Report: Fayyad offers Hamas Gaza, unity govt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 20, 2011 - 1:00am

Appointed PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reportedly offered space in a unity government to Hamas, the Associated Press reported Sunday. Fayyad told the news organization that the move was aimed at ensuring presidential and legislative elections would go forward by September, after Hamas earlier refused to participate in the PA-run call to vote. According to the AP report, Hamas would remain in power in Gaza under an agreement that it would see it maintain a ceasefire with Israel, while Fayyad would govern in the West Bank.

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Hamas: PA cabinet shuffle 'superficial'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority cabinet shuffle is a "superficial change with no hint of reform," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Monday. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad handed his cabinet's resignation letter to President Mahmoud Abbas following an early morning cabinet meeting Monday. Barhoum said the move was a weak attempt to legitimize upcoming elections in the West Bank.

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Fatah official calls for revolt in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Major General Tawfiq At-Tirawi, former director of the PA general intelligence and Fatah Central Committee member called Wednesday in a statement for the people of Gaza to rise up in revolt against the Hamas government. The people of Gaza, he said, should take their cue from Egypt and call for the end of the "dictatorship that restricts their freedoms." At-Tirawi's statement is widely believed to be a response to the new group on the social networking site Facebook, Preparation for the Dignity Revolution, which calls for a mass rally in Gaza City on 11 February.

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Palestinians argue over elections as reconciliation efforts stuck
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - February 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Leaders of various Palestinian political factions argued on Thursday over when to hold new presidential and legislative elections on the Palestinian territories, as efforts to achieve a reconciliation between rival Fatah and Hamas had been stalled for more than three years.

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PA-controlled office in Gaza ransacked
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Unknown assailants entered the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority-controlled Civil Administration building in the northern Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, sacking the office, officials said. The Civil Administration, which in Gaza remains under the control of the West Bank Palestinian Authority government, is charged with coordinating with Israel on matters relating to the crossing terminals. The office targeted by the vandals was in charge of liaising with the Israeli Civil Administration office around the Erez crossing in the northern Strip.

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The Hamas-Fatah Two-Step
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily
by Elliot Jager - (Opinion) January 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Disturbed by the diplomatic deadlock over negotiations with the Palestinians, many Westerners, and some Israelis themselves, have focused on the need to accommodate the demands of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA). For, they suggest, the alternative would be much worse: namely, being forced to deal with the chronic and openly violent rejectionism of Hamas, the terrorist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.

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Fatah strongman Dahlan denies plot to overthrow Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan has denied accusation that he had been plotting a military coup to unseat Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Al-Hayat daily reported on Tuesday. Palestinian Authority security forces questioned the Fatah Central Committee member on Sunday over a recent spat with Abbas and requested that he leave for Amman. Dahlan denied allegations that he attempted to overthrow Abbas or that he had been harboring weapons and told Al-Hayat that the investigation was essentially a "non-story".

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Abbas suspends Dahlan from Fatah over 'coup plot'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Wyre Davies - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

A senior figure in the Palestinian Fatah movement has denied plotting an internal coup to remove President Mahmoud Abbas. Mohammed Dahlan has been suspended from Fatah's central committee pending an investigation into the allegations, which he describes as "fantastical". There are increasing divisions in the movement, which runs the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Mr Dahlan was Fatah's security chief in Gaza before Hamas took over in 2007.

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Hamas: PA detained 3,000 members in 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority security forces detained 3,000 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank in 2010, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Sunday. At a press conference in Gaza City, Barhoum said 1,404 of those detained by PA forces had served time in Israeli jails, 49 were prominent Hamas leaders, 49 Imams of mosques, 405 university students and 24 professors. Those imprisoned also included 36 journalists, 12 businessmen, five pharmacists, seven women and 12 school children, he added.

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PA suspects former Fatah strongman in Gaza recruiting for new armed militia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 17, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority security forces recently questioned Fatah activists on suspicion they had been recruited to form an armed militia, sources in the Fatah movement said. The PA indicated Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan had done the recruiting for the militia, which he also intended to command. The suspects were summoned for questioning about their ties to Dahlan and whether they received instructions or funds from him in connection with the purchase of weapons. They were then released.

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