PA thanks South Africa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority applauded South Africa on Thursday after its cabinet voted to distinguish goods made in the occupied West Bank from normal Israeli products. Abdul Hafiz Nofal, the PA's deputy economy minister, said he thanked South Africa's ambassador for the decision to label settlement products as "Occupied Palestinian Territory" rather than "Israel."

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PNA urges world to bar goods made in Jewish settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Thursday urged the world to bar goods made in Jewish settlements from entering the markets. "Blocking the settlements' goods emphasizes the international resolution about the illegitimacy and illegality of the settlements that were built on occupied Palestinian land," said a statement by the PNA's ministry of economy. The statement, meanwhile, welcomed South Africa's decision to label the settlements' products as being from the occupied Palestinian territories. The South African move has angered Israel.

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South Africa is right. Labeling Israeli settler products is truth in advertising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am

South Africa has taken a decision that may one day prove to have been a significant step toward peace in the Middle East. Whether this ultimately comes to pass or not, the step has already notched a kink in the juggernaut called occupation. The South African cabinet approved a proposal “requiring the labeling of goods or products emanating from Israeli occupied territories, to prevent consumers being led to believe that such goods come from Israel,” cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said on Wednesday.

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Israel protests South African labeling law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel is condemning a new South African regulation requiring that products made in West Bank settlements must be labeled as coming from "occupied Palestinian territory." Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor calls the requirement "totally unacceptable." In a statement late Wednesday, Palmor said such measures have not been imposed, "and rightly so, in any other case of national, territorial or ethnic conflict."

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Palestinian government debt hurts private sector
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian drug importer Ghassan Mustaklem says he can't afford to work with the West Bank's Palestinian government anymore. He recently halted supplies to his biggest client, which now owes $12 million in unpaid bills, or more than half his annual turnover. The cutoff by Mustaklem and other suppliers has fueled a shortage of key drugs in Palestinian hospitals, making the health sector the latest victim of a deepening financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority.

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Israeli gov't to raise quota of Palestinian workers to 30,000
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

The Israeli government will increase the quota of Palestinian construction workers allowed to enter Israel within a few weeks, local news outlets reported Wednesday. The reports said the Israeli government agreed to allow up to 30,000 workers to enter its country as a move of assistance to the financially-crippled Palestinian National Authority (PNA). In July, the Israeli government aided the PNA with 180 million shekels (45 million U.S. dollars) in light of its severe financial situation.

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Abbas urges donors to support Palestinian budget
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 8, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged donor countries to support the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s crippling budget deficit. "The PNA suffers a difficult financial situation," Abbas said at a meeting with Toni Blair, the former British prime minister who is now the envoy of the International Middle East peacemakers, known as the Quartet.

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Palestinian Bubble Set to Burst
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - (Opinion) August 5, 2012 - 12:00am

“It will collapse, and the collapse will be harder when it happens later,” says Tareq Sadeq, Palestinian economist and professor at Birzeit University, about the financial bubble building up in the Palestinian Authority government. “It will mean that people will lose their homes. They will lose their cars. They will lose their land sometimes because of the collapse of the bubble. This will affect the whole economy and will also reflect on the Palestinian Authority. So this may be a collapse of the PA itself,” Sadeq tells IPS.

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Israel, Palestinian Authority sign bilateral trade agreements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Moti Bassok - August 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed agreements on Tuesday to regulate bilateral trade and taxation. The agreements were thrashed out in a series of secret meetings that lasted more than a year and had many ups and downs. Israeli sources said they also have diplomatic ramifications.

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PA official: Economic crisis will not be solved this year
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

A Palestinian Authority official said Wednesday that a World Bank report describing weaknesses in the Palestinian economy was accurate. 

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