Palestinians postpone commemoration of militant
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 10 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority ordered on Wednesday the cancellation of a ceremony to honour a woman who led a 1978 hijacking of a civilian bus in Israel in which 35 people were killed. The cancellation of Thursday's ceremony coincided with a visit to the occupied West Bank by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who met with Palestinian leaders as part of Washington's efforts to revive the moribund Middle East peace process.

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Fayyad’s White Intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) March 9, 2010 - 1:00am

At this time, senior Palestinian figures no longer want the VIP cards issued by Israel to about 300 elected officials and heads of Palestinian security arms. These cards enable them, among other perks, to stay in their air-conditioned Mercedes and quickly pass through IDF roadblocks in the West Bank, while their people watch on angrily and enviously.

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Fayyad: Peace process only credible if Israel ends violations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Ramallah – Ma'an – Caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Sunday that restoring credibility to the peace process is only attainable if Israel is forced to end violations of international law and resolutions, including the Road Map. Fayyad's remarks were made during a meeting with a Dutch delegation, headed by the speaker of the Dutch parliament, Gerdi Verbeet.

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Palestinian Authority sees lower deficit in 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 8 (Reuters) - The Western-backed Palestinian Authority said on Monday its recurrent budget deficit will fall to 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year from 22 percent in 2009. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government, which relies on international aid to meet its needs, forecasts its 2010 recurrent deficit falling to $1.21 billion from $1.45 billion in 2009. "This would be the lowest deficit as a share of GDP since the year 2000, and a major step forward towards enhancing financial sustainability," the authority said in a statement.

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In Hebron, renovation of holy site sets off strife
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

The Tomb of the Patriarchs -- a site revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians as the burial place of their common forefather, Abraham -- needed bathrooms and a new roof over an outdoor prayer area. To the spokesman for Hebron's Jewish settler community, that should not have been grounds for international scandal. "In any normal country, people would take a site like that and turn it into a nationally recognized monument," David Wilder said.

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Palestinian opposition groups: proximity talks are to fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian opposition factions on Monday rejected the resumption of the U.S.-sponsored indirect peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), saying the talks will be a great failure and will never succeed. The left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP) accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of "exclusivity in the decision-making, mainly those related to major Palestinian issues," adding talks can never be renewed while Israel continues its settlement activities and rejects the peace principles.

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Salam Fayyad: The Palestinian with a plan for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - (Analysis) March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Pundits and politicians have taken recently to comparing Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion. No less a figure than President Shimon Peres, one of Ben-Gurion's foremost disciples, is the latest Israeli leader to offer the accolade. The reason is simple: Like Ben-Gurion, Fayyad is building institutions of statehood.

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The perils of a new intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

If last Friday's incident at the Al Haram Al Sharif compound means anything it is this: Israel's right-wing government is out of control and is bent on executing a malicious scheme to undermine Palestinian rights.

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Hamas: PA continues political arrest campaign
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Hamas officials released a statement accusing Palestinian Authority forces of detaining three of the party's affiliates from locations across the West Bank overnight Thursday. The three were reportedly from Nablus and Hebron, although the arrests could not be independently verified by Ma'an.

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Hamas: Return to talks a betrayal of the nation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Gaza's deputy Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) speaker Ahmad Bahar called a return to negotiations with Israel a "waste of the Palestinian cause," saying the outcomes of any talks would "not meet any standards of legitemacy." The statement on Thursday followed rumors that indirect talks with a US envoy shuttling between Israel and the PLO could start as early as Sunday, after the Arab League gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for talks within a four-month timeframe.

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