Fatah: Presidential Decree on Election Date by Oct 25
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am

Asharq Al-Awsat- High-level sources in Fatah have asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that a final decision has been made on a presidential decree [related to the upcoming elections] by the Palestinian president to be issued before 25 October, as Asharq Al-Awsat had reported earlier.

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Can Hamas spoil Obama's three-way Mideast summit?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 20, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh slammed the Obama administration's plan to meet Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that Palestinians will reject anything Mr. Abbas agrees to during discussions on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. His comments come one day after militants in Gaza fired two rockets into Israel and as a flare up in violence along the Gaza border left two militants dead.

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A Deadly Palestinian Divide
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - September 18, 2009 - 12:00am

The security officials who arrested Haytham Amr in June said they only wanted to "borrow him" for questioning about his ties to the Islamist Hamas movement, Amr's father said.

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A captive Palestinian market
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - (Opinion) September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

It's boom time in the West Bank – the right kind of boom this time. Weeks ago, you couldn't flick on an Israeli TV or radio channel without hearing the good news. Parts of the international press did the same, with a flurry of articles pronouncing the West Bank open for business. The boost in financial fortunes is attributed to Israel easing up on some checkpoints, the Palestinian Authority (PA) police tackling city street crime and the Israeli government's promotion of something called economic peace.

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Former Deputy PM Ash-Sha'er to be released from Israeli prison
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli army is expected to release Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Naser Ash-Sha’er, an Israeli High Court decided Wednesday. Ash-Sha’er has been in administrative detention for two consecutive three month periods and was held without charge in the Magido and Negev prison facilities. A court decision said the period of detention would not be renewed, and the lawmaker, popular with both Fatah and Hamas, is expected to be released in the coming days.

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Exclusive: Senior Fatah official concerned over Egyptian election plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Senior Fatah member and head of the party's parliamentary bloc Azzam Al-Ahmad echoed other members sentiments in his reservations over the Egyptian conciliation plan's treatment of the elections issue, he said in an interview Friday.

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Abbas receives Egypt's vision of reconciliation, response in 2 days
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received Egypt’s conciliation plan and is currently reviewing it, Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Wednesday. In a statement published on the official government news website WAFA, Abu Rudeineh said it was expected Abbas would take two days to prepare an official response to the submitted plan, or “vision,” as the statement called it.

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Former Gaza strongman Dahlan appointed to Fatah information post
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah’s newly-elected Central Committee appointed controversial former Gaza strongman Muhammad Dahlan to be charge of information on Tuesday night. The committee, which was reconstituted at the party’s convention in Bethlehem in August, held a meeting on Tuesday in the security compound (Al-Muqata’a) in Ramallah and Central committee member Jamal Muheisin told Ma’an that Ahmad (Abu Mahir) Ghneim was appointed Deputy Chair and Secretary of Fatah movement.

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Hamas, Fatah set to reconcile by 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's recent visit to Egypt has brought the Islamist movement and Fatah closer to ending their differences, sources close to Hamas in the Gaza Strip revealed on Tuesday. In another sign of rapprochement between the two parties, Hamas has welcomed plans by senior Fatah officials to visit the Gaza Strip for talks aimed at resolving the crisis. The Fatah officials who are expected to visit the Strip include Nabil Sha'ath, Jibril Rajoub, Mahmoud al-Aloul and Fakhri Bsaiso.

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Once-legendary Fatah figure makes a comeback
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am

He ran the Gaza Strip like the Godfather, dispensing brutal punishment and benevolent largess. But that was before his summer of disgrace, two years ago, when Hamas militants drove out his armed followers and allowed looters to pick apart his seaside villa. Mohammed Dahlan, the once-legendary chief of Fatah's forces in the enclave, watched his own defeat helplessly from exile. Then he felt the sting of blame for "losing Gaza," a debacle that split the Palestinians into hostile camps and crippled their drive for statehood.

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