Hamas

The problem with Palestinian political leadership

by News Sources 09.01.2011

Ben White writes: For a few months now, discussion of Palestine/Israel has focused on the looming UN vote on Palestinian statehood, but this is obscuring more fundamental problems in the Palestinian political arena – of which the forthcoming UN vote is a symptom. In three critical areas, there are significant flaws hampering Palestinian political leadership. [...]

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Israel’s security strategy — when in doubt, hit Gaza

by Paul Woodward 08.21.2011

Three days after the attacks by gunmen outside Eilat in southern Israel, what do we know about the identities of the gunmen? Almost nothing. In the mainstream media they are blithely referred to as “Palestinian gunmen” yet so far the only basis for this description is the unsubstantiated word of Israeli officials. Those officials have [...]

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While Gaza is being bombed by Israel, Hamas armed wing decides a unilateral ceasefire is worthless

by News Sources 08.19.2011

Ma’an News Agency reports: The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, has called off a ceasefire with Israel and will allow factions in Gaza to respond to Israeli attacks, Al-Aqsa Radio reported late Friday. “There can be no truce with the Israeli occupation while it commits massacres against the Palestinian people without justification,” a [...]

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The context of the Eilat attacks and the threat to Gaza

by Paul Woodward 08.19.2011

Israelis who today for some reason feel safer because Gaza is getting bombed, might pause to consider this question: why would a member of the group that launched attacks outside Eilat yesterday — a group supposedly based in Gaza and sworn to the destruction of Israel — today blow himself up in an attack on [...]

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Who benefits from the attacks in Israel?

by Paul Woodward 08.18.2011

Today’s attacks in southern Israel in which gunmen killed eight people were clearly carefully planned. It seems reasonable to assume that as much attention was given to the attacks’ timing. Reuters reported: The Magen David Adom ambulance service said seven people were killed along the road, just meters from the border with Egypt. The military [...]

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Thousands of Palestinian refugees in Syria flee during military assault

by News Sources 08.17.2011

The New York Times reports: United Nations officials said Tuesday that as many as 10,000 residents of a Palestinian refugee neighborhood in the Syrian port city of Latakia had fled during a four-day assault, as security forces carried out more arrests and intimidation in what residents said was a government attempt to rebuild a wall [...]

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Norwegians still see the occupation as reason for attacks on Israel

by News Sources 07.27.2011

In the Hebrew daily, Ma’ariv, Norway’s ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, was interviewed on Tuesday and asked whether the attacks in Oslo and Utøya carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, will alter Norwegians’ perception of Palestinian attacks on Israel. Q: Has this caused you to undertake some soul-searching? Has it changed Norway’s and its citizens’ [...]

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Eyes open in Gaza, June 2011

by News Sources 06.23.2011

Helena Cobban writes: The Gaza Strip is a heavily urbanized sliver of land, some 30 miles long, that nestles against the southeast corner of the Mediterranean and that for many reasons– including the fact that more than 75% of its 1.6 million are refugees from within what is now Israel– has always been a crucible [...]

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Fayyad to stay on as Palestinian prime minister

by News Sources 06.22.2011

DPA reports: Salam Fayyad on Tuesday dismissed reports that he was thinking of stepping down as Palestinian prime minister after the Islamist Hamas movement rejected him as a candidate to run the new government. The Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas had insisted on Fayyad staying as prime minister. Abbas told a Lebanese television station [...]

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Gaza border opening little more than rhetoric

by News Sources 06.16.2011

Ramzy Baroud writes: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country,” states Article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This universal principle, however, continues to evade most Palestinians in Gaza. I was one of the very first Palestinians who stood at Rafah following [...]

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Hamas rejects Fatah nominee for PM

by News Sources 06.13.2011

BBC News reports: The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has rejected its rival Fatah’s nomination of Salam Fayyad as prime minister in a transitional government. The decision came hours after Fatah agreed to back Mr Fayyad, who currently heads the Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank. Delegates from the two factions are due to meet [...]

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Hamas to participate in any future Palestinian government, senior official says

by News Sources 06.09.2011

DPA reports: Hamas will participate in any future Palestinian government, a senior official from the Islamist group said Thursday, refuting press reports that it might opt not to take part in a future administration. “Nothing would prevent us” from participating in any government after new elections, Salah al-Bardaweel, a high-ranking Hamas leader in the Gaza [...]

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Hamas considers hands-off approach

by News Sources 06.09.2011

The Associated Press reports: After four years of turbulent rule in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic militant group Hamas is weighing a new strategy of not directly participating in future governments even if it wins elections — an approach aimed at avoiding isolation by the world community and allowing for continued economic aid. Hamas officials [...]

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The untold story of the deal that shocked the Middle East

by News Sources 06.07.2011

Robert Fisk reports: Secret meetings between Palestinian intermediaries, Egyptian intelligence officials, the Turkish foreign minister, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal – the latter requiring a covert journey to Damascus with a detour round the rebellious city of Deraa – brought about the Palestinian unity which has so disturbed both Israelis and [...]

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Egypt-Gaza border opening turns out to be less than billed

by News Sources 05.31.2011

McClatchy reports: Mufid al Masry, 46, was so excited about his first trip to Egypt that he couldn’t sleep the night before he set out for the Rafah border crossing, which Egypt’s ruling military council ordered opened Saturday under new hours and fewer restrictions for Palestinian travelers. So when Egyptian border guards rejected him, citing [...]

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A Palestinian revolt in the making?

by News Sources 05.26.2011

Jesse Rosenfeld and Joseph Dana write: At 10:30 on May 15, two battalions of Israeli combat soldiers opened fire with tear gas and rubber bullets on hundreds of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators at the Qalandia checkpoint dividing Ramallah from Jerusalem, sending people scrambling into the adjacent refugee camp. These were the opening shots of Israel’s response [...]

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Egypt to open Rafah crossing permanently

by News Sources 05.25.2011

The Associated Press reports: Egypt’s decision Wednesday to end its blockade of Gaza by opening the only crossing to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory this weekend could ease the isolation of 1.4 million Palestinians there. It also puts the new Egyptian regime at odds with Israel, which insists on careful monitoring of people and goods entering [...]

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Welcome Hamas’s conciliation with Fatah

by News Sources 05.24.2011

Musa Abumarzuq, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau in Damascus, writes: The birth of the Cairo reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas was slow and painful. But Palestinians welcomed its arrival. The tragic division which occurred in our national movement constituted a chapter we hope will never happen again. It never occurred to us that [...]

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News roundup — May 12

by News Sources 05.12.2011

Sunni monarchies close ranks Reports that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considering some form of membership for two non-Gulf states – Jordan and Morocco – confirm that the conservative Sunni monarchies of the Middle East are closing ranks against Iran, Shiite-led Iraq and the democratic wave sweeping the region. GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani [...]

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News roundup — May 9

by News Sources 05.09.2011

Bin Laden’s death doesn’t end his fear-mongering value Glenn Greenwald writes: On Friday, government officials anonymously claimed that “a rushed examination” of the “trove” of documents and computer files taken from the bin Laden home prove — contrary to the widely held view that he “had been relegated to an inspirational figure with little role [...]

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Palestinian reconciliation

by News Sources 05.07.2011

Daniel Levy writes: The Palestinian factions have reached a power-sharing deal – albeit a fragile one. Regional developments helped, affecting the calculations of both Fatah and Hamas. The role of post-Mubarak Egypt and its emerging independent regional policy cannot be underestimated. Israel’s current government, though, is key to the glue binding Fatah and Hamas together. [...]

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News roundup — May 1

by Paul Woodward 05.01.2011

Gaddafi’s son’s killing puts Nato in line of fire The Libyan regime’s claims that Nato is attempting to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi have intensified following the apparent death of one of the leader’s sons and three of his grandchildren in an air strike on Tripoli. Gaddafi was at the one-storey house in a residential area of [...]

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News roundup — April 30

by Paul Woodward 04.30.2011

Syrians escaping violence flee to Turkey About 250 people raced across the Syrian border into Turkey, government officials said Saturday, a flight that reflects the fear and violence gripping the Arab nation. The people hustled to the southern Turkish Yaylidagi district in Hatay province on Friday afternoon, according to local and federal government officials. Turkish [...]

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News roundup — April 29

by Paul Woodward 04.29.2011

Scores killed on Syria’s ‘day of rage’ Dozens of people have been shot dead by Syrian security forces, activists claim, as tens of thousands took part in anti-government rallies dubbed a “day of rage”. Activists said at least 50 protesters were killed across the country on Friday, although Al Jazeera cannot independently verify the death [...]

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