Hamas urged to 'come clean' on dead detainee
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Authorities in the Gaza Strip should order a criminal investigation into the death of a man who died five days after Hamas security officials arrested him, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. Relatives of Adel Razeq, a 52-year-old father of nine, say that when security officials arrested him on April 14, they did not present a warrant and took him away under false pretenses. When his brother examined the body, it was badly bruised and appeared to have broken bones, he says.

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Gaza govt urges ministry against torture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday night that he had designated his Minister of the Interior to reinforce rules against torture, following an outcry over the death of a detainee earlier in April. "There is good treatment of inmates in our prisons," Haniyeh said in a statement, adding that following concern from rights organizations, the minister would again instruct all security departments and interrogators about Gaza's prohibitions on the use of torture.

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Hamas disperses pro-unity rally in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas forces dispersed dozens of people who gathered in a Gaza City square to celebrate the progress made on the national reconciliation issue, witnesses and demonstrators said Wednesday. The rally was organized late Wednesday following the news that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party and the Islamic Hamas movement reached an initial agreement on ending split and restoring unity in Cairo.

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'Hamas delegation is in Cairo to discuss Schalit'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
April 26, 2011 - 12:00am

A Hamas delegation traveled to Cairo on Tuesday in order to discuss the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Israel Radio reported. A Palestnian source told Israel Radio that the possible reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah will be the main topic of discussion at the meeting, but Schalit is also on the agenda. The delegation reportedly includes one of Hamas's leaders, Mahmoud Zahar, as well as two members of the negotiating team for Schalit, Halil el Haya and Nizar Awdallah.

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Report: Hamas seeks to kidnap more IDF soldiers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas is planning to take advantage of the relative calm in Gaza to arrange additional kidnappings of Israeli soldiers, according to a report by Israel Radio quoting an article published Sunday in Hamas' Al-Resalah newspaper. The report said that Hamas would potentially perpetrate the abductions to attain additional bargaining chips in the event that Gilad Shalit is killed during Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The Hamas newspaper report added that the past five years in which they have held Shalit hostage will prove helpful in the organization fulfilling its goal.

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Parochial aims mar Palestinian elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Basem Ezbidi - (Opinion) April 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Rumors of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks – whether in Cairo, Gaza or Istanbul – are once again rife. Driven by demonstrations calling for unity in Gaza and the West Bank, leaders of the two movements feel compelled to show readiness to break out of the cycle of contention that has held Palestinian politics hostage since 2007.

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Hamas Bides Its Time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Danny Rubenstein - April 20, 2011 - 12:00am

FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS, THE PALESTINIAN Authority has been engaging in a media campaign of unprecedented scope. The campaign slogan is: “End the Schism” and organized demonstrations, sit-in strikes, conferences by public institutions, dozens (if not hundreds) of newspaper articles, posters and protest marches have all been thrown into the fray.

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Israel indicts Australian for alleged Hamas links
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - April 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel has arrested an Australian who tried to enter the country as a tourist, charging him with working for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The April 17 indictment of Eyad Abu Arga, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Wednesday, appeared to be part of a wide-ranging and sometimes covert campaign by Israel to curb Hamas, with which it has regularly clashed in the Gaza Strip.

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Fatah man dies days after Hamas arrested him
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 19, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian from Fatah party has died Tuesday in a prison run by rival Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, local sources said. The detainee, Adel Rezeq, has been held at one of Hamas' internal security detention facilities since Thursday, sources from local rights groups added. The sources noted that a call for an investigation would be issued soon, as the circumstances behind the death are still unknown. The 50-year-old man was not suffering from any illness "and was in a very good condition when he was arrested," his brother, Muin, told Xinhua.

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Hamas's ability to control radical groups in question
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - April 18, 2011 - 12:00am

The murder of an Italian activist in Gaza last week has raised questions about the capability of Hamas to control radical groups, some with suspected links to al Qa'eda, operating in the Palestinian territory. Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, part of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, was found dead in an empty apartment building in Gaza City. An al Qa'eda-inspired group calling itself Tawhid and Jihad released a video of his kidnapping on Thursday and is widely believed to have carried out the murder.

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