Fayyad says Hamas officials no show at Cairo fuel talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 26, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Sunday an expected Hamas delegation had not arrived in Cairo to join talks on ending the Gaza Strip's fuel crisis. Palestinian officials headed to Egypt on Saturday to discuss the mechanism for ongoing fuel pumping into Gaza after Egypt cut off supplies through an underground tunnel network. While an Egyptian security official said Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar crossed from Gaza to Egypt on Egypt, Fayyad said a Hamas delegation did not join talks. » Read more

Abbas approves changes in Lebanon refugee camps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 25, 2012 - 12:00am BEIRUT (Ma’an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday gave his approval to several resolutions affecting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a statement from the embassy in Beirut said. The resolutions were initially discussed during a visit by Fatah central committee member Azzam Ahmad on March 16. Ahmad had met with Palestinian faction representatives in Lebanon to discuss ways to improve the situation of refugees. » Read more

Islamist Victors in Egypt Seeking Shift by Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by David Kirkpatrick - March 24, 2012 - 12:00am CAIRO — As it prepares to take power in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is overhauling its relations with the two main Palestinian factions in an effort to put new pressure on Israel for an independent Palestinian state. Officials of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s dominant Islamist movement, are pressing its militant Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, which controls Gaza, to make new compromises with Fatah, the Western-backed Palestinian leadership that has committed to peace with Israel and runs the West Bank. » Read more

Israel’s Top Court Orders Settlers to Leave Outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - March 25, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a West Bank settlers’ outpost built on private Palestinian land to be dismantled by Aug. 1, rejecting a government compromise with the settlers that would have allowed them to stay put for another three years. The decision was much anticipated, because the panel of three judges who decided the case included the court’s conservative new chief justice, Asher Grunis, and because the case involved the politically explosive issue of moving settlers in the face of potentially violent resistance. » Read more

Israel’s Top Court Orders Settlers to Leave Outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a West Bank settlers’ outpost built on private Palestinian land to be dismantled by Aug. 1, rejecting a government compromise with the settlers that would have allowed them to stay put for another three years. The decision was much anticipated, because the panel of three judges who decided the case included the court’s conservative new chief justice, Asher Grunis, and because the case involved the politically explosive issue of moving settlers in the face of potentially violent resistance. » Read more