Internal Palestinian Politics | The American Task Force on Palestine

VAT director: Drop in Tax Evasion Boosts PA Revenues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 24, 2012 - 12:00am

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Top VAT official Ahmad al-Helou told Ma'an on Tuesday that better enforcement of tax procedures has boosted the Palestinian Authority's budget. The Ministry of Finance VAT Director said VAT revenues increased from 2.4 billion shekels ($638 million) in 2008 to 3.3 billion shekels ($878 million) in 2011. Updated equipment in Palestinian shops and the use of tax receipts has increased enforcement of tax collection, he said.

The PLO's Ahmad Quray
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - (Interview) April 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Jerusalem, Asharq Al-Awsat - Ahmad Quray, member of the PLO Executive Committee and former chief negotiator, describes the Palestinian mentality as experimental, and says that the mechanism that the Palestinians have tried for many years at the negotiations has failed, and he calls for changing it by including Arab and international sides in negotiating the most important dossiers, such as Jerusalem, the refugees, and security. The following is the full text of the interview:

Mahmoud Abbas’s unhappy anniversary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) April 19, 2012 - 12:00am

It was a year ago this month that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turned his back on the U.S.-sponsored “peace process” with Israel and embarked on a radically different strategy for achieving Palestinian statehood. It’s time for a reckoning. Abbas’s step one was the surprise signing of an agreement in Cairo with the Islamic Hamas movement, ruler of the Gaza Strip, that promised to end the rift between Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah movement. A joint government was promised that would stage parliamentary and presidential elections within a year — i.e., by now.

Game changer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not intend to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, he has, at long last, admitted that the body, created under the flawed and defunct 1993 Oslo accords, has no authority. Abbas rightly blamed Israel for the failure of the “Oslo process” and said Israel stripped the Palestinian Authority of any “meaningful jurisdiction in the political, economic, territorial and security spheres”.

An occasional Palestinian Christian encounter of Israeli intolerance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Baha Hilo - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The Israeli ambassador to the US appears to really believe that Palestinian Christians suffer significantly from Palestinian Muslims, and just occasionally from Israeli intolerance. Palestinian Christians' reality is the complete opposite. The ambassador's latest missives in the American press have provoked Palestinian Christian leaders to remind him and his readers that Israel really isn't all that friendly to its Christians.

A Response to Daniel Levy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Benny Morris - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The number of distortions and misrepresentations in Daniel Levy's piece (April 16, "Of Herrings and Elephants: Benny Morris and 'Palestinian Rejectionism'") is mind-boggling (and saddening) and reflects poorly on the honesty and integrity of the "peaceniks" who he may, in some way, represent.

Israel Fighting the Wrong War, Overreacts to Activist 'Flightilla'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Nahman Shay - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

At the end of the day, it was clear that a mountain had been made out of a molehill. Of the 1,200 activists who were supposed to land in Israel, only several dozen arrived. A few were arrested and a couple released, and the event came to a close. A sigh of relief by government officials — including those within the police and the Interior Ministry, which dealt with the affair — silently brought an end to what had seemed to be a major attack on Israel’s air space and entry point. But to what end?

Interview: Abbas says Israel aims to keep status quo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Interview) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

ON BOARD PRESIDENTIAL JET (Ma'an) -- Israel seeks to maintain the status quo by talking about peace without making any efforts to achieve it, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Abbas, on a regional tour in Asia, told Ma'an that the Israeli government's stated support of a two-state solution was a "slogan for public opinion." "Israel talks about the two-state solution without taking a single step towards that solution ... (they are) comfortable with the status quo and don't seek to reach a solution," he said.

Abbas defends security cooperation with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will not stop security liaison with Israel despite the breakdown of peace negotiations. Abbas, in an interview with a Palestinian newspaper, also said he will not dissolve the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in response to the lack of chances to build an independent state.

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