Fatah irate at reported indirect Israel-Hamas talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 21, 2013 - 1:00am

Fatah officials expressed outrage on Wednesday over reports that Hamas and Israel are conducting indirect talks in Cairo. According to the reports, Israeli and Hamas officials who arrived in Cairo recently have been holding indirect talks about consolidating the current cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which has been in effect since Operation Pillar of Defense ended in November.

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Another round of Palestinian talks fail to deliver on unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 18, 2013 - 1:00am

Last week the interminable Palestinian national reconciliation negotiations failed yet again, amid mutual recriminations. Hamas complained that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was attempting to re-litigate already agreed-upon items. There was also apparently a dispute about the prospect of Mr Abbas serving simultaneously as both president and prime minister.

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Abbas: Hamas opposes elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas says elections will be the basis to end the division, but that Hamas opposes a vote "at this stage." "An agreement has been reached with Hamas that we form a unity government to be headed by me, then we have parliamentary elections and Palestinian National Council elections three months after the Central Elections Commission is ready for elections," Abbas said at a meeting in Ramallah with newly-elected mayors and a delegation of senior PA officials.

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The Success That Failed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 14, 2013 - 1:00am

The most progressive and innovative Palestinian thinker on a Middle East peace settlement has been steadily isolated over the past several years. Undercut by Israel, undermined by his own people’s factionalism, unable to meet even once with President Obama, this dynamic Palestinian leader is now close to the end of his rope.

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Abbas to issue decrees on elections, unity govt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 13, 2013 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas will issue decrees announcing elections and declaring a new unity government, a senior Fatah official said Tuesday. At a news conference in Ramallah, Azzam al-Ahmad said the two decrees would be issued at the same time. Abbas has already started consultations to form a unity government of technocrats, which will be sworn when the Central Elections Commission finishing updated the voter registry, by the end of March, al-Azzam told reporters.

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Hamas, Fatah ‘not serious about reconciliation’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Nasouh Nazzal - February 13, 2013 - 1:00am

Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas are not serious about achieving Palestinian internal unity and the recent Cairo meetings were only aimed at appeasing the Palestinian street, said a senior Palestinian official.

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Why a Palestinian settlement is elusive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Lihi Ben Shitrit, Mahmoud Jaraba - (Editorial) February 12, 2013 - 1:00am

In recent weeks Fatah and Hamas celebrated their movements’ founding in Gaza and the West Bank. It was the first time since the Hamas-Fatah rift of 2007 that thousands of Hamas supporters were allowed to rally in the West Bank in mid-December and thousands of Fatah supporters were able to show open support for Fatah in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza in early January. On Jan.

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PA Employees in Gaza Key to Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Omar Shaban - (Editorial) February 11, 2013 - 1:00am

In response to the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the Palestinian Authority (PA) took several measures, all of which — according to their claims — aimed to render the Hamas government’s task of running the Gaza Strip impossible, and to push it to quickly be exposed and collapse.

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Palestinian reconciliation is important
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) February 7, 2013 - 1:00am

The statements made by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishaal during his recent visit to Jordan, as well as in an interview with the BBC, about concerted efforts to bring about Palestinian reconciliation are encouraging and important. The importance stems from many factors.

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Egypt’s MB Pressuring Hamas Chief to Continue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
January 28, 2013 - 1:00am

The Hamas movement has postponed selecting a new Political Bureau chief in a clear bid to persuade incumbent, Khalid Mishal, to nominate himself for a fifth term. An Informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that delaying the convening of the Hamas Shura Council is meant to give Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic parties’ more time to pressure Mishal to change his mind.

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