Middle Orient News

RAMALLAH (AP) — Significant progress has been made in secret coalition talks between the supreme Hamas leader and envoys of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, officials from both sides said Saturday, signalling a sudden shift in atmosphere after several weeks of deadly internal fighting.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi Vice President Tariq Hashemi said his fellow Sunni Arabs account for the majority of the thousands of Iraqis killed last year and are the victims of ethnic “cleansing” by gunmen driving them from Baghdad.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Democrats and some moderate Republicans on Thursday hammered President George W. Bush’s plan to send more US troops to Iraq, leaving the White House increasingly isolated in its decision to deepen American involvement in the unpopular war.

CAIRO (Reuters) — US President George W. Bush’s plan to send 21,500 more troops will fail to bring peace to Iraq and could aggravate a conflict in which tens of thousands of people have already died, Arab analysts said on Thursday.

RAMALLAH (AP) — At a rally meant as a show of strength of his Fateh movement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on rival forces to halt their armed clashes and replace bloodshed with respect.

MADRID (AFP) — Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa on Thursday threw his weight behind Spanish and European calls for an international conference on the Middle East.

ERBIL (AFP) — US troops raided an Iranian consulate in Iraq on Thursday and arrested five employees, officials said, as Washington vowed to act against Iranian meddling in the war-torn country.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush laid out the details Wednesday of a new US plan for Iraq in a major televised address.

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the new Democratic-controlled Congress are vowing to fight it. An elite panel on Iraq has shown little enthusiasm for it. And even some military commanders are deeply sceptical about it.

BAGHDAD (AP) — US jets screamed low over central Baghdad Tuesday, helicopter gunships fired into the battle zone and the Iraqi government said 50 insurgents were killed in the nearly daylong battle with US and Iraqi forces along Haifa Street, a Sunni stronghold that has seen repeated heavy fighting throughout …