Fatah investigation into Dahlan expanded
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Fatah leaders heard the preliminary findings of a committee investigating what the Israeli media said were attempts by Mohammed Dahlan to engage a private militia in the West Bank. The two-day meeting, which ended Wednesday in Ramallah, saw Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas and his top Fatah officials decide to appoint an expanded committee to open a deeper investigation.

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'Invigorated' Abbas has regained his authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Aides describe his mood as "invigorated". Rights activists say his security forces are fighting dissent more effectively. And while staking his credibility on negotiating with Israel, analysts say the recent failure of direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks has yet to damage his popularity. For a leader who is rumoured regularly to be on the brink of quitting, the political fortunes of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, no longer seem so gloomy.

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Difficult position for the PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

The choices facing Palestinian leaders as they try to navigate their responsibilities while the 44-year-long Israeli occupation continues are difficult.

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Fatah warns Hamas against increasing tension in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party on Thursday warned Hamas movement against increasing internal tension in the West Bank. "Fatah is engaged in a political fighting against Israel and hopes that nobody would change the direction of the fight in the West Bank," said Mahmoud al-Aloul, a member of Fatah Central Committee, referring to Palestinian diplomatic moves to secure more global support against the Israeli occupation. "It should be clear that we will not let anybody threaten our unity and support in the West Bank," al-Aloul said.

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Why Palestinians want to be Israeli citizens
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

One of the givens of the Middle East peace process is that Palestinians are eager to be free of rule by Israel and to live in a state of their own. That's why a new poll of the Arabs of East Jerusalem is striking: It shows that more of those people actually would prefer to be citizens of Israel than of a Palestinian state.

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Palestinian holiday ad 'ignored existence of Israel'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Editorial) January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

The Board of Deputies of British Jews today welcomed the launch of an official investigation into a Palestinian holiday advert, after complaining that it ignored the existence of Israel. According to the advert from the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, appearing in this month's edition of National Geographic's Traveller magazine, "Palestine is a land rich in history with a tradition of hospitality. From the famous cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus and Gaza, the Palestinian people welcome you to visit this Holy Land."

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Pressuring Israel, an interview with Riad Malki
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
(Interview) January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

bitterlemons: What is the importance of the string of Latin American countries that have recognized the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders?

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An opportunity for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

As more and more South American countries--Chile is the latest--proclaim their recognition of a Palestinian state, the clamor grows in Jerusalem to declare a major failure of Israeli diplomacy. Didn't Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman travel to Latin America some months ago to stem the tide of recognition? Didn't Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telephone the president of Chile just last week to persuade him not to join the Palestine bandwagon? And if Latin America goes, won't Europe be next and then, god forbid, the United States?

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Palestinian Authority Urging Gaza Fatah Exiles to Return Home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by David Miller - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is quietly encouraging officials from its ruling Fatah party who fled the Gaza Strip following the rival Hamas movement’s bloody takeover in 2007 to return home. “Hamas and Fatah are both present in the Gaza Strip, and I support all Fatah people returning,” Hussam Khadr, a Fatah leader from Nablus, told The Media Line. "The party leadership should be brave and force people who left without a justified reason to return."

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Is Israel a democracy? Five actions in 2010 that fueled the debate.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ariel Zirulnick - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Rabbis' wives: Don't date Arab men A group of rabbis' wives penned a letter Dec. 29 urging Jewish women "not to date Arab men, not to work in places where Arabs are employed and not to volunteer for national service with them," the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

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