PA-controlled office in Gaza ransacked
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Unknown assailants entered the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority-controlled Civil Administration building in the northern Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, sacking the office, officials said. The Civil Administration, which in Gaza remains under the control of the West Bank Palestinian Authority government, is charged with coordinating with Israel on matters relating to the crossing terminals. The office targeted by the vandals was in charge of liaising with the Israeli Civil Administration office around the Erez crossing in the northern Strip.

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Gaza's Hamas rulers ban 2 'anti-Islamic' books
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip has banned the sale of two books by Arab writers that it said "contradict" Islam. It was the latest step by the militant group to impose its strict version of Islam in Gaza. Since seizing power in 2007, Hamas has also banned women from smoking water pipes or riding motorbikes. Culture Ministry spokesman Ehab Senwar said Monday that the books were banned after residents complained about their contents. He said the books won't be sold until a committee checks their contents.

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Hamas militant dies in tunnel collapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 18, 2011 - 1:00am

A Palestinian militant from Islamic Hamas movement was killed Tuesday when a tunnel under Gaza's southern border with Egypt collapsed. Hamas said that the 23-year-old member was inside the smuggling tunnel, but refused to give details what kind of work he was doing. The tunnels are often used to bring in materials that Israel prevents from entering Gaza through commercial crossings, including construction materials and fuel. Before Israel eased its Gaza blockade in June 2010, the tunnels had been the key lifeline of the 1.5 million inhabitants of the coastal enclave.

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Hamas launches Gaza rebuilding program
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
January 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas launched a program on Tuesday to rebuild 1,000 homes in the Gaza Strip destroyed during an Israeli offensive two years ago, a project that could boost the Islamist group's standing in the enclave it controls. Hamas, shunned by the West for refusing to renounce violence, declined to disclose the project's cost or the source of its funding. International donations towards reconstruction in Gaza have been held up by Hamas' split with the Palestinian Authority controlling the West Bank.

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The Hamas-Fatah Two-Step
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily
by Elliot Jager - (Opinion) January 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Disturbed by the diplomatic deadlock over negotiations with the Palestinians, many Westerners, and some Israelis themselves, have focused on the need to accommodate the demands of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA). For, they suggest, the alternative would be much worse: namely, being forced to deal with the chronic and openly violent rejectionism of Hamas, the terrorist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.

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Hamas and women: Clearing misconceptions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Ahmed Yousef - (Opinion) January 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Women in every society have a different perception of their respective roles, which are generally molded by social and cultural norms. Evidently in many parts of the world, these social and cultural norms have restricted women of their due rights.

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Gaza: Hamas Tries to Curb Rocket Attacks on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas deployed forces near the Israeli border on Thursday to try to prevent smaller militant groups from firing rockets, a sign that the movement may be concerned about possible Israeli retaliation. Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that governs Gaza, met with representatives of the groups late Wednesday and told them to hold their fire. The Israeli military says at least 25 rockets and mortar shells have exploded in southern Israel this month, wounding several Israelis.

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Hamas deploys forces to stop Gaza rocket fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Gaza's Hamas rulers deployed forces near the Israeli border Thursday to try to prevent smaller militant groups from firing rockets, a sign that the movement fears Israeli retaliation for the escalating barrages from the Palestinian territory. Hamas leaders called together representatives of militant groups in the seaside strip and told them to hold their fire, according to a meeting participant, before Hamas sent its forces to the border area.

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Hamas wants to replace PLO: strongman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Fares Akram - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

The Gaza-ruling Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement wanted to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a Gaza-based leader said Wednesday. Secularism has been associated with the PLO's program, while Hamas' agenda "is based on Islamic ideology in the means and performance," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas strongman, in an interview with Xinhua.

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Hamas: What is Allowed in the Bank is Prohibited in the Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

So it is thus that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is busy “forcing” the other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to commit to the settlement with Israel, based on the “assessment of general interest and the protection of the Palestinian people and their capabilities” according to the movement’s spokesman. This came in response to the launching of rockets on Israel and the eruption of clashes with its army, after which the Hebrew state threatened to wage a wide-scale operation in the Strip if this situation were to continue.

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