Netanyahu slams Palestinian unity efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Palestinian unity efforts, saying national Palestinian reconciliation would be the end of the peace process with Israel. In a CNN interview broadcast Thursday, Netanyahu compared Hamas to Al-Qaeda, and said the Palestinian Authority could not be "for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction." In the midst of mass youth protests demanding national unity in the West Bank and Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he would accept an invitation from Hamas leaders to go to Gaza and hold talks.

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Practical arrangements underway for Abbas visit to Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday instructed Civil Affairs chairman Hussein Al-Sheikh to make logistical arrangements for his visit to Gaza as quickly as possible. Abbas also asked Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh to make arrangements to receive him at Erez border crossing in the coming days. The president said Wednesday that he was ready to hold unity talks with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the midst of massive youth protests across the West Bank and Gaza demanding an end to the division.

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Abbas asks for Israeli permission to head for Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday asked for an urgent Israeli permission to head for the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than three years, the PNA presidency office said. The Palestinian presidency said that Abbas ordered the Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry, which oversees daily coordination with Israel, to prepare for his visit to Gaza as soon as possible.

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Fayyad calls on Hamas to accept Abbas' initiative
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
March 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Thursday urged Hamas to accept President Mahmoud Abbas’ initiative for reconciliation, Palestinian media reported. Abbas said Wednesday he was “ready to go to Gaza tomorrow” to end the division between Fatah and Hamas, after the Islamist group’s prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, urged “immediate” talks. Abbas also said he wanted to “form a government of independent national figures to start preparing for … polls within six months.”

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Independents pave way for Abbas in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

A group of independent Palestinian political figures announced Thursday that preparations were going forward to receive President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza for what could be the turning point in Palestinian unity efforts. Coalition leader Yasser Al-Wadieh said urgent consultations had been made to prepare the ground for Abbas' arrival, though officials in Ramallah have yet to confirm a date for the trip.

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News Analysis: Hamas-Fatah disputes obstruct Abbas' initiative to visit Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly - March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

The positive atmosphere, created by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' initiative to Gaza and the welcome from the Islamic Hamas movement, was not enough to achieve its goal and end the current division. Hamas said in a press statement that it welcomes Abbas declaration to visit Gaza, however, it did not show any positive position concerning Abbas' goal of forming a transitional independent government that prepares for holding general elections within six months.

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Rival Leaders Agree to Hold Gaza Meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - March 16, 2011 - 12:00am

The rival Palestinian leaderships of the West Bank and Gaza appeared to be taking practical steps on Wednesday toward ending their schism, in a rare response to public pressure for national unity after years of deep division. The new talk of unity came as Israel displayed weaponry it seized after intercepting a merchant ship on Tuesday. Israeli leaders said the weapons, including six advanced antiship missiles, originated in Iran, were loaded aboard the ship in Syria and were bound for Gaza.

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Briefing on Protest for Palestinian Unity Becomes a Rally Itself
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram - March 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Hundreds of demonstrators calling for Palestinian unity took to the streets here on Monday, a day earlier than scheduled, in an effort to prevent what they said were attempts by political factions to hijack their movement for their own agendas. What began as a news conference by protest organizers on Monday afternoon in the Square of the Unknown Soldier unexpectedly developed into a gathering of almost 1,000 people.

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Rival factions snub Hamas unity offer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - March 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Hamas has presented what it described as a new Palestinian unity initiative, a move widely seen as an attempt to pre-empt any public pressure for change in the territory it runs while revolt flares in the Arab world. The proposal, raised with several factions at a meeting late on Wednesday, called for a unified leadership to handle Palestinian affairs until the Palestine Liberation Organisation is restructured to include Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group.

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Palestinian PM-designate suggests forming unity gov't
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Fares Akram, Yang Yuanyuan - March 7, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister- designate Salam Fayyad said Sunday that after studying faults that led to the Palestinian division in 2007, he proposed to form a unity government which would include both Hamas and Fatah. The unity government that comprised the Islamic Hamas movement and the Fatah party of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas collapsed in June 2007 "due to the absence of a clear security vision," Fayyad said during an interview with Xinhua.

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