An Outgunned Hamas Tries to Tap Islamists’ Growing Clout
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by David Kirkpatrick - November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

CAIRO — Emboldened by the rising power of Islamists around the region, the Palestinian militant group Hamas demanded new Israeli concessions to its security and autonomy before it halts its rocket attacks on Israel, even as the conflict took an increasing toll on Sunday.

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PLO leader: Ceasefire talks underway in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Negotiations in Cairo for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have made progress, but a truce is unlikely in the coming days, PLO official Nabil Shaath said Sunday. Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal and his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouq updated Shaath on talks in Cairo between Palestinian factions and an Israeli delegate. Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas is also in direct contact with Mashaal, Shaath said.

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Medics: Israel Strike Kills 11 Civilians in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Statesman.com
November 18, 2012 - 1:00am

An Israeli missile has flattened a two-story house in a residential neighborhood of Gaza City, as Palestinian militants in Gaza continue to fire rockets toward Israelis cities. (Nov. 18)


With Longer Reach, Rockets Bolster Hamas Arsenal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - November 17, 2012 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV — When Israel assassinated the top Hamas military commander in Gaza on Wednesday, setting off the current round of fierce fighting, it was aiming not just at a Palestinian leader but at a supply line of rockets from Iran that have for the first time given Hamas the ability to strike as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

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Abbas: Israel trying to undermine Palestinian UN move
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 17, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday accused Israel of launching an deadly assault on the Gaza Strip to undermine his efforts to secure a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations. Israel started an air offensive on Wednesday with the assassination of a Hamas commander. Medics say 28 Palestinians have been killed, and three Israelis died from rocket fire from Gaza.

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Hamas, Jihad claimed responsibility for rockets landing near Tel Aviv
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The armed wings of Islamic Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad on Thursday claimed responsibility for firing two Iranian-made Fajr rockets that landed in Jaffa and Rishon Kitzion, south of Israel's Tel Aviv. The two groups said in two separate leaflets emailed to reporters that their militants fired the rockets in response to the killing of Ahmed al-Jaabari, head of the Hamas armed wing, by Israel on Wednesday.

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UN agency says one of its teachers killed by Israeli airstrike on Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A UN agency working for Palestinian refugees said that one of its teachers was killed in northern Gaza on Thursday by an Israeli airstrike, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters here. "The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says that one of its teachers was killed on Thursday by an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza," Nesirky said at a daily news briefing here.

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Hamas' Leadership Crisis May Spell Radicalization
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Shlomi Eldar - (Opinion) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Two days before the killing of Ahmed Jabari, I talked on the phone with [Deputy Foreign Minister for Hamas in Gaza] Dr. Ghazi Hamad, who had served at the time as a go-between in the Gilad Shalit swap deal and worked closely with Jabari during the secret negotiations with Israel. I asked him one simple question: “Don’t you see where it is all heading, that Israel is on the way to Operation Cast Lead number two?”

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Violence in Gaza kills Palestinians' chance at unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

When will Hamas ever learn? A flurry of rockets fired into Israel from Gaza this week quickly started another cycle of reflexive escalations, one that could lead to another full-scale Israeli incursion. That, at least, is what Israel is threatening, and what Hamas seems to be agitating for.

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The Israel-Palestine Conflict Won't Go Away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) November 16, 2012 - 1:00am

Tel Aviv THE Israel-Hamas clash in and around the Gaza Strip offers an important reminder to the second Obama administration: You can ignore the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for only so long.

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