Palestinians' Hamas, Fatah hurl recriminations weeks after shaking hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - January 8, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and its rival Islamic movement Hamas recriminated each other on Saturday over Hamas' bar against a Fatah delegation from entering the Gaza Strip. Fatah Party said in an email to reporters that the security forces of Hamas, which rules the coastal enclave, prevented a high- ranking Fatah delegation from entering Gaza on Friday, adding that Hamas behaved like gangs and don't want the reconciliation deal to work.

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Marwan Barghouti Speaks, Through Wife
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jane Eisner - (Editorial) January 6, 2012 - 1:00am

He is the Palestinians’ most famous prisoner and most popular politician. Now Marwan Barghouti is speaking to the American public, through the voice of his wife. Every 15 days, Fadwa Barghouti is allowed to visit her husband in an Israeli prison, where he has served 10 years of five consecutive life sentences for helping to arrange and fund terrorist attacks that killed five Israelis. Marwan Barghouti insisted that his trial was politicized and unfair, and even some Israelis have spoken out for his release.

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Senior Fatah, Hamas leaders meet in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 4, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Fatah central committee member Nabil Shaath met with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar in Gaza City on Tuesday afternoon to progress the reconciliation deal between their parties. In a press statement, Shaath said they discussed the political detentions in Gaza and the West Bank and ways to implement the agreement, despite all the obstacles facing the reconciliation. Meanwhile, head of political independents Yasser Al-Waddiyeh announced a "senior reconciliation leadership committee" will meet for the first time on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip.

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Hamas says it plans to join Fatah-dominated PLO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Rival Palestinian factions took a significant step towards reconciliation Thursday as the Islamist group Hamas said it planned to join President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestine Liberation Organization. Abbas held a meeting in Cairo with leaders from the factions, including Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, where a committee was formed to prepare for the inclusion of Hamas, as well as the smaller Islamic Jihad, in the PLO. There are still some serious obstacles that could prevent a final unity deal and attempts to reconcile in the past have failed.

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Officials say PNI joined PLO at Cairo talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Officials from Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian National Initiative said late Thursday that they had accepted positions on an "interim leadership" of the PLO. Ayed Yaghi, a PNI leader, said the small faction joined the PLO and that it was a natural position to take. Yaghi told Ma’an that Thursday's talks in Cairo marked a milestone in the history of the Palestinian people. He pointed out that the PNI had previously submitted a request to join the PLO in 2004.

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Abbas in a stronger position with Hamas in PLO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Herb Keinon - December 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be in a stronger position to deal with Israel and the United States if Hamas joins the PLO, a senior Hamas official told pan-Arab London-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat Saturday. According to the source, who spoke to Asharq Alaqsat following productive meetings between Palestinian factions aiming to "activate" the reconstruction of of a unity Palestinian government, reconciliation of Hamas with the PA would see Abbas become president of a more united Palestinian people, instead of just a segment of it in the West Bank.

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Hamas: Factions agree on 6 reconciliation steps in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 21, 2011 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Wednesday that Palestinian factions have reached agreement on six steps to be taken as part of ongoing reconciliation talks. In a statement received by Ma'an, Barhoum said that a committee composed of nine members has been formed to take charge of elections. The committee will be headed by Dr. Hanna Nasser, chairman of the Palestinian Authority's Central Elections Commission, and former president of Birzeit university.

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Hamas moves away from violence in deal with Palestinian Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Phoebe Greenwood - December 18, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas has confirmed that it will shift tactics away from violent attacks on Israel as part of a rapprochement with the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman for the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, told the Guardian that the Islamic party, which has controlled Gaza for the past five years, was shifting its emphasis from armed struggle to non-violent resistance.

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'Mashaal agreed to non-violence, pre-67 borders'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
December 17, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal agreed in the context of reconciliation with Fatah that resistance to Israel must be non-violent and a Palestinian state should be based on the1967 borders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with the Euronews international television network. Speaking in the interview aired Friday, Abbas said that Mashaal agreed to those two points, as well as to elections in May 2012 when the two met last month.

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Fatah, Hamas discuss reconciliation in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 5, 2011 - 1:00am

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas and Fatah leaders met in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to discuss the results of last week's summit between party chiefs, officials said. Describing the Gaza meeting of top officials from the rival movements as "significant," Fatah national relations commissioner Diab al-Loh said both Hamas and Fatah reaffirmed their commitment to the reconciliation deal. Al-Loh told Ma'an the parties discussed mechanisms to implement agreements between Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal in Cairo.

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