The man Israel didn't release from prison: Marwan Barghouti
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Rebecca Collard - December 18, 2011 - 1:00am

There were rumors and Palestinians hopes that the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap this fall would result in the release of Marwan Barghouti, the man who many see as a possible successor to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Related stories Under the Shalit deal, more than 1,000 Palestinians were to be released over several months in exchange for the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas in 2006. But as Israel announced the names of the remaining 550 prisoners to be released today, Mr. Barghouti was not among them.

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Clashes in Lebanon refugee camp, one killed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 18, 2011 - 1:00am

AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Sporadic clashes broke out between armed factions in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday after the bodyguard of an official there was killed, a witness and security officials said. Fighters supporting the mainstream Fatah party clashed with gunmen suspected of belonging to extremist Islamist parties, shooting at each other and firing rocket propelled grenades in Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon. Armed clashes are common in the camp, which houses 50,000 refugees, and militant Islamists are known to operate there.

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'Fayyad mulling PA presidential run'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - December 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Fatah central committee in Ramallah amid reports that Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is planning to run in the next presidential election. Sources close to Fayyad were quoted as saying that the prime minister would present his candidacy for PA president only if Abbas decides not to run for another term.

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Hamas-Fatah meeting to bring no surprises: Fatah official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 10, 2011 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Upcoming meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the leader of rival Hamas movement, Khaled Mashaal, will bring "no surprises," a Palestinian official said Thursday. At the meeting initially set to be held in Egypt's capital of Cairo at the end of this month, the two rivals will discuss the future of the Palestinian National Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization in light of the setback in the peace process, said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior member of Abbas' Fatah party.

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It's Either Abbas or Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Ori Nir - (Blog) October 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said this week that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should leave his post soon and that "anyone who replaces (Abbas) will be better than he is." Lieberman called Abbas "an obstacle to peace." The firebrand foreign minister was talking about the same Abbas who Prime Minister Netanyahu called "my partner in peace," the same Abbas who Israel's President Shimon Peres recently characterized as "the best (Palestinian) leader we will work with," the same Abbas who former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin this week called a "statesman."

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Fatah fires senior member for criminal, financial charges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Xiong Tong - (Analysis) October 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The Fatah party has officially fired a senior member for criminal and financial charges, a source from the party said Thursday. The decision to fire Mohammed Dahlan, the former head of the Palestinian National Authority's forces in the Gaza Strip, was supported by 76 members of Fatah's revolutionary council, a member of the council told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Thirteen members voted against the decision while seven refused to vote.

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IDF recommends freeing Fatah prisoners as gesture to Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid - (Analysis) October 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel should make a series of gestures to the Palestinian Authority to reduce the damage caused the PA by last week's deal for the return of Gilad Shalit, the Israel Defense Forces' General Staff believes. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's advisers vehemently oppose the idea, as do several members of his forum of eight senior ministers, arguing that PA President Mahmoud Abbas "should be punished" for his unilateral bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state.

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Fatah official says meeting with Hamas chief 'positive'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad said Wednesday that his meeting in Cairo with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal was "positive" and that reconciliation talks would restart "soon." Al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation in talks with Hamas, told reporters after the meeting that the talks had not been planned, but were arranged at the last minute as the officials happened to be in the Egyptian capital. During the meeting, Mashaal phoned President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his full supported the president's recent bid for full UN membership, al-Ahmad said.

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The problem with Palestinian political leadership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - (Opinion) September 1, 2011 - 12:00am

For a few months now, discussion of Palestine/Israel has focused on the looming UN vote on Palestinian statehood, but this is obscuring more fundamental problems in the Palestinian political arena – of which the forthcoming UN vote is a symptom. In three critical areas, there are significant flaws hampering Palestinian political leadership.

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Palestinian reconciliation goes forward slowly: Haneya
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Implementing the Palestinian reconciliation deal takes a long time, Prime Minister of the deposed Hamas administration in Gaza Ismail Haneya said Tuesday. "The implementation is going on very slowly," Haneya said during a mass prayer in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to mark the end of Muslims' fasting month of Ramadan. "The reconciliation should be based on clear principles and concentrated choices that do not give up any of those principles," Haneya added, stressing on the option of armed resistance against Israel.

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