Fatah, Hamas to hold talks on new PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior Hamas and Fatah leaders will meet Tuesday to discuss nominations for the prime minister of a unity government, a Fatah official said Monday. Fatah central committee member Jamal Muhesin told Ma'an that Azzam al-Ahmad, who leads Fatah's reconciliation delegation, would discuss possible candidates with Moussa Abu Marzouq, deputy-chief of Hamas' politiburo. Al-Ahmad and Abu Marzouq will hand their recommendations to Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, Muhesin said.

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Meshaal returns to take a firmer hold on Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) June 5, 2012 - 12:00am

Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas's political bureau, has reversed his decision to step down. Whether this is a genuine change of heart or the springing of a slick political trap, it is best understood as good news for the Palestinians and the cause of peace.

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Meshaal's U-turn a setback for Hamas hardliners critical of his reforms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 4, 2012 - 12:00am

Khaled Meshaal is standing for re-election to lead Hamas four months after announcing he would step down. The decision is a setback for hardliners in the Islamist movement who have criticised Mr Meshaal's recent reforms, which include dismantling Hamas's headquarters in Damascus, reconciling with its Palestinian rival Fatah and tentatively embracing unarmed struggle against Israel. Hamas' senior leadership refused to accept Mr Meshaal's decision in January not to seek another term as the group's Political Bureau head, sources say.

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Crisis of confidence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram
by Saleh Al-Naami - (Opinion) June 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Suddenly the sound of laughter broke the silence on a bus transporting dozens of students from the centre of the Gaza Strip to the district where university campuses are located in southern Al-Rimal in Gaza City. One student had mentioned that delegates from Hamas and Fatah were in Cairo again to finalise details about a consensus government as stipulated in the Doha Declaration.

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Hamas leader: Egyptian elections define future of Palestinian cause
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 24, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haneya on Wednesday said presidential elections in Egypt "would define the future of the Palestinian cause." "The results of the elections will also establish a role for the nation in the world map," Haneya added in a brief statement.

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Pro-Hamas students holed up on West Bank campus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - May 23, 2012 - 12:00am

BIR ZEIT, West Bank — At 26, Saed Qasrawi is among the oldest students at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. The leading Hamas activist has been enrolled for eight years, but he has been unable to complete his undergraduate engineering program because he keeps getting detained by Palestinian security forces before final exams.

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Palestinian irreconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) May 23, 2012 - 12:00am

Fatah and Hamas signed another power sharing agreement this weekend in Cairo, but if experience is any guide it is doubtful this one will be any more successful than the previous attempts at reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions. The new pact calls for voter registration in Gaza and consultations on formation of an interim government of technocrats to begin May 27. The new cabinet, to be agreed upon within 10 days, would operate for six months, during which time it would set a date for presidential and parliamentary elections, probably sometime next year.

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Hamas-Run Schools Set Out to Teach ‘the Language of the Enemy’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - May 22, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA — There are few electives in the Hamas-run high schools here. Students can study health and the environment, or they can learn French. And, starting this fall at some schools, they will be able to sign up for a new course called Know Your Enemy.

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Family seeks to block Hamas film
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
May 21, 2012 - 12:00am

The family of a slain Hamas agent is seeking to block the release of a film being made in Israel about his assassination in a Dubai hotel in 2010. The killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was widely blamed on Israel's Mossad spy agency. Emmanuel Nakash, the French-Israeli director of Kidon, or Spear, has said his film is not meant to be factual. In a plot twist, a gang of criminals murder Mabhouh to frame the Mossad. One scene shows Mabhouh, a senior figure in an Islamic fundamentalist group, flirting in a hotel bar.

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Palestinians Sign Deal to Set Up Elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram, Jodi Rudoren - May 20, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement late Sunday in Cairo that paves the way for elections and a new unity government for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, officials said. The Cairo agreement comes three and a half months after a broader reconciliation pact was signed by the leaders of the two factions in Doha, Qatar, and a year after they first reached a unity accord.

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