The sensible Palestinian statehood plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians have recently been developing a peaceful multilevel strategy to achieve their national goals of a negotiated peace agreement with Israel, an end to the occupation, and the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

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PA urges Palestinians to stop using Israeli cell phone firms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is urging Palestinians to stop using the Israeli cellular companies Pelephone, Orange, Cellcom and Mirs. But PA Communications Minister Mashhour Abu Daqqa told a press conference in Ramallah yesterday that this is not political boycott. Rather, he said, it is an attempt to regulate the PA's cellular communications market. Abu Daqqa told reporters that the Israeli companies operate in PA-controlled areas without a license, in violation of Palestinian law and the Oslo Accords. Moreover, he said, the companies do not pay any taxes to the Palestinian Authority.

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Former settler cosmetic company departs West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Gush Shalom Settlement Boycott Team decided to remove the name of the cosmetics company Intercosma from its list of settlement products, following confirmation that the company finally left the Atarot Industrial Zone on the West Bank.

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No fines now for Palestinian settlement workers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians who violate a new ban on working in Israeli settlements will be given time to find other employment before facing punishment, a top official said, reflecting just of how hard it will be to enforce the measure in the job-strapped West Bank. The law, which also prohibits the sale of Israeli settlement products in the West Bank, was signed this week by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Violators face up to five years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

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Abbas signs anti-settlement legislation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday signed into law a ban on Israeli settlement goods in Palestinian markets. The move officially makes trade in settlement goods a criminal offense, and follows weeks of deliberations and declarations. Abbas legal advisor Hasan Al-Ouri was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying the regulations would target "the cancers found in the Palestinian body, which target the Palestinian people's humanity, soil, and fate."

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A new style of politics in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is quietly changing the rules of the Arab-Israeli conflict with a simple credo: Palestinians have to build their state now and cannot wait for an elusive peace deal with Israel. He is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to get the Palestinians ready for statehood by August 2011 by trying to build it from the ground up: paving roads, reforming the judiciary, planning new cities.

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Obama waives laws over fund transfers to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 9, 2010 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama cited national security concerns when he announced the re-issuance of wavers on Wednesday, easing rules for fund transfers to the Palestine Liberation Organization and its government in the West Bank. A second waiver, similar to the one signed by Obama in April and October 2009, allows the PLO to retain its office in the American capital city of Washington, DC.

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Israel threatens to shut off taps for West Bank water
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau threatened to restrict the West Bank water supply if no sewage treatment plants were installed in the area, a UN alert warned on Wednesday. The official reportedly told Israel's Army Radio that "They get clean water from us, and in return they give us sewage. This destroys nature, and I would also say that this is the way that wicked people behave."

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I.M.F. Says West Bank Economic Growth Is Imperiled by Israel and Arab States
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - April 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The International Monetary Fund is preparing a report on the Palestinian economy that praises the actions of the West Bank government and the large donations of Western countries, especially European ones, but argues that healthy recent growth rates are imperiled by the parties that claim to have the most at stake — Israel and the Arab states.

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Joint Palestinian-European committee to convene on supporting Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 1, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official announced on Wednesday that the Joint Palestinian-European Committee will hold a meeting in Brussels in June to support vital projects in the Palestinian territories. A preparatory meeting was held Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attended by both senior Palestinian and European officials. Reyad al-Malki, minister of foreign affairs in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) government, said in a press statement that the two sides agreed to prepare a joint working plan.

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