Abbas: Hamas must recognize Israel to gain world legitimacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 24, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday a new national unity government that includes rival Hamas must be in place and internationally recognized to manage humanitarian aid for Gaza and the West Bank. Abbas said he hopes the upcoming round of reconciliation talks would lead Hamas to accept deals with Israel agreed to by previous Palestinian administrations even if they are not in line with the group's own political platform.

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Prime Minister Salam Fayyad: Palestinian factions should unite and make peace with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Sadie Goldman - (Interview) February 24, 2009 - 1:00am

In an interview released yesterday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, called for a united Palestinian government that includes Fatah and Hamas, and would continue the peace process with Israel. The following are key excerpts: On Palestinian reconciliation,

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The Palestinian Perspective: Prime Minister Faya'd in Conversation with TML's Felice Friedson
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Felice Friedson - (Interview) February 23, 2009 - 1:00am

The Media Line’s Felice Friedson conducted an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Faya’d in his Ramallah office on February 19, 2009. Among the issues they discussed were the current state of the Palestinian Authority, the crisis in Gaza, Fatah vs. Hamas, and the future of relations with Israel. TML: Mr. Prime Minister, what is the most serious problem caused by the division of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: in effect the creation of two Palestinian states?

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Al Qaeda's Zawahri tells Hamas don't accept truce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Inal Ersan - February 23, 2009 - 1:00am

Al Qaeda's second-in-command urged Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip not to succumb to Arab pressure for a truce with Israel and vowed to support fighting against the Jewish state. The militant leader, in a recording posted on the Internet on Monday, also called on Muslims in Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia to press ahead with fighting "crusaders" -- a term used to denote the West -- and their agents.

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The Israeli Condition Against the Egyptian Role
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
(Opinion) February 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Once again, Israel has thrown a monkey wrench into Egypt's efforts to deal with the explosive and saddening situation in Gaza, after it had waged the war on the Strip - thus anticipating Egyptian and Turkish efforts to extend and renew the truce, whose effects were over at the end of 2008.

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Palestinian unity talks delayed as new rift emerges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
February 19, 2009 - 1:00am

The Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying on Wednesday that Cairo-brokered talks aimed at reconciling feuding Palestinian factions have been delayed. "Palestinian reconciliation talks scheduled for February 22 have been delayed for a short period because more discussions are needed," the unidentified official said. The talks are part of an Egyptian-proposed plan to end Israel's massive three-week offensive against the Gaza Strip in December and January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom the UN said were civilians.

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Key prisoners at center of Israeli-Hamas negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - February 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel on Wednesday increased pressure on Hamas to free Gilad Shalit, the soldier held by the Gaza militants, by saying it would not agree to a long-term cease-fire deal, open borders into the coastal strip, or release the 1,000 prisoners that Hamas wants freed until they know he is coming home. The Israeli Security Cabinet's stance angered Egyptian mediators and Hamas officials who say a prisoner swap, which appeared imminent, should be a separate issue from truce talks.

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Gaza war changes Middle East equation at Israel’s expense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Alain Gresh - February 19, 2009 - 1:00am

“They’re still living in the War of Independence (1948) and the Sinai campaign (1956). With them, it’s all about tanks, about controlling territories or controlled territories, holding this or that hill. But these things are worthless. (…) The Lebanon war (2006) will go down in history as the first war in which the military leadership understood that classical warfare has become obsolete” (1).

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Mitchell could support PA unity gov't
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Counterpunch
by Alexander Cockburn, Hilary Leila Krieger - (Editorial) February 19, 2009 - 1:00am

US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell expressed support for Egyptian efforts to forge a Palestinian national unity government, indicating that America could take a new tack on Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, during a conference call Thursday with Jewish leaders.

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Transitional Palestinian Government by April
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Salaah Jum'ah - February 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian sources said that Egypt informed all the Palestinian factions, which have been invited to attend inter-Palestinian dialogue in Cairo on 22 February, of the need to form a transitional Palestinian government by no later than April. The sources said that this government's task will be to run the PNA affairs, prepare for presidential and legislative elections to be held in January next year, and to coordinate with the donor parties to rebuild what the Israeli war machine destroyed until a new government takes office.

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