Middle Orient

GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group said Hamas forces arrested dozens of its activists in the GazaStrip on Thursday, undermining Egyptian efforts to reconcile the rival factions.

Four people have been killed in twin bomb attacks at a checkpoint in a Sunni area of Baghdad, Iraqi police say.

The Iraqi government says it is confident that US President-elect Barack Obama will not jeopardise the country’s improving security by hastening the withdrawal of American troops.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel says it does not support any US talks with Iran, calling dialogue a sign of ‘weakness’ in efforts to end Tehran’s nuclear activities.

 DAMASCUS, Nov. 5 – Exiled Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal said here on Wednesday that his group is ready to deal with a new U.S. administration led by president-elect Barak Obama.

GAZA, Nov. 5 – A new wave of violence in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday may be out of Israel’s intention to undermine an upcoming Egypt-sponsored Palestinian dialogue aimed to patch up rifts among Palestinian fractions, politicians and analysts said.

NICOSIA, Nov. 5 – Thirteen European parliamentarians will join pro-Palestinian peace activists on their third voyage to the besieged Gaza Strip on Friday, organizers of the trip said in a statement.

GAZA, Nov. 5 – Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians in separate raids in the occupied West Bank and in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said on Wednesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Five Parliament deputies will visit Brussels for three days, in order to follow up on Iran’s nuclear case among other issues.

GAZA, Nov. 4 – Spokesmen of both Fatah and Islamic Hamas movements agreed on Tuesday that there is no difference between the two candidates, the Republican Barak Obama, and the Democrat John McCain who race in the U.S. elections to the White House.