Abu Marzouq: Hamas and Fatah to meet in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 18, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The leaderships of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Cairo next week to revive their stalled reconciliation agreement, the deputy head of Hamas' politburo said Friday. Moussa Abu Marzouq told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat that the meeting would focus on the long-awaited unity government which the parties had pledged to form to prepare for elections.

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Palestinians to hold municipal elections without Hamas' Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 17, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree to hold local elections in the West Bank, excluding the Gaza Strip where his rival Hamas movement holds sway, a Palestinian official said Thursday. The decree authorizes the reshuffled government, which was sworn in on Wednesday, to hold the municipal elections in stages, said Khaled Al-Qawasmi, minister of local governing.

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Hamas condemns PA cabinet reshuffle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 16, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) – The reshuffled Palestinian Authority government will be sworn in Wednesday at 6 p.m. officials said, in a move that Hamas condemned and labeled illegitimate. This is the second reshuffle for the Ramallah-based government which was first established in June 2007 under Salam Fayyad. In the new government, Fayyad is expected to lose his post as finance minister. Other changes include a new portfolio for Jerusalem while the education ministry will be split from the higher education post.

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Hamas official urges militants to abduct Israeli soldiers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip called on Tuesday for Palestinian factions to abduct Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for Palestinians jailed by Israel. Khan Younis district spokesman Hammad al-Ruqab called on militant groups, and in particular Hamas' military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, to seize forces "whatever the cost", which he lauded as the most successful route to freeing prisoners.

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Arab writers return from Gaza, overshadow literature festival with anti-Hamas testimonies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online
by Mohammed Saad - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The closing ceremony of the fifth Palestine Festival of Literature (aka Palfest) was overshadowed by politics as writers who returned from a trip to the Gaza Strip gave their testimony on the situation there and described Hamas’s “repressive rule.” At the Palfest closing ceremony, which was held in Cairo on Friday at the Rawabet Theatre, writer Ahdaf Soueif presented the Egyptian and Arab guest writers, including Khaled El-Khamisi, Sahar El-Mougy, poet Amin Haddad, Tunisian writer Khaled Najjar and Palestinian Poet Tariq Hamdan.

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Hamas shuts down Gaza literary festival, only to later apologize
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 11, 2012 - 12:00am

A leading Palestinian human rights group has condemned the Gaza Strip's Hamas government on Thursday for violently breaking up a Palestinian literature festival. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said that armed Hamas men cut off electricity, confiscated cameras and dispersed the Palestine Festival of Literature near Gaza City. Participants said that speakers at Wednesday night's gathering had been critical of Hamas.

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New Hamas force in Gaza is foiling rocket attacks against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The Hamas government in Gaza has been operating a force over the past few months whose sole task is to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel. Hamas, which has always championed jihad against Israel, is now using its authority to foil the firing efforts of cells from other organizations such as the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.

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Hamas says it will not go to war for Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Samia Nakhoul, Michael Stott - (Interview) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA, May 10 (Reuters) - The Islamist movement Hamas will not let itself be dragged into a war against Israel if it attacks the nuclear facilities of Hamas ally Iran, Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Thursday. "Hamas is a Palestinian movement that acts within the Palestinian arena and it carries out its political and field actions in a way that suits the interests of the Palestinian people," he said at his headquarters in the enclave.

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Hamas: PA Detained 61 Members in April
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 4, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas on Thursday accused the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority of detaining 61 party members in the West Bank in April.

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Fatah official meets Hamas, Islamic Jihad leaders in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 3, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad on Wednesday held separate meetings in Cairo with Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal and secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad movement, Ma'an's correspondent said. Al-Ahmad, who heads Fatah's dialogue team, met with Mashaal to discuss the reconciliation process. Egyptian officials attended the meeting, which focused on the need to form a unity government.

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