World Bank finds Israel’s water policy hard to swallow ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Stephen Glain - April 28, 2009 - 12:00am As a former, and by many accounts successful, finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu presumably knows his way around economics. So when the Israeli prime minister says he will work to provide the Palestinians with economic, if not political, independence, might that not suggest his hard-line government understands that a prosperous Palestine would be an important first step towards a more stable Middle East? » Read more

Former PA official sentenced to seven years for embezzlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 28, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority court in Ramallah sentenced a former deputy undersecretary of the Interior Ministry to seven years in prison on Tuesday. In addition to the former undersecretary, Muhammad Abdul-Latif Abu Hajja, the court also convicted his wife, Samira Arif Turkiyya, and son, Ayman, to seven years imprisonment and penal servitude, along with a fine of 375,000 US dollars. » Read more