Abbas aide: PA won't yield to 'extortion' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 6, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority "will not yield to extortion," presidential adviser Nimir Hammad said Tuesday of threats by Israeli officials to withhold Palestinian money again. Hammad's comments followed reports in Israel that the government would refuse to pay Palestinian tax revenues if the PLO applied again for full UN membership. Citing political sources, Israel radio reported Tuesday that the Israeli government would consider withholding Palestinian money in the event of another UN bid. Hammad told Ma'an radio that the PA "will not yield to such extortion." » Read more

The fragility of the Palestinian economic situation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by David Brodet - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am The mood in the Palestinian Authority recently changed radically in the space of a few weeks. In September 2011, the attention of Palestinians and the world was directed toward the United Nations, where the Palestine Liberation Organization submitted its request to be accepted as a state by the UN and Palestinian spirits were at an all-time high. » Read more

Ultimately crippling ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority has been plagued this year by various financial troubles that are affecting, in turn, its ability to fulfill some of its financial obligations. The most recent source of these problems has been a decline in PA revenues. The Palestinian budget is usually composed of two sources of income. One is external funding ($1.83 billion annually) from donors, and the other is made up of domestic revenues, direct ($812 million a year) and indirect ($1.442 billion annually collected by Israel). » Read more

Ultimately crippling ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority has been plagued this year by various financial troubles that are affecting, in turn, its ability to fulfill some of its financial obligations. The most recent source of these problems has been a decline in PA revenues. The Palestinian budget is usually composed of two sources of income. One is external funding ($1.83 billion annually) from donors, and the other is made up of domestic revenues, direct ($812 million a year) and indirect ($1.442 billion annually collected by Israel). » Read more

Not central to independence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am Revelations concerning the Palestinian financial crisis of recent weeks touch upon three issues. The most obvious one is the seeming inability of the Palestinian Authority under Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to accumulate sufficient reserves to withstand a few weeks' shortfall in income. Put differently, it is the PA's huge reliance on donor-nation funds and on taxes collected for it by Israel. » Read more

US criticism will only benefit Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Linda Heard - (Opinion) December 6, 2011 - 1:00am It appears that the Obama administration is playing “good cop, bad cop” with the Israeli leadership. While the President Barack Obama goes out of his way to prostrate himself before the powerful pro-Israel lobby in the run-up to next January's election, his minions are sending a different message — a message Obama has no doubt blessed behind the scenes. Publicly, the president is muffled. » Read more

Secrets of Ben-Gurion's Leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Gal Beckerman - (Opinion) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am The most revealing conversation that Shimon Peres ever had with his mentor, David Ben-Gurion, was perhaps his first. Peres was a young activist in Ha’Noar Ha’Oved, the Labor Zionist youth movement, when he asked the powerful and charismatic chairman of the Jewish Agency for a lift up the coast to Haifa from Tel Aviv. They spent most of the ride in silence, but then, just as they were approaching their destination, Ben-Gurion decided, out of nowhere, to tell the young man why he preferred Lenin to Trotsky. This was, for sure, a surprising admission. » Read more

Terror Out of Zion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily by Elliot Jager - (Opinion) December 6, 2011 - 1:00am There is no love lost between the British Foreign Office and Israel. In a report to parliament last month, Foreign Minister William Hague condemned Israel for building in Jerusalem, being in the West Bank, and treating the present Gaza regime like the enemy it is. Hague's report mentioned Hamas only to blame Israel for the Islamist group's obduracy. » Read more

Our World: An ally no more ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Caroline Glick - (Analysis) December 5, 2011 - 1:00am With vote tallies in for Egypt’s first round of parliamentary elections in it is abundantly clear that Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state. The first round of voting took place in Egypt’s most liberal, cosmopolitan cities. And still the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists received more than 60 percent of the vote. Run-off elections for 52 seats will by all estimates increase their representation. » Read more

The common cause of Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) December 6, 2011 - 1:00am Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad are gifts to each other but curses on their nations. Rather than attack Iran, Israel should commit to a nuclear-free Middle East. One may be the heir apparent of Israeli right-wing royalty and the other the son of a poor, provincial Iranian jack-of-all-trades, but Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behave like mutant clones when it comes to their international brinkmanship and their uncanny knack of furthering their peoples' international isolation. » Read more