Hamas | The American Task Force on Palestine

Hamas pursuing Salafists from “street to street”
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - September 6, 2012 - 12:00am

Relations between the Hamas and Salafist Jihadist groups operating out of the Gaza Strip have entered a fractious stage as the movement has begun to tighten the noose around Salafist Jihadist elements. Over the past two days the Hamas movement has been carrying out a campaign of arrests against armed Salafist Jihadist groups in Gaza, and is reportedly pursuing elements from these groups from “house to house and street to street.” Hamas is in the process of investigating the structure of these groups, as well as the sources of their funding and arming.

Israel releases Hamas legislator in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel on Wednesday released a Hamas member of parliament from jail, a Palestinian rights sources said. The legislator Mohammed Abu Teir was released after being held in administrative detention for a year in the Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abu Teir is originally from Jerusalem, but Israel deprived him from his Israeli identity because he joined the Palestinian parliamentary elections and ran as a candidate representing Hamas, the Islamic movement that doesn't recognize the Jewish state.

Free Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

The time has come to free the Gaza Strip, to lift the closure against it and to maintain a "normal" relationship both with its Hamas leadership and its population. The time has come to allow European nations and the United States to make direct investments in the Strip and allow the Gaza economy to develop, like its counterpart on the West Bank. The time has come to stop bluffing and pretending that the Gaza blockade punishes Hamas, impedes missile fire and serves Israel's security needs.

Hamas seeks to enter the world of diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Saleh al-Naami - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Gaza Asharq Al-Awsat – For the first time since the 2007 division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, following the bloody confrontation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority [PA] and Hamas’s subsequent takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government is seeking to appoint diplomats. This is a move that many believe is an indication that Hamas intends to announce an independent state in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas: An Islamist party tries to regain its luster
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Hamas has refashioned its government in an apparent bid to adapt to the sweeping changes in the Arab world and bolster its support among Gazans who, six years after bringing Hamas to power, are largely disillusioned and desperate for better lives. Over the weekend, the Islamist rulers of Gaza replaced seven of their 14 government ministers, including those in charge of housing, justice, and finance, in what officials and analysts say was a move to put more popular, competent officials in power.

Giving Up
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) September 4, 2012 - 12:00am

When it comes to Israel, the American Jewish right won’t take yes for an answer. Today the Democrats released their party platform, and almost instantly, neoconservatives became apoplectic, with the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin dubbing it the “most radically unsupportive statement of policy on Israel by a major U.S. party since the founding of the state of Israel.”

New Internet Censorship in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omar Ghraieb - September 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Many Gazans have long lamented that there’s not much to do in the Gaza Strip. There are no movie theaters, pool halls or bowling alleys -- all of which are seen as “un-Islamic.” And it’s not getting any better. In fact, now, curbs are being extended further – to the Internet. The Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza issued a new law this week that forces Gaza’s ten main internet providers to block all access to any websites with pornographic content.

Gaza authorities plan to block online pornography
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 31, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The Gaza government's ministry of communications announced on Thursday it would block access to pornographic websites starting in September. Ministry licensing head Kamal al-Masr said they the authorities had asked the 10 main Internet providers operating in Gaza to block the sites from Sept. 1, after a government decision a week earlier. Any violations of the decision will be punished under Palestinian communications and penal law, he added.

Hamas office in Damascus 'still open'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 30, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas' politburo in Damascus is still open and has not moved to Cairo, the party's representative in Yemen said Wednesday. "The movement's office in Syria did not move to Cairo, it was not closed and Hamas leaders are still in it but because of the current circumstances in Syria, we left and we’ll be back when the situation becomes stable," Abdul Muti Zaqqut told Ma'an.

Why did Hamas cancel participation in Iran's Non-Aligned Movement summit?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) August 29, 2012 - 12:00am

A fierce storm briefly raged in the Palestinian political arena over the weekend. A few hours after the Hamas government spokesman announced in Gaza on Saturday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had invited Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to attend the Non-Aligned Movement conference and that Haniyeh intended to go, officials close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that if Haniyeh goes to Tehran, Abbas would not.

Video: Inside ATFP Gala 2013

Photo Gallery: ATFP Gala 2013

Recent News