Financial Strains Said to Threaten Stability of Palestinian Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — As the Palestinian Authority marks the 19th anniversary this month of the signing of the Oslo Accords, the agreement with Israel that brought it into existence, the authority is facing a financial crisis that experts say could threaten its future operations and stability.

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Mahmoud Abbas’s U.N. gambit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

ONE OF THE winners in last week’s protests outside U.S. embassies in the Middle East was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Before the eruption of outrage over an anti-Muslim film, Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had faced a week of demonstrations and strikes in the West Bank that some were starting to compare to the revolts against other autocratic Arab rulers. Thanks to the eruption of anti-Americanism and Mr. Fayyad’s timely repeal of several recent price and tax increases, the opposition movement appears to have subsided for now. But one way or another, Mr.

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Hamas court convicts 4 in Italian activist death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Hamas court convicted four men Monday in the abduction and slaying last year of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist in Gaza, sentencing two of the suspects to 35 years in prison each, a judicial official said.

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Palestinian economic protests point to uncertain future for PA, Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ben Sales - (Opinion) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Could the Palestinian Authority's budget woes end up costing Israel? Growing economic protests in the West Bank could lead to increased regional instability and perhaps even the end of the Palestinian Authority, experts are warning. At this point, however, they say the protests are unlikely to result in an eruption of violence against Israel.

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All-female bloc runs in Palestinian elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - September 15, 2012 - 12:00am

HEBRON, West Bank — A new group running for municipal elections in Hebron is offering residents an alternative to politics as usual in the conservative West Bank city: Women at the helm, instead of men.

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What Would Israel Do Without Mahmoud Abbas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) September 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called Israel’s President Shimon Peres to offer him Rosh Hashanah greetings. “Happy holiday and a Happy New Year to you and the entire Israeli nation,” Abbas said.. Well, perhaps he meant all of Israel with one exception. At the same time as the phone call from Ramallah came in at Peres’ residence, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman had his team working on his attempt at character assassination of Abbas.

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A new era of discontent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH - In many ways, the Palestinian protest movement that swept the West Bank for nearly seven days before fading out late this week symbolizes the end of an era, the era of the Palestinian Authority. Thousands of protesters took to the streets, clashing with Palestinian security forces, hurling shoes at photographs of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and defacing other PA symbols. In the process, they revealed the pros and cons of the "economic peace" theory espoused by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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A "Palestinian Spring": A Renewed Fatah Bid to Remove Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gatestone Institute
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

It is no secret that Fatah has long been trying to get rid of Fayyad who, its representatives argue, had been imposed on the Palestinians by the Americans and Europeans. Abbas and Fatah have been trying for years to replace Fayyad with one of their own so that they could regain control over the Palestinian Authority's finances. The US and most Western donors have repeatedly made it clear to Abbas that removing Fayyad from his post would prompt them to reconsider financial aid to the Palestinians.

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Palestinian prisoners in Israel on hunger strike for release of elderly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

  RAMALLAH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian prisoners in Israel went on a hunger strike on Thursday to urge for the release of their colleagues who have been held before Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed their peace accords in 1993, a Palestinian official said.

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Few choices for voters in upcoming election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The registration process for local elections ended Tuesday with 200 municipalities registering only one bloc of candidates, officials said Thursday. The West Bank has 353 electorates but 200 of them will not be contested in October's municipal election because voters will only be able to vote for one list of candidates. Abdul Kareem Sidir, undersecretary of the Ministry of Local Government, told Ma'an that 16 municipalities in the Jerusalem area decided to run on joint lists, which means candidates will be unopposed.

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