Haniyeh says Hamas wants to end political division
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) October 27, 2012 - 12:00am

 

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Abbas concerned by Qatar emir visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) October 27, 2012 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he was concerned about the Qatari emir's visit to the Gaza Strip, saying it could lead to Gaza's separation from the West Bank.  Abbas made the remarks while visiting the grave of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the first day of Eid al-Adha.  The president stressed that his bid to upgrade Palestine's status at the UN was one of the most important things he could do for the Palestinian people.  The UN bid aims to preserve the two-state solution, he said. 

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Hamas brinkmanship masks quiet confidence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Douglas Hamilton - (Analysis) October 26, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA STRIP, Oct 26 (Reuters) - One of 70-odd rockets fired from Gaza into Israel this week hit a chicken coop, critically wounding two Thai migrant workers, innocent bystanders in a deadly game of brinkmanship. If it had killed children on the Israeli farm they work for, Israel and Gaza would probably be at war right now.

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Qatari emir’s Gaza visit seen as move to wean Hamas away from Syria, Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Adel Zaanoun - (Opinion) October 26, 2012 - 12:00am

The Qatari emir’s visit to Gaza may have been a political coup for the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers, but it was not aimed at supporting a separate entity there, analysts say.And many commentators believe that in receiving Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the first head of state to visit since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, Hamas is seeking closer ties with the Gulf states while pulling away from Syria and Iran.

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Lull in fighting between Israel, Gaza militants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM —A deadly flare-up in fighting between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas group subsided on Thursday after Egypt helped to restore calm ahead of a major Muslim holiday.

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Egypt brokers informal Israel-Gaza truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Palestinian fighters held fire overnight Thursday and Israel refrained from airstrikes as an informal truce brokered by Egypt appeared to take hold following two days of violence along the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinians had launched dozens of rockets into Israel over the preceding two days and Israel conducted a number of air raids on the coastal enclave, raising fears of a prolonged, bloody confrontation between the two sides. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the last known rocket was fired from Gaza on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m.

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Qatar initiative in Gaza signals a regional shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

For a visit that last just six hours - the same as a return flight from Doha to Cairo - the visit of the Emir of Qatar to the Gaza Strip could have remarkable consequences for long-term regional events. For Palestinians hammered by Israel's blockade since 2007, it represented a victory: not merely a challenge to the blockade by an Arab state, but a reminder that Gazans are not alone and not forgotten. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the first Arab leader to visit the Strip since Jordan's King Abdullah in 1999.

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Hamas Rising?
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Ynetnews (Opinion) - October 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Is everyone conspiring to undermine the Palestinian Authority and promote Hamas? This morning, in the context of yesterday's visit of the Emir of Qatar to Gaza, with his pledges of massive financial and diplomatic support, it sure looks that way. The biggest threat to the PA is a fiscal crisis originating in its quixotic U.N. membership bid of September 2012, which produced a confrontation with its main donors, particularly the United States.

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Hamas policy on attacking Israel has changed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) October 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Maybe it's the support it received from the official visit of the Qatari emir, maybe it's Hamas' feeling that it has restrained itself for too long in light of the Israeli assassinations of extremist Jihad activists in Gaza – what is apparent, based on the heavy rocket attack from the Strip on Wednesday morning, is that Hamas has changed its policy on attacks against Israel.

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Israel says 79 rockets fired at it from Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - October 24, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership. Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb attacks, prompting some Israelis to wonder whether it had been emboldened by the Qatari visit on Tuesday that broke the Islamist group's diplomatic isolation.

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