Fayyad nomination is final, Fatah says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Nasouh Nazzal - June 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Ramallah: The Fatah party Sunday said the nomination of Dr Salam Fayyad to lead the Palestinian unity government is final. It said if Hamas did not agree with the nomination in the next couple of days, the current caretaker government under Fayyad will remain in place. "If agreement on the nomination of Dr Fayyad is not reached within the coming couple of days, it is highly possible that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assigns Dr Fayyad to reshuffle his cabinet and preserve the status quo," Ameen Maqboul, who heads the Revolutionary Council at Fatah, told Gulf News in an interview.

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Fayyad: I will not obstruct unity deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 22, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Prime Minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad assured Tuesday evening that he "can't and won't be an obstacle to Palestinian reconciliation." Following speculation he would publicly refuse the post of prime minister in the new transitional unity government being negotiated by Hamas and Fatah, his words fell short of the declaration, saying "I shall support to the best of my abilities any candidate Palestinian parties agree upon."

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News Analysis: What's behind the delay in implementing reconciliation pact?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Osama Radi - June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Although it has been already three weeks for signing the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation pact, rival Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party are still unable to overcome their differences and start the implementation of the deal. One of the significant events that showed the large gap between the two rival groups was the postponement of Tuesday's meeting between Abbas and Hamas politburo Khaled Meshaal, which was scheduled to be held in Cairo to agree on the formation of the unity technocrat government they agreed to form.

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Continuing disagreement over interim PM delays new Palestinian government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV //Fatah asked Hamas yesterday to postpone a crucial announcement on the make-up of a unity government amid disagreements over its leadership. The rival Palestinian groups were due to meet tomorrow to publicly announce the formation of the new government, almost two months after they struck a surprising pact aimed at ending their years-long bitter feud. But last week Hamas rejected Fatah's nomination of Salam Fayyad, a respected economist and the current prime minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, to serve as the new government's prime minister.

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From Arab Spring comes a new form of Palestinian unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Joseph Dana, Jesse Rosenfeld - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am

On June 5, when Palestinian protesters tried to march from Ramallah to Jerusalem in observation of the 44th anniversary of Israel's 1967 occupation, they were sent scrambling amidst clouds of Israeli tear gas and hailing rubber bullets. Hours later on the Syrian border, Israeli soldiers responded to a separate demonstration by killing 23 unarmed Palestinian refugees, who were also trying to exercise their right of return.

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Take away Hamas excuses on unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) June 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Salam Fayyad probably saw it coming. Four years ago, the Palestinian prime minister told The New York Times that he had every intention of de-legitimising the Islamist movement of Hamas. Violence is "not who we are", he said in 2007. "I want to disappoint them." On Sunday, it was Hamas that did the disappointing.

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Revealed: the untold story of the deal that shocked the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Secret meetings between Palestinian intermediaries, Egyptian intelligence officials, the Turkish foreign minister, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal – the latter requiring a covert journey to Damascus with a detour round the rebellious city of Deraa – brought about the Palestinian unity which has so disturbed both Israelis and the American government. Fatah and Hamas ended four years of conflict in May with an agreement that is crucial to the Paslestinian demand for a state.

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Egypt's revolution brings new players to move Palestinian pieces into place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jack Shenker - May 28, 2011 - 12:00am

After years of unsuccessful lobbying by the Egyptian authorities for a reconciliation of the warring Palestinian factions, the post-Mubarak government has achieved a breakthrough. As Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas politburo, said on Thursday, a new page has been turned. The emergence of a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah on Wednesday took most observers by surprise, but behind the scenes a new cast of players had been moving the relevant pieces into place ever since a popular revolution ousted the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

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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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Welcome Palestinian Unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mustafa Barghouthi - (Opinion) May 19, 2011 - 12:00am

The Israeli government regrettably does not seem to realize what a unique opportunity the Palestinian unity agreement provides. This agreement presents, for the first time in decades, a unified, moderate Palestinian consensus, which includes Fatah, Hamas and the democratic camp. From a Palestinian perspective, this fruit of the Arab Spring and a post-Mubarak Egypt is a vital development as we seek to move beyond internecine strife and focus on the need to end the Israeli occupation and secure our freedom.

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