Hamas | The American Task Force on Palestine

Hamas to Investigate Attack on Human Rights Activist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 20, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza government on Thursday vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack on a human rights activist who was stabbed in Gaza City. Mahmoud Abu Rahma was attacked by masked men and stabbed multiple times while walking back from his brother's house on Friday night, he told Ma'an.

Hamas Attack on Gaza Shiites May Indicate its Political Shift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - January 20, 2012 - 1:00am

BEIT LAHIA // When they later recalled the siege by Hamas security forces, it was not its ferocity that astonished the residents of Beit Lahiya. It was the target - Shiite Muslims gathered in the building to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson. Up to 100 policemen and masked men in civilian clothes stormed an apartment building in the Gaza enclave late on Saturday. Minutes later, they emerged dragging 15 men, whom they then beat with truncheons and denounced as infidels. Neighbourhood residents drawn to the commotion said they were shocked.

Shia Group ‘Attacked by Police’ in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A group of Shiite worshipers say masked police violently raided a religious service in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, prompting furious denials by the Hamas-dominated government in the territory. Around 20 followers of the Shia branch of Islam were performing a ceremony for Ashura, the commemoration of the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, when masked police stormed the private home in Beit Lahiya, they told Palestinian human rights groups.

Hamas Leader Stepping Down in ‘Pure Speculation’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - January 18, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY // Khaled Meshaal has no plans to step down as the head of Hamas, a spokesman for the Islamist group said yesterday, denying reports the Damascus-based leader would resign. Fawzi Barhoum described as "pure speculation" a flurry of news articles in the Arabic media yesterday saying Mr Meshaal, 55, would relinquish his position soon. "For anything like this to be true, there would have to be a formal announcement by either the movement or Mr Meshaal himself," said Mr Barhoum, a spokesman in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas controls.

Is Hamas Mellowing?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
by Nathan J. Brown - (Analysis) January 17, 2012 - 1:00am

Over the past few weeks, as Palestinian reconciliation efforts have inched forward, some of Hamas’s leaders have provoked interest by apparently staking out new positions. They have not only agreed to enter the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), thus participating in a body that signed the Oslo Accords with Israel, a pact the group has long opposed, but also committed themselves to “popular resistance,” an alternative to the armed activity through which the group gained international notoriety.

Hamas Leaders Evacuating Families From Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas officials say senior members of their exiled leadership will evacuate their families from the group's headquarters in Syria. Hamas, a militant Islamist Palestinian group, rules the Gaza Strip. The officials, speaking from Damascus, said Tuesday that the evacuations are in response to the deteriorating security situation in Syria, where President Bashar Assad has been resisting a 10-month uprising.

Gaza Shiites claim Hamas persecution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - January 17, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Masked Hamas police beat and detained members of the Gaza Strip's tiny Shiite community during a religious commemoration last week, a follower and local rights groups said Tuesday, accusing their Islamist rulers of religious intolerance. It was the first claim of harassment by a group of Shiite worshippers against the territory's mainstream rulers, who are Sunni Muslims. Hamas officials, who have close ties with Shiite Iran, denied the allegations.

Playing for time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) January 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is currently managing two very different and in many ways contradictory negotiating tracks. Neither has produced any sort of substantive success thus far. If one does produce a breakthrough, the other will probably collapse. Meanwhile, the counterpoint between them is instructive.

Hamas Leader to Visit Iran, Qatar in New Trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An adviser to Hamas' prime minister says the leader will visit Iran, Qatar and other Muslim countries at the end of the month. Yusef Rizka says the militant group's Ismail Haniyeh will embark on his second official international trip outside the Gaza Strip. He returned this week from a tour of Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia. It was the first time Haniyeh had left Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory from the rival Fatah movement in 2007.

Reconciliation Committee to Start Work Immediately
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The committee tasked with implementing the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah has finalized all administrative preparations and will begin work immediately, committee head Rabah Mhannah said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after a committee meeting in Gaza City, Mhannah said members were allocated aspects of the agreement to work on.

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