Why is Hamas keeping a low profile in the West Bank?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Omran Risheq - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

A question one hears frequently among Palestinians these days is why Hamas Movement, a group some view with suspicion and others with sympathy, has become nearly invisible in the West Bank. Certainly Hamas has suffered a series of security blows in the last few years. Israel arrested roughly a thousand Hamas members, including elected delegates of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), following the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006.

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A Vacuum Can Also be Used
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Husam Itani - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

In his reaction to the recent Palestinian stance, Benjamin Netanyahu included the following elements: it is forbidden for you to go to the Security Council to issue a resolution that recognizes your future state. If you do this, you will not find international support. If you do obtain this support, we will put an end to this attempt by force.

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PA confirms PLO to take over parliament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Political maneuver against Hamas: Salim Zanoun, chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), confirmed Sunday evening that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was planning to take over the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The plan was first revealed by Ynet on Saturday. Zanoun, who spoke to Palestinian trade unions in the West Bank city of Nablus, confirmed that the PNC would decide in its meeting next month to transfer the authorities of the PLC to the PLO's Central Council.

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Arafat celebrated five years after death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

More than 13,000 Palestinians gathered in Ramallah on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Large crowds packed into the Presidential Compound to hear a memorial from President Mahmoud Abbas, who donned a white ball cap emblazoned with the flag of Palestine and a black and white kuffeyeh as he addressed the crowd for what many anticipated to be a historic speech. Rumors spread before the event that Abbas would announce his resignation, precipitating the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority.

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Declaring a state? Palestinian leaders weigh in
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian National Council proclaimed the establishment of a Palestinian state during a meeting in Algiers on 15 November 1988. Like the declaration of a Palestinian state in Gaza in 1948 amidst the war with the nascent Israeli state, the 1988 declaration has little practical meaning today. For whatever reason, recent media speculation has raised the notion that Palestinian leaders could make another such declaration in the current political climate.

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Palestinian Authority’s Future Is in Question
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The New York Times - November 11, 2009 - 1:00am

The collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s negotiating partner, was raised as a possibility on Monday, as several aides to its president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that he intended to resign and forecast that others would follow.

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Succeeding Abbas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

The latest visit of Mohammed Dahlan in Amman has triggered much speculation among pundits and politicians over what he is up to. Indeed, he is not an ordinary senior Palestinian official but a very controversial politician, one that many Jordanians and Palestinians accuse of taking a leading role in cracking down on Hamas.

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How Will the Palestinians Survive without Mahmoud Abbas?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) November 10, 2009 - 1:00am

We must not forget that the Palestinian president – no matter who he might be – is an important figure not just for the West Bank, but for the entire Arab world. This is because the Palestinian President is the guardian of the most important cause – the Palestinian Cause – and therefore possesses exceptional [political] legitimacy in the Middle East's political arena. Therefore the issue that we are facing is one that concerns everybody.

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Abbas move seen as gamble with US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

If nothing else, Mahmoud Abbas spurred a flurry of reaction and speculation about the future of the struggle for Palestinian statehood after he stated his desire in a speech on Thursday not to run again for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Fatah supporters rallied across the West Bank on Friday to urge him to reconsider, while Palestinian leaders from both within and outside his own party closed ranks around him. Further afield, Arab, European and Turkish officials have expressed their hope that Mr Abbas might yet be persuaded otherwise.

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One-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Lisa Kaaki - (Book Review) November 5, 2009 - 1:00am

This first critical study of the “one-state” agenda comes at a time when Palestine has witnessed no real progress on the ground and an atmosphere of hopelessness and pessimism is spreading in the region.

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