A Middle-Class Paradise in Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Armin Rosen - (Opinion) February 11, 2013 - 1:00am

The sole outlet to Rawabi sits off a dizzying two-lane highway flanked by round, scraggly hills. In this part of the West Bank, just north of where the Jerusalem suburbs thin into a dry, granite-gray wilderness, the mountains seem to aid in the illusion that Israeli and Palestinian spheres of authority can remain perfectly, even harmoniously separate.

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Finance minister: PA budget $3.6 billion for 2013
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 5, 2013 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority government is working on a draft budget of $3.6 billion for 2013, set for approval by the end of the month, the PA finance minister said Tuesday. The budget contains a number of measures to try and reduce the budget deficit and increase revenues, Nabil Qassis told Ma'an. “We decided to adopt a united taxation system in attempt to limit tax evasion. In addition, we raised taxes on car imports and purchase, and these procedures are expected to yield $50 million a year,” he said.

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Bright spot in Palestinian economy: more women opening businesses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am

It's a rainy day in the West Bank village of Ajoul, and when the kids get out of school a few dart into Myassar Issa's mini-market to buy sweets before running home up the muddy hills leading out of the valley.

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The Vision of Rawabi Nears Fruition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Felice Friedson - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am

The American businessmen and women appeared transfixed as they listened to the man behind the first Palestinian planned city depict his journey from vision to reality.

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Barak approves 346 new Gush Etzion housing units
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - (Analysis) February 1, 2013 - 1:00am

  The Defense Ministry has advanced plans to build 346 housing units in the West Bank’s Gush Etzion region, area council head Davidi Perl reported on Thursday.

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Palestinians face growing food crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 30, 2013 - 1:00am

Fluctuating prices, poverty and border restrictions mean growing numbers of Palestinians are facing food insecurity this year -- one of the key priorities in the humanitarian community’s annual appeal for the occupied Palestinian territory. This year’s Consolidated Appeal Process is for $401.6 million, a slight decrease on last year’s $416.7 million, only 68 percent of which was financed. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which helped coordinate the CAP, estimates that 1.3 million Palestinians do not have enough food.

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Palestinian, Israeli officials 'to discuss tax transfers'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance officials will meet with their Israeli counterparts on Wednesday to discuss resuming the transfer of taxes withheld by Israel since November, an official said. Rami Mahdawi, PA finance ministry spokesman, told Ma'an Tuesday that the meeting will discuss Israel's position to resuming the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues, which have been withheld as punishment for the UN's acceptance of Palestine as a non-member state in November.

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Israel's Decision To Withhold Tax Money From Palestinians May Impact Security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ben Lynfield - January 26, 2013 - 1:00am

In August 2011, a report by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee hailed the Palestinian Authority’s “comprehensive security coordination” with Israel in thwarting terrorist attacks — a judgment echoed in May 2012 by the chief of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency. “The security coordination with the P.A. is good,” Yoram Cohen told the same committee then.

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Israel to withhold Palestinian funds until March, at least
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel will withhold tax revenues from President Mahmoud Abbas's administration until March at least in response to his statehood campaign at the United Nations, Israel's foreign minister said. Under interim peace deals, Israel collects some $100 million a month in duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank -- money that is badly needed to pay public sector salaries.

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ATFP Asks US to Ensure No Israeli Building in E1
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - December 3, 2012 - 1:00am

 



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