After Arab Spring, Abbas discovers importance of public opinion in PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Several hours after an official from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud's Abbas' office leaked to the media that a planned meeting with Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz would not take place, the latter's aides claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was behind the move. This reaction was both immature and condescending, reflecting a characteristic Israeli response to Abbas' moves - as if the Palestinian leaderhas no will of his own, no independent interestsand especially no public opinion to take into consideration.

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Palestinians humiliated by their own
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

The security men delivered a beating like there was no tomorrow, as if they were defending their lives. No, it wasn't the riot police in Tel Aviv, but rather the Palestinian police in Ramallah. On Saturday, cautiously and moderately in comparison with their Israeli counterparts, and again on Sunday with mounting brutality, the Palestinian police tried to prevent a small group of demonstrators from advancing on the grand presidential compound, the Muqata.

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Palestinians detain dozens in weapons crackdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 2, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian self-rule government has detained some 200 people, including security officers, in recent weeks in the biggest crackdown on illegal weapons in the West Bank in five years, a spokesman said Monday. Officials say the campaign is unusual because it targets include alleged vigilante gunmen linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Previously, security forces went mainly after armed supporters of rival groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

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Hamas suspends Gaza voter registration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - July 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Hamas suspended voter registration in the Gaza Strip on Monday in a setback to Palestinian plans for parliamentary and presidential elections and to forging unity with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. Hamas, the Islamist group that seized the enclave from Fatah forces in 2007, cited the continued arrest of its members in the West Bank by security forces of the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Abbas.

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PA police crush new Ramallah demo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian protesters said security forces used brutal force Sunday during the second demonstration in as many days protesting Palestinian Authority policy. Police attacked protesters with batons, beating and injuring at least seven people. Another seven protesters were taken to a police station along with at least two journalists, a Ma'an correspondent said. Protesters shouted against police brutality, and the police responded by beating them. Journalists were also attacked for the second day in a row, the correspondent reported.

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PNA opens investigation into demonstrators' repression
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 2, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Monday opened an investigation into clashes between demonstrators and police in the West Bank city of Ramallah. At least 15 people were injured, including six journalists, when the PNA forces repressed demonstrations Sunday and Saturday when protestors called on President Mahmoud Abbas not to receive Israeli Deputy Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz in Ramallah. Mofaz's visit has been canceled.

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Israelis and Jordanians: Ammunition for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Assaf David - (Opinion) July 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli-Arab relations witnessed a historic event last week. Modest and hidden from the limelight of the media, it touched everyone who attended it, moving some to tears: Israeli and Jordanian war veterans who fought each other 45 years ago visited together their shared combat zones in Jerusalem, honoring each other and paying tribute to their fallen comrades.

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Senior Fatah official shot in West Bank volatile city
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 1, 2012 - 12:00am

Unknown militants shot and wounded a senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party in the West Bank city of Jenin, security sources said Sunday. Shami al-Shami, also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), got two gunshots in his right leg, the sources added. The shooting came at a time of intensive campaign by forces of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to restore order in the city, which has slid into militia chaos for months.

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The calm may not last for ever
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Opinion) June 30, 2012 - 12:00am

FIVE years after Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, dismissed an elected government run by the Islamists of Hamas and decided to rule instead by decree, the Palestinian Authority (PA) that oversees the West Bank is being dangerously challenged from within. In Nablus, the first city where Mr Abbas chose to fill the security vacuum with his American-trained national-security battalions, turf wars have recently erupted between rival commanders, puncturing four years of calm.

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Palestinians in Syria Are Reluctantly Drawn Into Vortex of Uprising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dalal Mawad, Rod Nordland - June 30, 2012 - 12:00am

The body of a Hamas official was found in his home on Wednesday night, bearing marks of torture. A colonel in the Palestine Liberation Army was sprawled in his car on Tuesday, fatally shot near his home. Three Palestinians were shot down in the alleyways of a refugee camp late last Sunday by a group of unidentified gunmen.

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