Hamas trying to stop Gaza groups from firing rockets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

As Kassam lands south of Ashkelon, 'Asharq Alawsat' reports that terror groups agree not to initiate escalation, refuse to commit to ceasefire. Hamas is trying to convince groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets at Israel, according to an Asharq Alawsat report cited by Israel Radio Tuesday morning. The report was published as a rocket from the Strip landed south of Ashkelon, causing no casualties or damage. According to the report, Hamas also deployed operatives along the border with Israel in order to maintain control over the Strip.

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Hamas urges militant groups to stop attacking Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - (Blog) January 9, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas said on Sunday it has begun talks with other militant factions in the Gaza Strip to urge them to stop firing rockets at Israel, attacks that have raised Palestinian fears of a new Israeli offensive. The talks are a signal that Hamas hopes to avert any large-scale Israeli military operation in the enclave similar to a three-week campaign that ended in January 2009 and in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

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Hamas leader does not meet Israeli personalities
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 9, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister of the deposed Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haneya does not meet Israeli personalities, an aide to Haneya said Sunday. "Initially, Haneya rejects to see any Israeli persons seeking to meet him," said Yousef Rizka, the advisor of Haneya who leads the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. Thus, Haneya is unlikely to meet Israeli activists who plan to visit Gaza to urge him to help release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by the Hamas in 2006, according to Rizka.

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Hamas leader denies Nazi Holocaust
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 6, 2011 - 1:00am

A senior Hamas leader on Thursday accused Israel of carrying out "countless holocausts" against the Palestinians while saying the Nazi genocide was a "lie." Mahmoud al-Zahar made the remarks during a memorial ceremony for 43 Palestinians who were killed at a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp during Israel's 22-day war on Gaza that began in December 2008.

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Hamas: PA detained 3,000 members in 2010
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority security forces detained 3,000 Hamas affiliates in the West Bank in 2010, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Sunday. At a press conference in Gaza City, Barhoum said 1,404 of those detained by PA forces had served time in Israeli jails, 49 were prominent Hamas leaders, 49 Imams of mosques, 405 university students and 24 professors. Those imprisoned also included 36 journalists, 12 businessmen, five pharmacists, seven women and 12 school children, he added.

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Israel warns Gaza missiles could provoke new offensive against militants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - December 22, 2010 - 1:00am

On the eve of the second anniversary of Israel's 23-day offensive against Hamas in Gaza, a period of relative calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been shattered by missile launches from the coastal strip and Israeli counterstrikes.

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Israel must grant Gaza justice
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Raja Abdulrahim - (Opinion) December 21, 2010 - 1:00am

The reality of life in the Gaza Strip is hard to convey. Systematic violations of international human rights law have created abject poverty and reduced approximately 1.7 million people to "beneficiaries" of international aid, forced into dependency as the result of a human-made, and completely preventable, humanitarian crisis.

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Hamas in dispute with UN over school trips for Palestinian pupils
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
December 20, 2010 - 1:00am

Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza strip, has asked the United Nations to stop exposing Palestinian children to the Holocaust during trips organised for outstanding students from Gaza, and instead concentrate on Palestinian victims. "The UNRWA [the agency for Palestinian refugees] has to stop the visits they do, where they teach the Holocaust and where they promote solidarity with Jewish suffering created by the Nazis," said a statement from the department for refugee issues.

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UPDATE 1-Israeli air strike kills five Gaza militants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
December 18, 2010 - 1:00am

An Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said in a statement that its aircraft "targeted and identified hitting a squad of terror operatives who were preparing to launch rockets towards Israeli territory". Palestinian hospital officials said the five were militants. The Hamas Islamist group, which rules the Gaza Strip, says it has tried to curb rocket fire at Israel, but smaller groups continue to carry the out such attacks.

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PA suspects former Fatah strongman in Gaza recruiting for new armed militia
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 17, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority security forces recently questioned Fatah activists on suspicion they had been recruited to form an armed militia, sources in the Fatah movement said. The PA indicated Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan had done the recruiting for the militia, which he also intended to command. The suspects were summoned for questioning about their ties to Dahlan and whether they received instructions or funds from him in connection with the purchase of weapons. They were then released.

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