January 27th

Hamas quietly quits Syria as violence continues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi - January 27, 2012 - 1:00am The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, has effectively abandoned his headquarters in the Syrian capital, Damascus, diplomatic and intelligence sources said on Friday. "Meshaal is not staying in Syria as he used to do. He is almost out all the time," said a diplomat in the region who spoke on condition on anonymity. A regional intelligence source, who also did not wish to be identified, said: "He's not going back to Syria. That's the decision he's made. There's still a Hamas presence there, but it's insignificant." » Read more

CEC 'ready for elections' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 27, 2012 - 1:00am Elections can go ahead as planned on May 4 if President Mahmoud Abbas issues a decree in the coming days, a Central Elections Commission official said Thursday. Jamil Khalidi, who heads the commission's office in Gaza, told Ma'an the elections register in Gaza could be updated within six weeks. The Gaza office reopened on Tuesday after a two-year closure. Hamas shut down the office in November 2009 saying fair elections could not be held while political activists were threatened by the infighting. » Read more

"Big step" for new Palestinian city ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Tani Goldstein - January 26, 2012 - 1:00am After a four-year wait, the planners of Rawabi received Israel's permit to pave an access road to the new Palestinian town of and will embark on the work Sunday. The announcement was made Wednesday by Palestinian millionaire Bashar al-Masri, who owns the construction company tasked with building the new West Bank city. » Read more

Fayyad: Building Palestinian state requires cooperation from Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Frank Kane - January 27, 2012 - 1:00am DAVOS, SWITZERLAND // A lasting peace deal between Israel and Palestine "might happen very quickly," Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "We are sorry it has taken so long but we are nearer, at the final stage," Mr Peres said during a debate with Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, at Davos, the Swiss town hosting the annual gathering of the world's leading decision-makers. Mr Fayyad said: "There must be a hope for peace but it has to be a product of conscious decision-making." » Read more

Abbas meets Ashton in Amman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 27, 2012 - 1:00am President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Amman as the Quartet's latest deadline passed. The Quartet of peace mediators -- the EU, US, UN and Russia -- set a Jan. 26 deadline for the resumption of direct talks. Despite five meetings between Israeli and Palestinian envoys in Amman in January, the parties failed to agree on a starting point for negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called for more talks. » Read more

As Israeli-Palestinian talks sink, fringe ideas gain traction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - January 27, 2012 - 1:00am As another round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks faltered on Wednesday, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians say that the status quo is rapidly approaching a point at which establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel is impossible or unrealistic. » Read more

The Other Side of Itamar ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - January 24, 2012 - 1:00am Small huts and houses on windswept hilltops. Men wearing kippas and sporting beards. Women with their heads covered surrounded by children. These are what we found in the Itamar, an Israeli community in the heartland of the disputed West Bank. But the residents of Itamar and the other Israeli towns that have taken root in the area since 1967 are just as much associated in the minds of many Israelis and much of the world as extremists dead set against peace between Israel and the Palestinians and determined to expand their presence by violence, if necessary. » Read more

Low-Level Talks Likely to Continue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) January 27, 2012 - 1:00am January 26, that is yesterday, came and went pretty much like the month of September – namely, with a whimper. Remember September, the month when the Palestinians made their much-trumpeted and widely-feared play for statehood recognition at the United Nations. Defense Minister Ehud Barak prophesied a diplomatic tsunami; Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned of the worst Palestinian violence Israel had ever faced; and Haaretz continuously cautioned about a third intifada. Yet none of that materialized. » Read more

Peres in Davos: Palestinian state already established ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yoav Zitun - January 26, 2012 - 1:00am The Palestinians had effectively established a state while peace negotiations were still ongoing, President Shimon Peres told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. During a discussion on the chances for peace in the Middle East, Peres praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad for their state-building efforts, including the establishment of an independent military force. State-building is possible without negotiations, the president told the panel, which included Fayyad. » Read more

Hamas in Deep Trouble ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Guy Bechor - (Opinion) January 27, 2012 - 1:00am Nothing stopped Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, from making Ahmadinejad-style declarations that Israel’s days are numbered and calling for the establishment of an Arab Jihad army for Palestine’s liberation. Yet behind the pretentious slogans lies a grim reality for Hamas that can no longer be hidden. » Read more