'Fatah officials warn of third Palestinian intifada'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - November 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Fatah had made a strategic decision to declare a third intifada against Israel, movement officials told Nazereth-based newspaper Hadith Anas, citing the failed peace talks as the reason for their resolution. The newspaper report quoted Fatah Central Committee members as saying that the movement wished to implement a decision made during its sixth convention, which assembled last August in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

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Few options left
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

The declaration by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he does not wish to run for a second term if and when elections are held has shocked both Israel and the US. His presence at the top of the Palestinian Authority provided them with the cover they needed to pursue their own selfish policies: Israel to continue its colonisation enterprise in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the US to carry on with its longstanding capitulation to the demands of the powerful hardline Zionist lobby, which marches in lockstep with the right-wing Israeli government.

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Why is Hamas keeping a low profile in the West Bank?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Omran Risheq - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

A question one hears frequently among Palestinians these days is why Hamas Movement, a group some view with suspicion and others with sympathy, has become nearly invisible in the West Bank. Certainly Hamas has suffered a series of security blows in the last few years. Israel arrested roughly a thousand Hamas members, including elected delegates of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), following the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006.

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PA confirms PLO to take over parliament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Political maneuver against Hamas: Salim Zanoun, chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), confirmed Sunday evening that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was planning to take over the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The plan was first revealed by Ynet on Saturday. Zanoun, who spoke to Palestinian trade unions in the West Bank city of Nablus, confirmed that the PNC would decide in its meeting next month to transfer the authorities of the PLC to the PLO's Central Council.

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Dweik: Hamas will sign Egyptian proposal by end of month
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Ramallah – Ma’an – Hamas will sign the Egyptian reconciliation paper by month's end, Dr Aziz Ad-Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and member of the Hamas bloc said Wednesday. Dweik gave an interview on Al-Jazeera Arabic announcing that Hamas leaders had secured Egyptian guarantees that they would take into account Hamas' reservations on the issue, and would list them on the sidelines of the reconciliation paper, which would be signed by both parties.

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Fatah signals new strategy if Abbas quits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Shaken by the prospect of losing their veteran leader, senior Palestinian officials have started debating fresh strategies in their long-running conflict with Israel in the hope of galvanising international support for their cause.

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Amid Growing Crisis, U.S. Asks Israel for Action To Boost Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Facing a political crisis in the Palestinian Authority, the Obama administration has privately presented Israel with a list of measures it should take to bolster embattled leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas’s recent decision not to run again for the P.A. presidency was one of the main topics discussed in a November 9 meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Abbas’ move signals end of Oslo phase
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

In the midst of discussions regarding possible scenarios following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision not to run for president, few have paid attention to the larger picture. Abbas’ refusal to run for a second term as president of the Palestinian Authority signals a clear end of the Oslo phase in which he, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres were key players.

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Arafat celebrated five years after death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

More than 13,000 Palestinians gathered in Ramallah on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Large crowds packed into the Presidential Compound to hear a memorial from President Mahmoud Abbas, who donned a white ball cap emblazoned with the flag of Palestine and a black and white kuffeyeh as he addressed the crowd for what many anticipated to be a historic speech. Rumors spread before the event that Abbas would announce his resignation, precipitating the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority.

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Declaring a state? Palestinian leaders weigh in
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian National Council proclaimed the establishment of a Palestinian state during a meeting in Algiers on 15 November 1988. Like the declaration of a Palestinian state in Gaza in 1948 amidst the war with the nascent Israeli state, the 1988 declaration has little practical meaning today. For whatever reason, recent media speculation has raised the notion that Palestinian leaders could make another such declaration in the current political climate.

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