PLO opposes sharing power with Hamas as it controls Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) would oppose a plan by prime minister-designate to include Hamas in a united government while keeping its rule in Gaza, a PLO official said Sunday. "So far, the Executive Committee of the PLO did not discuss Salam Fayyad's initiative," said Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of the Executive Committee, "but the Palestinian people will not accept the continuation of the split or the formation of sort of confederation between Gaza and the West Bank."

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Hamas quashes small pro-unity rally in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 28, 2011 - 1:00am

A Hamas security man surveyed the scene on Monday -- 10 activists drawn by a Facebook page invitation to a Gaza rally for Palestinian unity. "Where's the revolution?" he asked with a note of sarcasm. Within minutes, security forces of the enclave's ruling Islamist movement moved into Gaza's main square. Witnesses said one of the security men punched the organiser of the rally and the other nine protesters obeyed orders to disperse.

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Thousands rally for change in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 25, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinians rallied Thursday in the center of Ramallah protesting against both the state of internal political disunity and the Oslo Accords with Israel, leading to brief skirmishes between the sides. About 1,500 protesters took to the main streets of the city carrying flags and banners and calling for unity and liberation. Protesters represented every faction, among them Hamas, Fatah, and the leftist parties. Khalida Jarrar, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine lawmaker, said it was time to "wipe this page from our history."

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Young Palestinians call for protests on 15 March
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Their movement has no name and no leaders. Just a goal, and a tool. The goal is to force an end to the political divisions among Palestinians by stirring the youth of Gaza and the West Bank to emulate their brothers and sisters in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Their tool – as elsewhere – is the internet, specifically Facebook. "End The Division", a page in both Arabic and English, calls for protests across the Palestinian territories and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon on 15 March. It has already got thousands of supporters, and is growing by the day.

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Israel to let 300 Palestinians in Libya into WBank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis - February 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel will allow 300 Palestinians living and working in Libya to enter the West Bank in the coming days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday. "Because of the current violence in Libya I received a personal request from (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas ... that Israel allow a number of Palestinians to leave Libya and to enter the Palestinian territories ... so Israel will enable 300 Palestinians to enter the Palestinian areas," Netanyahu said.

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More detentions in Ramallah at rally for Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 3, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority police beat back protesters with clubs and detained at least two at what witnesses described as a spontaneous rally and show of support for the Egyptian people as chaos hit Cairo streets. "I was sick and tired of sitting at home and doing nothing," one Ramallah resident said, explaining that she had seen on the social networking site Facebook that friends were attending a peaceful protest at 9 p.m. in the city center.

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Leaks deepen Palestinian split
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - (Analysis) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

If an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal seemed remote before, it looks downright unattainable after a stormy week of leaks of confidential Mideast protocols by Al-Jazeera TV. The disclosures hurt the credibility of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas among his people, weakening him as a leader. They deepened the chasm between him and Hamas, distancing already faint hopes of restoring Palestinian unity as the Islamic militants burned him in effigy and branded him a traitor.

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Palestinian ambassador to UK's office taken over by protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Sam Jones - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

The offices of the Palestinian ambassador to the UK have been occupied by a group of students who are demanding new Palestinian national council elections. At 1pm today, around a dozen Palestinian students from a number of British universities arrived at the Palestinian general delegation to the UK in Hammersmith, west London. Although they had made an appointment to see the ambassador, Professor Manuel Hassassian, they arrived in large numbers and with computers and banners.

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Papering over the problem in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Khaled Elgindy - January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

As the Palestinian leadership struggles to contain the damage caused by Al Jazeera's release of leaked documents detailing years of their negotiations with Israel, there is one lesson that risks being buried in all of the current hype. The Palestine Papers, and much of the response to them, demonstrate the increasingly narrow line the Palestinian leadership must walk between satisfying its U.S. and Western benefactors, as well as Israel, and maintaining credibility in the eyes of its own people.

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Arab League praises PA's diplomatic efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Arab League chief Amr Mussa on Tuesday praised the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic efforts to secure international recognition of a Palestinian state. PA Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Al-Malki updated Arab foreign ministers on diplomatic developments in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh, where leaders gathered ahead of an Arab League summit on Wednesday. Foreign ministers praised Palestinian diplomatic achievements, and promised to support President Mahmoud Abbas' political strategy.

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