Barak to Juppe: Israel cannot negotiate with Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak met on Friday with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe to discuss a French initiative involving a peace conference in Paris next month. The conference would be scheduled to precede September's contentious Palestinian state bid at the UN. During their meeting at Barak's office in Tel Aviv, the defense minister reiterated to Juppe that Israel would be unable to negotiate with Hamas since the group does not either recognize Israel nor denounce terrorist attacks against its civilians.

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Hamas strongman accuses Abbas of breaching reconciliation pact
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - June 2, 2011 - 12:00am

A high-ranking Islamic Hamas movement official on Wednesday accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of breaching the reconciliation agreement, which was signed in Cairo and sponsored by Egypt on May 4 between the movement and Fatah party. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas strongman in Gaza, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that President Abbas has made a mistake " when he tried to make the new government, which should be formed after signing the agreement, as his own government, instead of a government of national accordance."

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Fayyad: Promised donor aid not arriving
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 1, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is facing a financial crisis because funds pledged by donor nations are not arriving on time, Prime Minister of the West Bank government Salam Fayyad said Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference with Japan's representative to the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad said the slow delivery of promised aid was putting pressure on the government. "The financial crisis continues until now, to varying degrees, and has continued alongside the work of the Palestinian Authority since mid-2010," Fayyad warned, saying the government was facing a serious shortfall.

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Hamas prevents youths from holding conference in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 31, 2011 - 12:00am

The Hamas police arrested two people on Tuesday and prevented a group of youths from holding a conference sponsored by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) , witnesses said. The conference was aimed at supporting a national agreement that Egypt brokered between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. Dozens of policemen surrounded the hall where the conference was scheduled to be held, prevented people from entering, "beat several organizers and arrested two of them," said Ibrahim Al- Shatali, one of the organizers.

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Palestinian unity deal exposes divisions in Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - May 26, 2011 - 12:00am

Divisions in Hamas have been brought to the surface by a reconciliation agreement with rival group Fatah, exposing splits in the Palestinian Islamist movement that could complicate implementation of the deal. It is the first time differences between Hamas leaders in Gaza and the movement's exiled politburo in Damascus have been aired so openly in public, supporting a view that the group is far from united.

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Hamas: Unity does not mean we take on Fatah's platform
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 25, 2011 - 12:00am

In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar set out the compromises the party was willing to make for a unity deal with Fatah, and made clear that unity would not change the party's platform. "Reconciliation does not mean Hamas has changed its agenda," the leader was quoted as saying in the Tuesday report, adding that nor was Fatah bending its own goals to those of Hamas when it signed the document.

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US criticism of Palestinian reconciliation pact shadows Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Omer Othmani, Osama Radi - May 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The Egyptian-drafted inter- reconciliation agreement, which was signed in Cairo on May 4 between Fatah and the Islamic Hamas movement, is facing difficulties following U.S. President Barack Obama's criticism of the agreement. Obama, who demanded Hamas to accept the requirements of the International Quartet Committee for peace in the Middle East, said in a speech on Monday that the deal between Abbas and Hamas "is a big obstacle for achieving peace."

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Russia announces unequivocal support for unity deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Russia supports Palestinian unity efforts as a step toward regional stability, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavarov told Palestinian factional representatives in Moscow on Monday evening. The statement came at a meeting with seven faction leaders, many of whom recently refused to appoint members to a new technocrat government saying they were being left out of the reconciliation process and would prefer not to lend it legitimacy.

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Palestinian unity arose from ruins of peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 23, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian unity deal, slammed by Barack Obama as an "enormous obstacle to peace," emerged after Hamas and Fatah agreed on the shared goal of a state on the 1967 lines and the failure of talks with Israel. "The recent agreement between Fatah and Hamas poses an enormous obstacle to peace," the US president told delegates at the US-Israel lobby group AIPAC in Washington on Sunday, demanding the Islamist movement recognize Israel, reject violence and respect all existing agreements with Israel.

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Abbas defends unity deal against US criticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dale Gavlak - May 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought Monday to defend his new unity government with the militant Hamas movement, saying criticism by U.S. President Barack Obama represented a "wrong understanding" of the deal. Abbas' comments followed talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Jordanian capital and were noted in a royal palace statement. They were his first remarks on major speeches the U.S. president delivered in recent days.

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