Arab spring uprisings reveal rift in Hamas over conflict tactics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - (Opinion) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am

Tensions are mounting between the Hamas leadership based in Gaza and its exiled chief over the organisation's future strategy in the wake of the popular – and largely non-violent – Arab spring revolutions and the success of Islamist parties in elections. Khaled Meshaal, the Islamist party's leader in Damascus, has indicated in recent weeks that Hamas is making a strategic turn away from armed struggle to popular non-violent resistance.

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Gaza premier plays down talks with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

TUNIS, Tunisia — The prime minister of the Gaza government said Thursday the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators in more than a year was "a futile gesture" that will lead nowhere. Ismail Haniyeh of the Palestinian faction Hamas received a hero's welcome at Tunisia's airport where he was greeted by thousands of people chanting their support for the Palestinian cause. He also met with Tunisia's new prime minister, Hamadi Jebali.

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2 Arab Israelis suspected of aiding Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yoav Zitun - January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

Cleared for publication: Two Arab-Israelis residents of the northern town of Kafr Kanna are accused of joining Hamas ranks in the West Bank. Brothers Amir Asaad, 29, and Mahmad Asaad, 20, were arrested by the Shin Bet and police last month and their interrogation revealed that they were actively involved with terrorists planning attacks on both sides of the 1967 border.

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Gaza PM arrives in Tunisia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Tunisia on Thursday, as part of his first international tour since Israel tightened the siege on the coastal strip. The Hamas premier will spend two days in the country whose revolution sparked the Arab Spring, before returning to the Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister in Haniyeh's government Muhammad Awad told Ma'an. Haniyeh left Gaza last Sunday for the first time since Hamas seized power of the coastal enclave in 2007 and Israel tightened a land and sea blockade on the 1.7 million-strong population.

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Hamas witnesses fundamental changes, but not enough to join peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Analysts said the discourse and approach of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, recently witnessed fundamental changes and seemed to be more moderate and pragmatic than what it used to be. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has recently accepted the principle of adopting popular resistance against Israel instead of armed struggle that the movement was always sticking to.

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Hillel Neuer: The UN must recognize that Gaza is no longer an occupied territory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Post
by Hillel Neuer - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

GENEVA — The UN’s continued labelling of the Gaza Strip as an “occupied” territory — even after a Hamas leader stated that it’s not — is no longer tenable. Mahmoud Zahhar, the co-founder of Hamas, confirmed that Gaza is not under Israeli occupation, in comments reported Tuesday by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an. Zahhar was casting doubt on whether Hamas would organize anti-Israel marches in Gaza, in conjunction with similar protests that the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority are organizing in the West Bank.

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Hamas: Peaceful resistance not applicable to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar has cast doubt his party will take up peaceful resistance against Israel as advocated by former rivals Fatah. Under a reconciliation deal between the factions signed in May, officials called for a unified "national strategy," and Fatah officials say that Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal agreed to adopt non-violent popular action in favor of armed struggle. But in comments to Ma'an late Monday, senior Hamas official in Gaza Zahhar stressed the situation in the Gaza Strip is different to the occupied West Bank.

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Report: Assad to meet Hamas leadership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - January 3, 2012 - 1:00am

Syrian President Bashar Assad is expected to meet with Damascus-based representatives of the Palestinian factions in the coming days, including the heads of Hamas, Lebanon's al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday. Assad's relationship with Hamas leadership has been rocky since March 2011, when Syria plunged into civil unrest. The Syrian president expressed his disapproval of Hamas' decision to relocate its politburo to another Arab country. The decision was made following the growing unrest in the country.

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Gaza Premier in Turkey, in First Official Trip Abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Sebnem Arsu, Ethan Bronner - January 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister of Gaza, who is making his first official trip abroad since his Islamist movement took over the Palestinian strip in 2007, sought Monday to strengthen ties with the Arab and Muslim world in the wake of regional uprisings that have produced a rise in Islamist political strength. Here in Turkey, where Mr. Haniya arrived after visiting Egypt and Sudan, he was quoted by the semiofficial Anatolian Agency on Monday as saying that “the Arab Spring is turning into an Islamic spring.”

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Gaza Christians long for days before Hamas cancelled Christmas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Phoebe Greenwood - December 23, 2011 - 1:00am

When the Latin patriarch came to Gaza's Holy Family church to celebrate Christmas mass last week, he instructed a full house of Catholic and Orthodox families to pray for reconciliation. As the archbishop, Fouad Twal, stood at the lectern in Gaza City, Fatah and Hamas leaders were meeting in Cairo attempting to mend differences that have divided the Palestinian factions for four years and rendered Gaza a besieged Islamist enclave.

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