Make the Palestinian state an essential fact on the ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

The 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.

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Israel stops money for Gaza’s disabled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Yunis al Masri was luckier than his two brothers in Gaza. Although the truck that ploughed into their car as they travelled to work in Israel 24 years ago killed Jaber and Kamal instantly, Mr al Masri survived with shattered bones, internal bleeding and brain damage. Today, aged 49 and after many operations, he has difficulty walking and problems remembering to do things. Any hope of working again was crushed in 1985 amid the car wreckage.

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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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Getting real about a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Writing From Ramallah, West Bank - Something different is happening among the Palestinians. Their political leaders and civil servants are spending more time planning for a Palestinian state than criticizing the Israelis for their intransigence.

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Former Gaza strongman Dahlan appointed to Fatah information post
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah’s newly-elected Central Committee appointed controversial former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan to be charge of information on Tuesday night. The committee, which was reconstituted at the party’s convention in Bethlehem in August, held a meeting on Tuesday in the security compound (Al-Muqata’a) in Ramallah and Central committee member Jamal Muheisin told Ma’an that Ahmad (Abu Mahir) Ghneim was appointed Deputy Chair and Secretary of Fatah movement.

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The Salam Fayad Document: A Palestinian Initiative to Bear Responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Analysis) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Quite frankly, the program put forth by the government of the Palestinian Authority, detailed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a document entitled “Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State”, for the next two years is the only program that preserves the two states, undermines the occupation and ruptures its backbone by building the institutions of the de facto state.

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Fayyad: We need to will Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
September 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Some two weeks after going public with his ambitious plans of establishing a de facto Palestinian State within two years, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of Monday said he was baffled as to Israel's displeasure and silence over his plans. In an interview to Newsweek, Fayyad said he did not understand why Jerusalem was so unwelcoming of his initiative, and said the Israelis were missing the point. "If you look at all the variables around us, we really don't have control over most of them," he told Newsweek.

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Palestinian workers seek livelihood in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Erika Soloman - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Before dawn, a crackling sound breaks up the cool, still air, as boots tread over rocks on a 7-km (4-mile)-long path that leads hundreds of illegal Palestinian workers into Israel each day. None holds an Israeli work permit and as the laborers make their way from the occupied West Bank, they risk a dangerous run-in with Israeli paramilitary border police. The small Arab village of Beit Iksa , nestled among foothills and surrounded by Jewish settlements, opens out to a dark panorama of Jerusalem studded by twinkling street lights.

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Palestinians warn of new "Intifada" against Israeli settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - September 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian political figures warned on Monday that if the United States and Europe fail to urge Israel to halt settlement, repression would prevail among the Palestinians, and "it would be an incitement for a popular uprising against Israel." Ghassan Daghlas, a senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official in charge of the Israeli settlement file in northern West Bank, said the current Palestinian status concerning the settlement expansion is like "fire under ashes."

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If you build it, the state will come
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 4, 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.

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