Fatah mourns death of Venezuela's Chavez
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 6, 2013 - 1:00am

A top Fatah leader expressed Palestine's condolences early Wednesday after learning of the death of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. “Palestine says good bye to a loyal friend who passionately defended our right to freedom and self determination. His contribution to the cause of dignity had no borders and reached the hearts and minds of the Arab World,” Nabil Shaath said in an emailed statement.

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Abbas, Fayyad at odds over finance minister's resignation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 5, 2013 - 1:00am

The opposing statements by President Mahmoud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad over the finance minister's resignation have stirred debates over the leaders' jurisdictions. Nabil Qassis on Saturday announced his resignation, less than a year after he was appointed to replace Fayyad as finance minister. Abbas refused the resignation, but Fayyad told the cabinet on Sunday that he had accepted it. Under Palestinian Basic Law, the prime minister is responsible for dismissing ministers or accepting their resignations.

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Palestinian Reconciliation Not Close
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Naela Khalil - (Editorial) March 3, 2013 - 1:00am

Despite the "warm peace" witnessed between Azzam al-Ahmad, the Fatah official responsible for the reconciliation file, and Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy chief of Hamas' political bureau, on Feb. 28 in Cairo, the meeting's good feelings did not transfer to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip in any way. Moreover, the relationship between the two movements continues to deteriorate.

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PA: Independent doctor to investigate detainee's death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

Israel will grant a request from the Palestinian Authority to bring an independent doctor to investigate the death of a detainee who died in Israeli custody, an official said Friday. Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh told Ma’an that the foreign doctor would investigate the death of Arafat Jaradat, who died last week in an Israeli prison. “This is the first time Israel agrees that a non-Israeli doctor will participate in an issue related to Palestinians in Israeli jails,” al-Sheikh told Ma'an.

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Israel Escalates Measures in Jerusalem, Says Fatah Council Member
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Palestine News Network
March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

Dimitri Diliani, a Member of Fatah Revolutionary Council, said on Thursday, 28 February, that Israel is constantly escalating its oppressive measures against the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, especially in Silwan and Issawiya. He said that Israeli police regularly raid the homes of Palestinians, arrest children and teens, and assault women and the elderly. Diliani said that in Issawiya alone, about 170 Palestinians were arrested in January. In Silwan, the youngest detainee was six-year-old.

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Israeli-Palestinian tensions could ultimately spark a major confrontation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) March 1, 2013 - 1:00am

As though 25 years hadn’t gone by, the Israel Defense Forces this week went back to using some of the terminology of the first intifada. Beginning this morning, a special alert was to be declared in the territories, with security forces deployed there ahead of an expected wave of demonstrations, revolving around the prayer services in the mosques. The police, too, will beef up their presence, with an eye on the weekly prayers on the Temple Mount.

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Exclusive: Hamas Official Predicts Third Intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Abeer Ayyoub - February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is “dragging its feet” on reconciliation due to US President Barack Obama’s scheduled visit in March, senior Hamas leader and Gaza parliamentarian Salah Bardawil told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview. Bardawil touched on this along with the latest disputes between Hamas and Fatah and said that little progress is expected until after the Obama trip. 

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It’s Not an Intifada
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Jonathan Schanzer - (Opinion) February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Don't call it an intifada. Not yet, anyway.

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Hamas to address Arafat foundation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Hamas is attending the board meeting of the Yasser Arafat Foundation for the first time at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Thursday. Hamas deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouq will address the foundation's board of trustees for its sixth meeting, attended by league secretary-general Nabil al-Arabi, the head of the foundation Nasser al-Qidra told Ma'an. Abu Marzouq will brief the foundation about reconciliation, al-Qidra said.

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PA liaison says secured release of teens from Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority liaison officials secured the release of four teenagers detained Wednesday by Israeli forces, Palestinian officer Osama Mansour said Thursday. Israeli forces detained Ibrahim Dawod 16, Ahmad Dawod 15, and Sabi Abed al-Raman, 16, from Ein Yabrud village north of Ramallah, and 15-year-old Tahrir from Jericho. The three teenagers from Ramallah were accused of throwing stones and Tahrir was suspected of trying to enter an Israeli settlement, said Mansour, who heads the liaison office in Ramallah.

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