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Officials to meet in Cairo to announce government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 7, 2012 - 1:00am CAIRO (Ma’an) -- A delegation of Hamas officials have arrived in Cairo as President Abbas and PLO members are expected to arrive within the next few days to announce the structure of a transitional government. Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal signed an agreement in Doha on Monday which stipulated that Abbas will head an interim government. The accord also included agreements on releasing political prisoners, reforming the Palestinian National Council and activating the PLO for the next elections, Palestine TV said. |
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Middle East press uncertain on Palestinian unity deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News February 7, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will head the cabinet of politically independent technocrats while it organises elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Hamas has governed since 2007. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Mr Abbas would be abandoning the way of peace if he implemented the deal with Hamas. Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist group. Pro-Fatah newspaper Al-Quds |
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Doha agreement divides political opinion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 7, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Doha agreement signed on Monday by President Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal has been welcomed and criticized in equal measure by politicians and analysts. Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar told Ma'an that the agreement "contradicted basic Palestinian law and overstepped the Palestinian Legislative Council." He urged President Abbas to take serious steps to implement the Cairo agreement as a whole, rather than being selective about which articles to implement. |
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What would you do?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Elyte Baykun - (Analysis) February 4, 2012 - 1:00am Israel is blaming the Palestinians for putting "preconditions" on peace talks by insisting on a settlement freeze before returning to direct negotiations. They say that Palestinians have negotiated for the past twenty years without this condition, so why demand it now? But the PLO says that is precisely the point. They have been negotiating in good faith with the Israelis for the past 20 years without first insisting on a settlement freeze and look where it has gotten them. |
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Israeli Arabs are citizens, not enemies of the state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) February 5, 2012 - 1:00am "As a community," Shin Bet security service chief Yoram Cohen said this week, "Arab Israelis are not a target of Shin Bet. They are not a fifth column and we do not view them as such." He also presented data which showed that Israeli Arabs were involved in three attacks during the past year, adding that "the number of those involved in terrorism is not large. We arrested 20-30 Israeli Arabs during the past year, compared to 2,000 Palestinians in Judea and Samaria." |
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David Ben-Gurion's legacy, through Shimon Peres' eyes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Azriel Bermant - (Book Review) February 6, 2012 - 1:00am Ben-Gurion: A Political Life by Shimon Peres, with David Landau Schocken Books, 224 pages, $25.95 |
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Urgently Palestinians need leaders of high caliber
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Stuart Littlewood - (Opinion) February 4, 2012 - 1:00am Did anyone know? Did Western media care? No. Not until reports appeared that Jewish community leaders cancelled a meeting with him after intervention by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office and Israel's embassy in London, and Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi condemned the move as “seeking to suppress and manipulate Jewish public opinion.” It was also typical of Netanyahu's “persistent efforts” to prevent dialogue, she said, according to the Palestinian Ma'an news agency. |
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Is Israel preparing to attack Iran?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by David Ignatius - (Opinion) February 6, 2012 - 1:00am Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran militarily over the next few months. |
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Tewfik Mishlawi obituary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Tim Llewellyn - (Obituary) February 2, 2012 - 1:00am Tewfik Mishlawi, who has died aged 76, was a father-figure and guru to at least three generations of journalists who went to the Middle East. They live in eternal gratitude to him and his daily digest of translation from the local and regional Arabic press and his analytical explorations of what was going on. |