Will Hamas Make Bid For PLO Leadership?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Geoffrey Aronson - (Opinion) January 31, 2013 - 1:00am

Khaled Meshaal has come a long way from the days when he would sit on a lonely hilltop next to his village of Silwad doing his grammer school homework. There is no solitude on that summit today. The Israeli settlement of Amona is a jumble of prefabricated dwellings surrounding a modern children's playground with a million-dollar view east to Jordan. Silwad sits in the shadow of the small settlement.

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Official: Abbas to convene PLO reform summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) January 31, 2013 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- An independent politician said Thursday that President Abbas will convene a summit of the PLO reform committee next Friday in Cairo. The leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad will participate in the summit along with other parties, Yasser al-Wadiyeh, head of a coalition of independents, he said. The committee to restructure the PLO was formed in the wake of a May 2011 reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas that was never implemented.

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Hamas denies accepting two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 31, 2013 - 1:00am

Hamas on Wednesday said it does not accept the two-state solution, following reports the party had changed its position to accept the state of Israel. The Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq reported Wednesday that Hamas politburo chief Khalid Mashaal asked Jordan's King Abdullah to inform US President Barack Obama that Hamas accepted the two-state solution. Hamas said in a statement that the report was baseless and that Mashaal did not address the two-state solution in his meeting with the Jordanian king in Amman on Monday.

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Hamas plans more "enemy language" Hebrew in Gaza schools
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - January 30, 2013 - 1:00am

Islamist Hamas authorities plan to expand Hebrew-language classes in the Gaza Strip's high schools to help Palestinians know their enemy in times of conflict with Israel. Far from a sign that peace will soon break out, Hamas's promotion of Hebrew learning in the Israeli-blockaded Mediterranean enclave aims to make linguistic skill a useful new front in the struggle against the Jewish state.

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'Hamas leader Mashaal seeking presidency of PLO'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
January 29, 2013 - 1:00am

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is seeking to take over the presidency of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, currently chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the London-Based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Monday. According to the report, Mashaal's desire to chair the PLO is behind his decision not to stand for reelection to his position as chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau.

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Official: Gaza security to release detained journalists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

The public freedoms committee, a body set up to implement national reconciliation, has secured an agreement from Gaza's security services to free journalists recently detained in the coastal strip, a representative said Monday. The detention of six reporters in Gaza over two days last week raised concerns about a setback in the reconciliation process. As part of the 2011 deal, Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah-led government in the West Bank agreed to stop media harassment and politically-motivated arrests.

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Mashaal to meet Jordan king, sources say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

Hamas' chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal will meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday, Jordanian sources said. Senior Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishiq told Ma'an Sunday that Mashaal had arrived in Amman for an official visit to Jordan, without providing further details. Jordanian sources told Ma'an that the Hamas chief is expected to discuss Palestinian reconciliation with the Jordanian king and other officials.

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Hamas says next inter-Palestinian talks in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Jamal Halaby - January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

AMMAN, Jordan — Reconciliation talks between Palestinian militant group Hamas and its rival Fatah are on track and will resume in Egypt on Feb. 9, Hamas' political leader said Monday. Khalid Mashaal said that "obstacles" over crucial issues such as elections and a future government remain, but that he expected progress in talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

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Egypt’s MB Pressuring Hamas Chief to Continue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

The Hamas movement has postponed selecting a new Political Bureau chief in a clear bid to persuade incumbent, Khalid Mishal, to nominate himself for a fifth term. An Informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that delaying the convening of the Hamas Shura Council is meant to give Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic parties’ more time to pressure Mishal to change his mind.

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New Class of Palestinians Get Rich On Gaza Tunnel Trade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Omar Shaban - (Opinion) January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

One of the challenges for reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is to reaccommodate 55,000 PA employees — who had been asked to refuse to work with the Hamas government — in the Gaza Strip.  Another important challenge is how to assimilate hundreds of newly rich Palestinians who have amassed vast fortunes from illegal trade as well as legal economic activities, and re-incorporate hundreds who had halted economic activity because of the blockade. The tunnels are not new

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