At Palestinian congress, Abbas urges nonviolent resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - August 5, 2009 - 12:00am


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas opened his Fatah movement's first congress in 20 years Tuesday with a call to step up nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation and to keep faith in peace talks despite years of setbacks to the dream of statehood. But he stopped short of renouncing a clause of Fatah's founding charter that prescribes "armed revolution" against the Jewish state. "Although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance, legitimate under international law," he said, using ambiguous language that covers violent as well as peaceful action.


Palestinian Authority to Stop Financing Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - August 5, 2009 - 12:00am


Authoritative sources in the Fatah movement have asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian leadership has decided to stop all the funds it pays to the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority's [PA] budget apart from the salaries of its own employees.


Abbas: We choose peace, but reserve right to resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Jack Khoury - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am


Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his people must not "mar their legitimate struggle with terror" and that while his government seeks peace with Israel, it reserves the right to resort to "resistance." Abbas spoke Tuesday to about 2,200 Fatah delegates gathered in the West Bank. The meeting is the first first convention held by the movement in two decades. Fatah's last conference was held in 1989 in Tunis under late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.


Hamas Split Is Focus of Fatah Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Dina Kraft - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am


Silver-haired Fatah Party members in dark, pinstriped suits draped with kaffiyeh scarves bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag greeted each other with kisses as they converged in Bethlehem for the movement’s first congress in 20 years. On Tuesday, more than 2,000 delegates from all over the Arab world came to the conference, which was held in the hall of a private Christian school near the Church of the Nativity. The last time Fatah convened a congress was in Tunis in 1989, when the movement’s leadership was living in exile.


The path out of Palestinian irrelevance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) August 1, 2009 - 12:00am


As if they needed another reason to wage political battle, the two leading Palestinian political groups, Fatah and Hamas, are now locked in a tug-of-war around whether Hamas will allow Fatah members in Gaza to travel to Bethlehem to attend their party’s sixth congress next Tuesday. Hamas accuses Fatah of imprisoning Hamas members unjustly, and wants them released before it allows Fatah members to go to Bethlehem.


Fatah-Hamas tensions rise over West Bank congress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 29, 2009 - 12:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group threatened on Wednesday to arrest Hamas members if the Islamist movement banned Gaza Fatah delegates from attending a congress in the West Bank. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has conditioned the departure of some 400 Fatah members for the long-delayed Fatah meeting in Bethlehem on Aug. 4 on the release of hundreds of Hamas activists detained by Palestinian forces in the West Bank. Hamas also wants more passports issued from the West Bank, where Abbas holds a sway, for its officials and supporters in the Gaza Strip.


Gaza blast shakes Dahlan wedding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
July 22, 2009 - 12:00am


An explosion in southern Gaza has torn through a party attended by relatives of the West Bank-based Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, injuring 50 people. The blast happened on Tuesday at a wedding reception in Khan Younis. The groom, who is Mr Dahlan's nephew, as well as women and children, were injured. The Hamas authorities said three suspects were in custody. The device was reported to have been placed under a street stage erected so the wedding guests could dance.


Hamas, Fatah delay unity talks again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by HIsham Abu Taha - July 20, 2009 - 12:00am


GAZA/RAMALLAH:Egyptian-mediated Palestinian reconciliation talks between rivals Fatah and Hamas set for next Saturday have been delayed for a month. A senior Fatah official on Saturday said that his movement and Hamas decided to postpone the talks until Aug. 25.


A desperate move
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) July 20, 2009 - 12:00am


It’s hard to avoid an impression that Palestinian politics is possibly beyond repair. The latest aspect of Palestinian political fragmentation and lack of strategic vision transpired when Farouk Kaddoumi, a senior PLO leader, accused President Mahmoud Abbas of playing a role in Yasser Arafat’s death. Kaddoumi has yet to substantiate his claim with hard evidence.


Abbas rejects accusations over his role in Arafat's death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - July 17, 2009 - 12:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected on Thursday accusations that he was involved in an alleged Israeli plot to poison deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The accusations were made by Farouk Kaddoumi, a senior leader both in Abbas and Arafat's Fatah faction and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Speaking to the Al Jazeera television network from Jordan, Kaddoumi also said that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security chief in Gaza, were also involved in the plot.



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