Palestinian Aid: Where Will It Go?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
December 18, 2007 - 12:25pm

As donors meet in Paris to pledge aid to the Palestinian Authority, BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy explains the steps being taken to make sure the money will reach those who need it most. The idea is simple - to use a massive injection of outside aid to consolidate the fledgling peace process launched in Annapolis in November. But how will the aid get to those who need it? And how will it be spent?

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Conferees Pledge $7.4 Billion In Aid To Palestinian Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by John Ward Anderson - December 18, 2007 - 12:22pm

Countries and international organizations pledged $7.4 billion in assistance to the impoverished Palestinian Authority at a conference in Paris on Monday, saying that an infusion of cash would help the peace process begun by the United States last month in Annapolis, Md.

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Israel To Allow Building In Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - December 18, 2007 - 12:20pm

Israel will allow construction within built up areas of existing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, but will not expand beyond those areas, Israeli officials said on Monday. The position could widen the rift in U.S.-backed peace talks launched by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Annapolis, Maryland last month.

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Donor Nations To Ask Israel To Remove Roadblocks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Assaf Uni - December 17, 2007 - 1:29pm

The international donors conference to the Palestinian Authority is expected to issue a statement here today calling on Israel to remove roadblocks in the West Bank, European diplomatic sources said over the weekend. Representatives of the participating Arab countries are expected to criticize Israel sharply over the issues of roadblocks, the Gaza closure and construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa. The PA is hoping the donors conference will raise pledges for the unprecedented sum of $5.6 billion over the next three years.

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The Viable Two-state Solution?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Analysis) December 17, 2007 - 1:26pm

Following the summit in Annapolis, Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud opposition party in Israel declared in reference to the Israeli / Palestinian peace process, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”.

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Abbas: Palestinians Close To 'catastrophe'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph
by Richard Holt - December 17, 2007 - 1:23pm

Mahmoud Abbas has urged the international community to increase support for the Palestinians or risk a "total catastrophe" in the occupied territories. The Palestinian president used a donor conference in Paris to appeal for $5.6bn (£2.8bn) in aid by 2010 to help work towards setting up a viable Palestinian state. "Without this support, without the payment of aid that will allow the Palestinian treasury to fulfill its role, we will be facing a total catastrophe in the West Bank and Gaza," Mr Abbas told delegates.

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Blair Presses Donors To Bankroll Middle East Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by Adam Sage - December 17, 2007 - 1:22pm

Tony Blair was seeking to persuade world leaders to provide $5.6 billion (£2.75 billion) in aid to shore up the Palestinian economy and breath life into the revived Middle East peace process at an international donors' conference in Paris today. Britain's former prime minister is joint chairman of the conference, which was billed as a make-or-break event by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President.

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International Donors Are Cautiously Optimistic On Eve Of Palestinian Aid Meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Howard Lafranchi - December 17, 2007 - 1:19pm

PARIS With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeking a large increase in aid for his would-be country, the international community gathers at a donors' conference here Monday to grapple with how to turn the billions of dollars the Palestinians receive into a tool for peace.

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Donors Pledge Aid For Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - December 17, 2007 - 1:18pm

The world rallied to the support of the embattled Palestinian government Monday, and the co-chairman of a donors' conference said he was confident they could meet a $5.6 billion target in aid. World leaders at the conference also urged Israel to ease restrictions on movement in the West Bank and Gaza to make a recovery of the Palestinian economy possible. Some 90 countries and international organizations came together in Paris for the biggest pledging conference in more than a decade.

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The Right Wing's Jerusalem Gambit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com
by Gregory Levey - December 17, 2007 - 1:18pm

On Nov. 26, the U.S. State Department got hit with an unexpected barrage of phone calls. The Coordinating Council on Jerusalem, a new coalition of American groups with hard-line views on Israel, was on the line -- all of the lines. Or so the group said two days later in a press release, proudly proclaiming that with 10,000 calls in less than 48 hours it had managed to overload the State Department's voice-mail system.

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