Abbas-Dahlan spat undermining Fatah, bolstering Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 15, 2011 - 12:00am

As he prepares to submit a request to the UN in September for recognition of a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has also found time to wage a relentless war against his former ally and friend, Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan. The rivalry between the two men, which reached its peak last month when Abbas ordered his security forces to raid Dahlan’s villa on the outskirts of Ramallah, has caused severe damage to Fatah and will only serve Hamas’s interests, Fatah officials warned.

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Palestinians gather to call for Assad departure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Hundreds of Palestinians streamed into the streets of Ramallah on Sunday evening to demand Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stand down. The mass demonstration in support of the Syrian people came hours after news broke of Syrian military shelling the port city of Latakia, killing 26. Human rights groups said Palestinians living in a refugee camp in the district of Ramel were among the dead.

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Paranoia and intrigue on the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - August 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Juliano Mer-Khamis' legacy weighs heavily on the internationally acclaimed youth theatre he founded inside this turbulent Palestinian refugee camp, where some suspect his killer still lurks. In April, a masked gunman shot dead the 52-year-old Israeli actor and filmmaker, born to a Jewish mother and Palestinian father, as he sat in a car in front of his Freedom Theatre in Jenin.

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Hamas-Fatah talks: Is Palestinian unity an illusion?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Jon Donnison - August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian political leaders seemed to be listening. Within weeks, somewhat out of the blue, a reconciliation deal was announced. Orchestrated by the new leadership in Egypt, it was meant to end four years of bitter and sometimes violent division between the two main Palestinian factions. Three months on, Abu Yassin is angry: "Nothing has changed. "We're really disappointed. This deal was just signatures on paper. We wanted real change on the ground."

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The blunders of Palestinian leader Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Back in May, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas adopted a new and radically different political strategy. Turning his back on the United States and peace talks with Israel, he signed a ”reconciliation” agreement with the Hamas movement and announced his intention to appeal to the United Nations in September for recognition of Palestinian statehood. September is still six weeks away, but already it’s becoming clear that Abbas committed a monumental blunder, one that will leave his movement at a dead end — and possibly lead to an eruption of violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

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Palestinian factions settle comfortably into limbo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - July 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem— A proposed Palestinian unity government that was touted two months ago as a potential Mideast game-changer has been stalled by familiar political realities and lingering antagonisms. Since rival factions Fatah and Hamas announced a reconciliation after four years of feuding, the promised coalition government remains unformed due to disputes over who will serve as prime minister. Other goodwill measures, such as mutual prisoner releases, have also gone unfulfilled since May, and public attacks against one another have resumed.

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Is Palestine Next?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from London Review of Books
by Adam Shatz - (Book Review) July 14, 2011 - 12:00am

No one in the Arab world was watching the news more closely than the Palestinians during the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. The first emotion they experienced was disbelief; the second – particularly when they saw Palestinian flags being raised in Tahrir Square – was relief that they were no longer alone. Arab lethargy has been a virtual article of faith among Palestinians, who felt that their neighbours had betrayed them in 1948 and had done nothing to help them since.

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Hamas: No Palestinian reconciliation if Fayyad remains PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Associated Press - July 13, 2011 - 12:00am

A senior Hamas official said a planned reconciliation with Fatah will be deeply threatened if the rival Palestinian movement insists Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad stays on as prime minister. President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah thinks keeping Fayyad as prime minister is key to maintaining the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in Western aid. Hamas sees Fayyad as too close to the West. Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk was quoted Wednesday by the Palestinian daily Felesteen as saying Abbas' position is "unacceptable and unreasonable."

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Hamas: Abbas obstructing reconciliation deal over PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas official Mohammed Nasr said Tuesday that President Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for obstructing the completion of a Palestinian national unity government. "Abbas clings to Salam Fayyad as prime minister during the interim government but we refuse this nomination and we affirmed to Fatah that we have a veto against Fayyad," Nasr told the London based Al-Hayat newspaper.

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Reconciliation First
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am

Much hope was pinned on the initial agreement between Fateh, the main Palestinian faction, and Hamas, the movement ruling Gaza, to forge a united Palestinian front at this critical time. The Palestinians need a unity government in order to push forward their plan to seek recognition by the UN General Assembly as an independent state. Unfortunately, so far, the two Palestinian factions failed to seal their initial accord by agreements on several fronts, including holding presidential and parliamentary elections, and forming a national unity government.

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