The VIPs' hush money
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

Two people signed the entry permit into Israel that Mahmoud Abbas received from Israel's Civil Administration on January 1 (and which will be in force until March 1 ): 1st Lt. Noy Mitzrafi, commander of the permits office, and Lt. Col. Wissam Hamed, a department head in the Israel Defense Forces' operations directorate. It is this limited permit that Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president and PLO chairman, complained of receiving instead of his normal VIP permit during a closed meeting of his Fatah faction.

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Palestinian leader loses VIP status with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel has stripped Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of VIP status and given him a watered-down travel permit that is valid for just two months, Palestinian officials charged Sunday. The officials said that Abbas complained about the permit at an internal meeting of his Fatah Party last week.

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Playing for time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) January 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is currently managing two very different and in many ways contradictory negotiating tracks. Neither has produced any sort of substantive success thus far. If one does produce a breakthrough, the other will probably collapse. Meanwhile, the counterpoint between them is instructive.

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Fayyad Still Trying to Create State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jane Eisner - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am

I was last in Ramallah a year and a half ago, and the change since then is striking. The headquarters of the once-feared Palestine Liberation Organization had been on the second floor of a nondescript office building above a furniture store; now it is in a gleaming office tower adjacent to the sprawling compound of the Palestinian Authority’s president. I’m not sure there is reason to fear the PLO anymore, but the organization certainly has a better address.

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Reconciliation Committee to Start Work Immediately
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The committee tasked with implementing the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah has finalized all administrative preparations and will begin work immediately, committee head Rabah Mhannah said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after a committee meeting in Gaza City, Mhannah said members were allocated aspects of the agreement to work on.

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The many contradictions of Mahmoud Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Opinion) January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Seven years have passed since Mahmoud Abbas was elected to succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, and many Palestinians appear to be as confused as ever regarding their leader’s true intentions. Abbas ran in the January 2005 presidential election for a four-year term on a platform that promised massive reforms and changes both in the PA and the ruling Fatah faction, which he also heads.

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Report: Jordan seizes assets of expelled Fatah leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 9, 2012 - 1:00am

AMMAN (Ma'an) -- The assets of Muhammad Dahlan and his brother were seized by Jordanian authorities to allow Palestinian officials to pursue corruption allegations against the ousted Fatah strongman, Jordanian media reported on Monday. The head of Public Prosecutions in the Jordanian capital ordered the Central Bank of Jordan to foreclose the real estate and financial holdings of Dahlan, his brother and another unnamed individual, Jordanian daily Al-Rai reported.

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PA allots tax revenues to Gaza to ease cash crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel amounting to 150 million shekels ($39 million) will be transferred to Gaza upon their release in the next 24 hours, the head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority said on Thursday. The cash injection is intended to solve a critical shortage of currency in the blockaded Gaza Strip, PMA Governor Jihad al-Wazir said at an address to business students at the Islamic University in Gaza City.

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Fatah and Hamas resume talks on Palestinian reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas and Fatah officials met in Cairo on Sunday in order to renew talks on Palestinian reconciliation. The two sides are due to meet on Tuesday to sign a reconciliation agreement, although its implementation is expected to be postponed since the parties decided to delay the discussion on the formation of a Fatah-Hamas unity government until after January 26. Until now, the two sides have only been discussing the makeup of the Palestinian election committee.

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Encountering Peace: Normalizing anti-normalization
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

The Al Quds al Arabi newspaper, published in London, gave voice to senior Fatah member Hatem Abdel Qader Eid from Jerusalem announcing that Fatah has decided to boycott and prevent all meetings between Palestinians and Israelis, official and non-official. Being one of the leading Israeli advocates of such meetings and someone who has organized more than 2,000 of them over the past 24 years, many people have asked my opinion of the move.

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