Hamas | The American Task Force on Palestine

Hamas leader calls to keep truce with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - May 5, 2011 - 12:00am

The Hamas leader in Gaza urged militant groups on Thursday to stick with a de facto truce with Israel, announced after fighting last month, so as to give a Palestinian reconciliation deal with Fatah rivals a chance. "I call for giving the coming government a chance by maintaining" the ceasefire deal, Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech, a day after Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement signed a unity pact in Cairo. "We do not fear threats. We do not fear the occupation," he added, referring to Israel.

Zahar: Hamas will never recognize Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 4, 2011 - 12:00am

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said on Wednesday that Palestine is "hallowed ground" and that his organization will never recognize Israel. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Zahar said that Palestinians will not give up on their right to Palestine, while recognizing the rule of Poles and Ethiopians in their land. Zahar added that this should not prevent Israel from negotiating with Hamas, pointing out that Israel negotiated for captive soldier Gilad Schalit's release despite the fact that Hamas never recognized "the Israeli enemy."

Dozens of Palestinians pay tribute to bin Laden in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - May 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Some two dozen Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to pay tribute to slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. About 25 people holding pictures and posters of bin Laden rallied outside a Gaza City university. The crowd included al-Qaida sympathizers as well as students who said they opposed bin Laden's ideology, but were angry at the U.S. for killing him and consider him a martyr. Hamas police did not interfere with the demonstration.

The days of Bin Laden…and Ismail Haniyeh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali Ibrahim - (Opinion) May 3, 2011 - 12:00am

The death of Bin Laden comes at a time when history is turning the page on al-Qaeda's ideology, and currents similar to it. The vibrant transformation taking place in Arab countries has highlighted the weakness of such ideas, and revealed that this trend and its supporters are merely on the sidelines of the wider movement for change. We did not see any pro-democracy demonstrations chanting the name of Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.

US furious with Hamas over condemnation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
May 3, 2011 - 12:00am

The US State Department on Tuesday described Hamas' condemnation of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as "outrageous." After the Al-Qaeda chief was killed by US forces, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, said: "We condemn any killing of a holy warrior or of a Muslim and Arab person and we ask God to bestow his mercy upon him." Haniyeh said Hamas regards bin Laden's death as "as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood."

Hamas leader: We will maintain security in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 2, 2011 - 12:00am

A Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip says the Islamic militant group has no plans to dismantle its security forces or end its struggle against Israel after a new Palestinian unity government is formed this week. Hamas and the rival Fatah movement are set to sign a unity deal in Cairo on Wednesday. The plan seeks to end a 4-year-old rift that has left the Palestinians divided between a Western-leaning government in the West Bank and the Hamas regime in Gaza. The plan calls for elections next year but is vague about the future of rival security forces or using violence against Israel.

Tensions Rise as Hamas Refuses to Take Sides in Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - May 2, 2011 - 12:00am

Relations between the Palestinian group Hamas, which is based in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the Syrian authorities have been strained in recent weeks, mostly as a result of the antigovernment uprising there, with reports growing that Hamas is looking for another home. Al Hayat, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper, reported Saturday that Hamas’s political wing was decamping to Doha, the capital of Qatar, but Hamas officials in Syria and beyond it denied it. Similar reports circulated on Monday and denials were again issued.

GAZA STRIP: Hamas leadership says it will remain in Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Ahmed al-Dabba - April 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas officials on Saturday denied reports that its top leaders are planning to move from Syria and relocate to Qatar or another Arab country. “The leadership will remain there," said Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan. "As far as I know, we were not told to move to any other country.” The London-based Alhayat newspaper reported Saturday that the Syrian government demanded Hamas leaders, who have been based in Damascus for about a decade, leave. The newspaper said that Qatar had agreed to receive the movement’s politburo leader, Khaled Mashaal.

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