Mahmoud Abbas remains in charge of PLO until elections can be held
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am


Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank - With a giant poster of deceased leader Yasser Arafat smiling over them, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central council gathered here Tuesday to indefinitely extend President Mahmoud Abbas' term until credible elections can be held. The extension, expected to be formally approved today, should provide a degree of short-term stability to the fractured Palestinian movement. But for some, the stopgap measure only papers over an emerging PLO leadership crisis that could become yet another obstacle to peace talks.


Hamas-Fatah summit proposed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 16, 2009 - 1:00am


Egyptian mediators agreed to hold a meeting between opposing Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, a Palestinian official involved in the talks said on Wednesday. Iyad As-Sarraj, a prominent Gaza psychiatrist who heads the nonpartisan Palestinian Reconciliation Committee, said Egypt accepted a suggestion from the group during a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday night to hold a three-day workshop with Hamas, Fatah, and other factions.


Hamas: PA security forces arrest 80 members in 24 hours
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 16, 2009 - 1:00am


Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested 80 members of the Hamas movement from locations across the West Bank in the last 24 hours a statement from the party issued on Wednesday said. The statement noted that the arrests occurred in ten of the eleven districts in the West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Salfit, Hebron, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho, Qalqiliya and Tubas. The statement included the names of 50 alleged supporters, which could not all be independently verified by Ma'an.


Clashes break out between Hamas, Fatah students in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am


Clashes broke out at the al-Azhar University in Gaza after Hamas members sought to hang Hamas flags on the site in commemoration of the organization's 22nd anniversary. The university is affiliated with Fatah. Students clashed with the Hamas members. Some of them were arrested by security forces who were dispatched to the site.


Poll: 57% back Abbas not running
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 15, 2009 - 1:00am


A majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip support President Mahmoud Abbas' decision not to run in the next elections, results of an independent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) showed Monday. From its findings, PSR concluded, "While the balance of power between Fatah and Hamas remains as it was before the eruption of the Goldstone report crisis, the majority do not blame Hamas for the continued split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip or for the failure to hold national elections.


Fayyad: Literal PA institution building underway
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 15, 2009 - 1:00am


The Palestinian caretaker government intends to undertake the construction of its institutions rather than depending on renting buildings that were originally designed for residential purposes, said the Ramallah-based government's Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday. Whilst pointing out that several PA institutions owned the buildings they worked in, such as the Ministry of Finance, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Palestinian National Forces, the majority of headquarters of public sector institutions were rented, Fayyad said.


Palestinian reconciliation efforts at an impasse, Fatah says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 14, 2009 - 1:00am


Hopes to restart Palestinian reconciliation efforts through signing Egypt’s proposal shrank again, as member of Fatah’s Central Committee Nabil Sha’ath on Monday alleged that Hamas had refused to sign the reconciliation document. “I contacted the Egyptian officials and reached the conclusion that efforts reached an impasse in light of Hamas' refusal to sign the Egyptian plan. Hamas’ top priority is the prisoner swap negotiations, and they will not take any other step before the deal is finalized,” Sha’ath told Ma’an during a telephone interview from Cairo.


'PM takes control of J'lem demolitions'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Dan Izenberg, Herb Keinon, Abe Selig - December 14, 2009 - 1:00am


Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has taken a more active role in determining the fate of east Jerusalem demolition orders by giving his military attache the final word on whether the Jerusalem Municipality can destroy illegal buildings in the Arab sections of Jerusalem, MK Uri Ariel informed the Knesset Law Committee on Sunday. Ariel made the disclosure during an urgent discussion on the fate of Beit Yonatan, the illegal seven-story residential structure built in Silwan in 2002 by Ateret Cohanim, a nationalist-religious movement seeking to settle Jews in the city's Arab neighborhoods.


Hamas celebrates 22nd anniversary since founding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
December 14, 2009 - 1:00am


Tens of thousands of Palestinians have turned out in the Gaza Strip to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the founding of the Islamist group Hamas. Supporters filled the streets, waving banners and portraits of assassinated Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The event comes almost a year after a deadly three-week conflict between Israel and Hamas. The Islamist group has controlled Gaza since routing the rival Palestinian Fatah faction from there in June 2007.


Divided loyalties in Nablus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Alan Johnston - December 10, 2009 - 1:00am


The deep division between the Hamas and Fatah parties is not only confined to the Palestinian political arena. It often comes much closer to home, dividing families. Ahmad and Hamid know how that feels. They are brothers, and both rising figures in their local political scene. But one is climbing the ranks of Fatah, and the other, Hamas. The great Palestinian party political fault line runs through the home they share.



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