Palestine Papers backlash? Protesters rally for Mahmoud Abbas at Al Jazeera office
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ruth Sherlock - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Al Jazeera television station in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday afternoon, infuriated over the leak of confidential documents that reveal Palestinian negotiators offered Israel big concessions during peace talks over the past decade. The leak of the so-called Palestine Papers has embarrassed Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, but some 250 supporters rallied to his defense in today's demonstration.

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Egypt Links Palestinians to Attack at Church
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael Slackman - January 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Egypt’s interior minister charged Sunday that a Palestinian extremist group with links to Al Qaeda was behind the Dec. 31 bombing outside a church in Alexandria that killed 21 people and set off days of sectarian rioting around the nation. In a nationally televised speech, the minister, Habib el-Adly, said the authorities had “conclusive evidence” linking the attack on Egyptian Christians to the Army of Islam, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip.

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Leader confounds both sides with plans for Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - January 21, 2011 - 1:00am

No one seems to know what to make of him. Israelis puzzle over the cleanshaven technocrat who denounces violence. Palestinians see an outsider who never cut his teeth on the tear-gas-choked streets of intifadas. Now, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad hopes to confound expectations even further, pursuing what some see as a quixotic goal of laying the groundwork for an independent country by August. No matter that peace talks are stalled. If Palestinians build the trappings of a state, he believes, a real state will follow.

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Palestinian Nonviolent Movement Continues Despite Crackdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Mohammed Khatib - January 21, 2011 - 1:00am

The January 1st death of Palestinian protester Jawaher Abu Rahmah from Israeli tear gas, and efforts to imprison people like us illustrate the Israeli government's intensifying crackdown on the unarmed Palestinian protest movement. Though threatened, this movement of Palestinian men, women and children, along with Israeli and international supporters, has grown too much to be easily stopped.

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Arab League praises PA's diplomatic efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday praised the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic efforts to secure international recognition of a Palestinian state. PA Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Al-Malki updated Arab foreign ministers on diplomatic developments in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh, where leaders gathered ahead of an Arab League summit on Wednesday. Foreign ministers praised Palestinian diplomatic achievements, and promised to support President Mahmoud Abbas' political strategy.

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Fayyad: Taxes must rise to reduce aid dependency
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Sunday that taxes must rise to reduce dependence on donors. Fayyad, a former World Bank economist, faced a barrage of questions on the state of the economy during a meeting with journalists in Ramallah. Reporters asked Fayyad what support his government would offer to assist struggling families and the unemployed, and whether taxes would rise. The PA premier said in order to provide support for citizens, Palestinians faced a choice between aid dependency and increased taxes.

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Does Arab Money Fund Left-wing Israeli NGOs?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am

In the context of Israeli politics, it is the most incendiary charge made thus far against human rights groups and other left-wing nongovernmental organizations: that some of the money that funds their work comes from Arabs — or even from terrorists. As the Knesset steams ahead with plans to probe the country’s human rights groups, critics of the NGOs are now seeking to advance this charge with a study that purports to supply supporting data.

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Palestinians to turn to Security Council this week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - January 17, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinians expect to submit their request for a U.N. Security Council condemnation of Israeli settlements this week and will not be deterred by a U.S. appeal to abandon the idea, senior officials said Monday. In recent weeks, the Palestinians have prepared a draft that would have the Security Council declare settlements illegal and demand a halt of their construction. During this time, Palestinian diplomats have tried to win support for the proposed resolution.

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WEST BANK: Political upheaval in Tunisia spurs Palestinian leaders to issue reassurances on own economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - January 16, 2011 - 1:00am

The factors that led to the popular upheaval in Tunisia set off alarm bells throughout the Arab world, and the Palestinian Authority was no different. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spent more than two hours on Sunday talking to 40 Palestinian journalists at his Ramallah office about the economic situation and living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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PA security: Two-faced Hamas calling for Gaza calm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Spokesperson for the Palestinian security services in the Major General Adnan Dmeiri criticized Hamas on Wednesday, saying its leaders were adopting a two-faced and inconsistent policy, by calling for calm in Gaza and "escalating conditions" in the West Bank. "Israel gets a free-of-charge calm," Dmeiri said, referring to a series of urgent talks the party held with militant groups on Wednesday to pass on a warning from Arab leaders about firing rockets at Israel.

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