Fayyad freezes cabinet reshuffle to make way for possible unity gov't
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister- designate Salam Fayyad froze the reshuffle of his West Bank-based government to make way for President Mahmoud Abbas' proposal to form a unity government with the Gaza Strip, an official said Tuesday. "There has been nothing new with Fayyad's authorization to reshuffle the government," the official told Xinhua, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Hamas split over Abbas offer to visit Gaza for unity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s offer to visit the Gaza Strip has sparked a dispute within Hamas, sources there said on Sunday. Last week, Abbas announced his readiness to travel to the Gaza Strip, for the first time since 2007, to hold talks with Hamas leaders on the formation of a Palestinian unity government. The announcement came shortly after Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh invited Abbas to urgent talks in the Gaza Strip to discuss ways of ending the feud between the two sides.

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Hamas Invites Abbas to Gaza, Then Rolls Up Welcome Mat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by David Miller - March 20, 2011 - 12:00am

As Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas prepares an historic visit to the Gaza Strip, heeding an invitation by his arch-rival, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, doubts have begun to arise as to whether there will be anyone to greet him upon arrival. Haniyeh invited Abbas on March 15 to Gaza to take part in reconciliation talks. Abbas responded the following day by saying he was prepared "to go to Gaza tomorrow." But on Saturday a Hamas official in Damascus poured cold water on Abbas' eagerness, comparing him to Arab dictators who are being challenged by the masses across the Arab world.

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Palestinians rally for unity in Gaza, West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on Tuesday to demand an end to the rift between the Hamas and Fatah factions that has left the two Palestinian territories in the control of rival governments. "The people want an end to the division!" the demonstrators chanted in the largest such push to date. "National unity!"

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Abbas 'ready to travel to Gaza' for unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to promote reconciliation between his Fatah party and Hamas Abbas also said he was ready to postpone the formation of a cabinet in order to give Hamas a chance to join a unity government. "I am ready to delay the formation of the new government to give Hamas a chance to join," he said in a speech at the start of a two-day meeting of the PLO Central Committee, a PLO legislative body of 130 members in which Hamas holds the majority.

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he's not going to run for re-election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he's not going to run for re-election.


Hamas welcomes Abbas' readiness to visit Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Islamic Hamas movement on Wednesday welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' declaration that he would go to the Gaza Strip to work at ending political split. "Hamas welcomes Mr. Abbas' response to Mr. Ismail Haneya's call to visit Gaza," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "Hamas will follow preparations for this visit," Abu Zuhri told Xinhua. Earlier on Wednesday, Abbas said he is ready to go to the Gaza Strip in translating of public desire to end split between Gaza and the West Bank.

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New PA cabinet to be announced next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Government officials in Ramallah will meet Monday to hear appointed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's proposal for a new Palestinian Authority cabinet, officials said. Discussions of the proposal will continue until Wednesday, when the cabinet is expected to be announced, government spokesman Ghassan Al-Khatib told Ma'an. If Fayyad does not present a proposal on Monday, Al-Khatib noted, President Mahmoud Abbas will have the option of asking another individual to form the new government.

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Lieberman: Hamas can take over West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - March 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that "the Foreign Ministry believes, in contrast with other authorities, that Hamas is currently stronger than Fatah in Judea and Samaria". "Hamas does not currently desire to take hold of power there," he told a debate at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "They are waiting for the day after Abbas and Fayyad extract the maximum they are able to get out of the international community, and then they will seize power."

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Palestinians honour highjack leader, defying Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - March 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinians from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction named a town square on Sunday after the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed. The ceremony, in Al-Bireh, a town near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, was held while Israelis mourned five members of a Jewish settler family knifed to death on Saturday in a West Bank settlement in an attack Israel blamed on Palestinians. Many Palestinians see Dalal al-Mughrabi, a member of the then-underground Fatah movement, as a heroine for her role in hijacking the bus on Israel's Haifa-Tel Aviv highway.

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