Restive Nablus Challenges Fatah's Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - November 5, 2007 - 2:25pm

Over the course of the second Palestinian intifada, this city became the West Bank's capital for car thefts, kidnappings, and suicide bombers. Now, with 300 security officers from the Palestinian Authority (PA) freshly deployed around Nablus, the city has become a testing ground for an embattled Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

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Pa Infighting / Blood Brothers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) November 2, 2007 - 5:13pm

The Palestinian organizations responsible for the massive firing of Qassam rockets and mortar rounds at Israel over the past few days may harbor hostility toward one another, but they share a common goal: Dragging Israel into a massive activity in the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, it was the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades that fired a heavy salvo of rockets at Sderot. But despite their affiliation, the men who launched the rockets are not taking orders from Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

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Disorder In The Ranks Of Hamas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Opinion) November 2, 2007 - 5:10pm

Last Sunday, Hamas government spokesperson, Ghazi Hamad, was alleged to have issued a five page letter in which he criticized and questioned Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. The former editor-in-chief of the Hamas-affiliated weekly Al-Risala has denied the letter’s existence in which he ostensibly declared that the events in June, which resulted in the current duopoly of Palestine, was a “serious strategic mistake that burdened the movement more than it can bear”.

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Sderot & Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) November 2, 2007 - 4:46pm

The terrorist shelling of Sderot and other towns and villages neighboring Gaza has to stop, but the policies Israel has adopted to achieve that goal will not do the job.  The most significant thing to know about the shelling is that Sderot is in Israel itself—not in the occupied territories. Accordingly, it is ridiculous to refer to the attacks as representing “resistance” unless, of course, the resistance is to the existence of Israel and not the occupation. In the case of Sderot, and neighboring towns, it clearly is.

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Rice Back In Middle East Carrying Many Hopes And Few Trump Cards
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna)
by Joe Macaron - October 31, 2007 - 5:29pm

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice travels on Thursday to the Middle East on her third mission to the region in two months amid dim hopes on resolving Palestinian-Israeli quandary ahead of upcoming Annapolis meeting. "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are engaged in an effort to produce a document that could serve the foundation for a serious negotiation for the establishment of a Palestinian state," said a senior State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

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Gaza Offensive Could Exact Heavy Price
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 31, 2007 - 5:25pm

If Israel carries out threats of a massive offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip the army could encounter unprecedented resistance from an army of fighters using guerrilla tactics, officials say. The relatively high number of casualties Israel has suffered in its limited raids in Gaza over the past months — three soldiers killed and dozens injured — suggests Palestinian militants have developed new tactics and weapons.

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The Impact Of Closure: An Interview With Taghreed El-khodary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress
(Interview) October 31, 2007 - 5:21pm

How will/will current path lead Gazans toward a two-state solution? As a journalist in Gaza, from what I see, all that people care about are the burdens of daily life. No one is talking about Annapolis, about two states. The suffering is extreme. The closure is so severe that it has touched every sector of the Gaza Strip, from businessmen, to farmers, to students, to workers.

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Mideast: Replying To Rockets, Israel Chokes Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Peter Hirschberg - October 31, 2007 - 5:18pm

Israel has begun limiting fuel supplies to Gaza as part of punitive measures it is implementing in an attempt to stem the firing of rockets by militants from the coastal strip into Israel. But Palestinian leaders and human rights groups are warning the move could spark a humanitarian crisis.

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Former Hamas Spokesman Decries Group's Extremism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News
by Dion Nissenbaum - October 31, 2007 - 5:12pm

For roughly two decades, Ghazi Hamad has been a reliable champion for Hamas and its hard-line Islamist ideology, first as a leader of Palestinian street protests, then as an editor of a pro-Hamas newspaper and most recently as the chief spokesman for deposed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Now, however, Hamad has emerged as one of Hamas' most caustic critics. In an open letter to Hamas leaders, he criticizes the group as an uncompromising movement that's lost its way.

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Mazuz Prohibits Punitive Power Cuts In Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir, Yuval Yoaz - October 30, 2007 - 1:19pm

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz yesterday prohibited the state from cutting off electricity to parts of the Gaza Strip, as the defense minister has threatened to do. After holding a debate in his office yesterday, Mazuz ordered the defense establishment to reexamine the issue.

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