Hamas, the Emirate and the Waiting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Ghassan Charbel - (Opinion) August 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas has eliminated the Islamic emirate announced by Abdel Latif Moussa (Abou Nour Makdessi) in Rafah. It has eliminated the emirate and its prince. Hamas cannot stand Moussa’s accusations. He said that if the Hamas government maintained its status, it would be like a secular party “fraudulently associating itself with Islam like (Turkish Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan”. It is not easy for Hamas to see the “Prince of the Jihadi Salafists” stand in a mosque and challenge its image and approach then call his armed men to the street, challenging its authority and status.

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Hamas: Extremism Breeds Extremism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - August 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Armed conflict between Palestinians has returned to Gaza once more, however this time it is against the Islamic Hamas movement in the name of religion and under the pretext of Jihad. On Friday, an extremist group announced the establishment of a new Islamic Emirate; the group also announced that it considered Hamas to be a secular movement that had falsely laid claim to Islam.

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Qaeda a challenge to Hamas, but also opportunity?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - (Analysis) August 16, 2009 - 12:00am

On Peace Street, it's hard to tell where the scars of one war end and another's begin. Yet the weekend battle that raged along this dusty alley in the Gaza Strip may just offer a glimmer of opportunity to ease conflict -- though only if one looks beyond evidence that it adds new layers of hatred to an already tangled struggle. The rubble of homes and the bullet-scarred mosque at the end of the road in the Palestinian border town of Rafah lay as fresh relics on Sunday of bloody clashes between Gaza's ruling Hamas Islamists and a splinter group aligned with global al Qaeda. [nLG71700]

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Mashaal: No real progress in Shalit deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
August 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said there is no real progress in talks for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, despite recent reports to the contrary. In an interview to Qatari newspaper al-Watan, that will be published in full on Sunday, with parts of it published on the Hamas website Thursday, Mashaal said mediation efforts in the matter were ongoing, but that no real progress has been made. He said this was due to "the manner in which the Zionist enemy's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is handling the matter.'

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Israel Making Positive Steps on Prisoner Exchange Agreement- Egyptian Sources
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Nazar Majli - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Informed Egyptian sources have confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that significant progress has been made in the Israeli – Palestinian negotiations mediated by Egypt towards reaching a prisoner exchange agreement. These sources revealed that this progress is not dramatic, but that it has taken place as a result of the positive steps taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The sources clarified that Netanyahu has agreed to resume negotiations with Hamas from the point that the previous negotiations undertaken by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had ended.

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Hamas turns its attention to 'virtue'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - (Opinion) August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

A number of recent reports from Gaza have given cause for concern about the direction the Hamas government is taking with regard to social freedoms and a religiously driven "virtue" promotion campaign. Specific incidents, coupled with public declarations by high-ranking officials, suggest a trend of increasing, forced "Islamisation".

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Hamas goes to the movies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

The audience in the Gaza Strip clapped and cheered as the actor delivered the movie's most memorable line – "To kill Israeli soldiers is to worship God". Imad Aqel, which premiered at the weekend, is the first feature film produced by the Islamist Hamas movement and the title is the name of a Palestinian militant whom Israel held accountable for the deaths of 13 soldiers and settlers.

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Hamas Chief Outlines Terms for Talks on Arab-Israeli Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Julien Barnes-Dacey, Jay Solomon - July 31, 2009 - 12:00am

The chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas said his organization is prepared to cooperate with the U.S. in promoting a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict if the White House can secure an Israeli settlement freeze and a lifting of the economic and military blockade of the Gaza Strip.

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Gaza judge tells female lawyers to wear head scarf
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak, Diaa Hadid - July 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Gaza's top judge said Sunday that he has ordered female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarves when they appear in court, the latest sign that the Islamic militant group is increasingly imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic law on residents of the coastal strip. Supreme Court chief justice Abdul-Raouf Halabi said female lawyers will be required to wear a headscarf and a long, dark colored cloak under their billowing black robes when the court returns from its summer recess in September.

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Hamas Shifts From Rockets to Public Relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Seven months after Israel started a fierce three-week military campaign here to stop rockets from being fired on its southern communities, Hamas has suspended its use of rockets and shifted focus to winning support at home and abroad through cultural initiatives and public relations.

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