Biting Fingers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

It is as if President Mahmoud Abbas was telling the Hamas movement: “Alright, you took over the Gaza Strip by force of arms and ruled it. You expelled the Fatah movement and all the figures of the Palestinian Authority from it by force of arms. You never committed to any of the previous agreements of appeasement. You declare your fierce opposition to the Oslo Accords and what they have resulted in. Yet you hold truces with Israel when it wages military operations against Gaza. You hold against the PA its relations with the United States.

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Palestinian reconciliation through ballots
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Cursed as they are with bad leadership, the sad saga of the Palestinian people fluctuates between tragedy and farce. As if contending with a crushing occupation, embargoes, closures and the complete physical separation of the West Bank and Gaza were not enough, over the past couple of years, they have also seen the two parties supposedly representing them descend into petty and bloody factionalism.

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Editorial: Palestinian feud
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The announcement by Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to hold elections on Jan. 24 could make Hamas sign a deal with Fatah for Palestinian unity, although Hamas describes this as pressure. It could widen the factional divide further. Seeing he has no real opposition rival, it could give Abbas more years in power. And it might lead Hamas to hold its own ballot in the Gaza Strip, a move that could create two rival presidents, two parliaments and two prime ministers in two separate Palestinian territories.

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US: Israel discriminates against non-Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel continues to discriminate against its religious minorities legally, financially and culturally, according to a US State Department review on worldwide religious freedom released on Monday. In its 2009 International Religious Freedom Report, the foreign service said that despite past documentation of prejudice against minorities, the status of respect for religious freedoms by Israel "was unchanged during the reporting period."

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Palestinian reconciliation and the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Walid Salem - (Opinion) October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

With the current paralysis in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process--which is due to the Israeli government's refusal to abide by its obligations under previously signed agreements, notably the roadmap--it might at first glance seem strange to ask what are the ramifications of Palestinian unity for Palestinian-Israeli relations.

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Only lack of unity will produce two states
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ron Pundak - (Opinion) October 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Egyptian-mediated internal Palestinian dialogue between Hamas and Fateh involves a variety of issues, including security and elections, all of which affect the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Gaza: Hamas tightens, then backs off, Islamic social strictures
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - October 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Like many high-schoolers in Gaza City, Diana Hawajiri often favors trendy jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a head scarf. But when she showed up after the summer break, signs posted at her government-run school announced that it was mandatory for all female students to wear the jalibab – a loose dress designed to shroud the female figure. Diana complied. And though the decision was later rescinded, she still wears the garment to avoid criticism both at school and in public, she says.

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The Palestinians' spoiler
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by David Makovsky - (Opinion) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Advocates for engaging Hamas often argue that if the group is given a stake in the creation of an independent Palestine by being included in peace negotiations, it will moderate its positions. This co-optation argument is based on the misguided assumption that Hamas is a pragmatic nationalistic movement, motivated primarily by calculations of how to gain power.

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Hamas and Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation between the Palestinian National Authority (along with the Fatah movement) and Hamas have reached their natural conclusion. This is because the reconciliation [efforts] had assumed that there are disagreements related to the sharing of political representation in the Palestinian institutions, and that coexistence can be indeed achieved within an environment of balance between two main forces that are active today on the Palestinian scene.

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Price of Hamas principles in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Tim Franks - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Eight bearded policemen, in black fatigues and carrying AK-47s, leap on to an open-backed truck, which then hares off with much squealing of tyres. The policemen have gone to set up a road block in Gaza City, walkie-talkies spluttering with messages about suspicious vehicles. The message is clear: these are not militants firing rockets, or Islamists ordering women off motorbikes. Rather, on display are normal policemen on a normal beat, bringing order to the roads. Crime has indeed fallen in Gaza. But life is still hard. War and Israeli-imposed shortages have seen to that.

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