Imagining a Palestinian Economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
(Opinion) June 8, 2012 - 12:00am

     At the last meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Aid to Palestine, the Israeli delegation argued that the Palestinian economy was not ready to sustain an independent state. But this argument is frustrating. It is Israel’s very denial of independence that most impedes Palestinian economic prosperity.  As a board member of the Palestinian Business Women’s Forum, I was appalled by this conclusion.

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Settlement harvests in need of a new label
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 7, 2012 - 12:00am

Supporters of economic boycotts against Israel scored victories last month when South Africa and Denmark said they would ban the use of a "Made in Israel" label on products from Jewish settlements. Pro-Palestinian groups hailed the moves as a potential watershed in efforts to persuade the international community to penalise Tel Aviv for its settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories occupied by Israel.

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Invest in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Allison Good - (Opinion) June 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's top brass made much ado about the peace process during the International Institute for Security Studies conference last week. “This is an opportunity to advance the peace process, an opportunity which may not repeat itself, in my opinion, in the next ten years,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said about his 94-member Knesset coalition. Netanyahu can invoke historic conditions all he wants, but the numbers are in, and a Palestinian state, if declared in the near future, would be economically unsustainable.

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Fayyad meets South Africa envoy, applauds settler goods labeling
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 3, 2012 - 12:00am

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday applauded South Africa's move to label settlement goods, in a meeting with the country's representative in Ramallah, official media said. Fayyad told the head of the South African representative office to the Palestinian Authority, N W Makalima, that he hoped other countries would follow South Africa's example, PA news agency Wafa reported. "We hope this step will become international consensus both at popular and official levels," he said.

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Arab states pledge $100 million per month to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Arab states on Saturday pledged to provide the Palestinian Authority with $100 million each month as a back-up if Israel withholds tax revenues, official PA media said. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Follow-up Committee for the Arab Peace Initiative in the Qatari capital on Saturday, PLO official Saeb Erekat told PA news agency Wafa.

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Made in Israel? Not a simple question
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - May 31, 2012 - 12:00am

For decades, Israel has marketed an array of cosmetics and food products manufactured in the occupied West Bank as "Made in Israel," blurring their true origins in Jewish settlements opposed by virtually the entire international community. Now that practice is being challenged with demands that products made in the settlements be labeled accordingly.

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Palestinian Airlines resumes flights after 7 years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak, Karin Laub - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am

MARKA AIRBASE, Jordan – Palestinian Airlines is back in the skies after being grounded for seven years by the deepening enmities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Once hailed as a symbol of Palestinian statehood dreams, the carrier is a tiny operation, with just two 48-seat turboprop planes, two weekly flights and a borrowed hub in Egypt. But Palestinians say just being on the map again is what matters.

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Palestinians face hurdles to a greener West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Daniella Cheslow - May 16, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — After years of neglect, the Palestinians are going green. In a society preoccupied with the struggle for independence from Israel, protecting the environment has often been sidelined — as evidenced by the ubiquitous sight of burning trash and piles of garbage bags on sidewalks in this city of 30,000 north of Jerusalem.

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Palestinians isolated and short of funds -Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Samia Nakhoul, Michael Stott - (Interview) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 8 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Tuesday the Palestinians may have "lost the argument" on the international stage for an independent state but cautioned that continued Israeli occupation was unsustainable. In an interview with Reuters, Fayyad struck a note of discord with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by calling for elections that have long been delayed because of deep political divisions between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

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Palestinians Turn to Gulf States
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Calcalist
by Danny Rubenstein - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am

The joint customs system (or customs union, as it is variously known) established under the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the geographic proximity and the obstacles impeding [Palestinian] exports to foreign countries are the factors due to which most of the Palestinian foreign trade is conducted with Israel. However, in recent years, things seem to have changed.

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