.

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The West Bank's Deceptive Growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Zahi Khouri - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long tried to substitute the slogan of “economic peace” for genuine progress with the Palestinians on the political front. Yet the International Monetary Fund’s projected growth of 7 percent in the West Bank for 2009 is largely the result of Palestinian reforms undertaken in spite of the obstacles Israel continues to place in the way of Palestinian development. Too many in the West remain unaware of the impediments to economic development — not to mention political freedom — we Palestinians continue to face.

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Not as horrible as it was
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

A COUPLE of brown sheep squeal and squirm as they are dragged into the backyard of the Alian family’s house in the Jalazun refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. A man slits their throats, spraying the wall with blood. Once the sheep are motionless, women silently start cutting the meat into neat portions to be distributed to the camp’s poorest families in honour of the family’s “martyr”, 15-year-old Muhammad, who was recently killed by Israeli soldiers.

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PA, Israeli ministers hold economic talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Minister of National Economy Bassem Khoury met with Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem on Wednesday in what is believed to be the first minister-level meeting since the current Israeli government came to power. The meeting was said to address bureaucratic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including entry permits for businesspeople, the export of milk products from the West Bank to Israel, and medical treatment for Palestinians in Israel.

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