Rights group accuses PA and Hamas of torture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta - May 17, 2011 - 12:00am

A human rights body on Tuesday accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of torture and arbitrary detention and warned it not to repeat the mistakes of Arab states by allowing security forces to become too powerful. The Independent Commission for Human Rights, releasing an annual report on human rights in the PA-ruled West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, said Hamas was also guilty of torture and arbitrary arrest.

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Fatah to discuss September deadlines
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 10, 2011 - 12:00am

Fatah's governing body will evaluate party support and possible strategies including the September deadline for statehood and a possible bid at the UN, an official said Monday night. The party's Revolutionary Council began meetings late Monday evening, headed by president and party leader Mahmoud Abbas at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, officials told the government news agency WAFA.

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Parochial aims mar Palestinian elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Basem Ezbidi - (Opinion) April 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Rumors of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks – whether in Cairo, Gaza or Istanbul – are once again rife. Driven by demonstrations calling for unity in Gaza and the West Bank, leaders of the two movements feel compelled to show readiness to break out of the cycle of contention that has held Palestinian politics hostage since 2007.

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PNA faces double fiscal crisis: officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly - April 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) faces a double fiscal crisis due to a lack of international funds, which affected its budget, as well as the ability of the staff unions to improve its employees' wages and pay their financial receivables, officials said on Tuesday. Ahmed Majdalani, the PNA labor minister told Xinhua that over the past few years, the PNA has been suffering from a real fiscal crisis due to the lack of international funds offered to the PNA by donor countries, adding that "this had left a large gap in the budget."

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Fatah man dies days after Hamas arrested him
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 19, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian from Fatah party has died Tuesday in a prison run by rival Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, local sources said. The detainee, Adel Rezeq, has been held at one of Hamas' internal security detention facilities since Thursday, sources from local rights groups added. The sources noted that a call for an investigation would be issued soon, as the circumstances behind the death are still unknown. The 50-year-old man was not suffering from any illness "and was in a very good condition when he was arrested," his brother, Muin, told Xinhua.

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Fatah wins Bethlehem University elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Fatah has won the student council elections at Bethlehem University in a vote that was boycotted by Hamas. Fatah picked up 18 seats, defeating a joint list by the Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine that won 13. About 60 percent of students participated in the elections, student elections officials said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad boycotted the vote and others at universities in the Fatah-run West Bank.


Hamas, Fatah met secretly in Gaza this week: official
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Officials from rivalrous Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and the Islamic Hamas movement have met in the Gaza Strip this week in a renewed effort to reach reconciliation, a Hamas official said Tuesday. Ismail Al-Ashqar said representatives from the Hamas and the Fatah had discussed their views on the reconciliation and controversial issues obstructing the restoration of political unity between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank, where the Fatah-led Palestinian National Authority (PNA) holds sway.

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Abbas 'ready to travel to Gaza' for unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to promote reconciliation between his Fatah party and Hamas Abbas also said he was ready to postpone the formation of a cabinet in order to give Hamas a chance to join a unity government. "I am ready to delay the formation of the new government to give Hamas a chance to join," he said in a speech at the start of a two-day meeting of the PLO Central Committee, a PLO legislative body of 130 members in which Hamas holds the majority.

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Salaam Fayyad offers 'pragmatic' olive branch to Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - March 1, 2011 - 1:00am

If nothing else, Salaam Fayyad is reasonable, a trait that befits a man who is a trained economist and has spent more of his life in academia than politics. Which is why after more than four years of bitter infighting between Hamas and Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority last month invited the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers to join a national unity government.

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No objections from Hamas on unity govt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas has suggested the formation of a unity government several times already, but always faced opposition from the PA, a senior party member in the West Bank told Ma'an Sunday. Hamas leader Ayman Daraghma did not rule out participating in a new Palestinian Authority cabinet, and hinted that the ongoing unrest in the Arab world might give Fatah, which leads the West Bank government, the motivation to end the Palestinian political crisis.

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