Middle Orient

The Iraqi parliament has passed a law which paves the way for provincial elections.

CAIRO, Sept. 23 – A senior official of the Palestinian Fatah movement said here on Tuesday that he is optimistic about the success of an Egypt-brokered inter-Palestinian national dialogue to end the current crisis among the Palestinians.

GAZA CITY (AFP)–At least two Palestinians were killed Wednesday when an explosion collapsed a tunnel running under the border between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Egypt, local medics and witnesses said.

Over the past two decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, deadlines for peace agreements have come and gone with precious few treaties. Now, amid low expectations for an agreement before the expiration of the Bush administration’s target for an accord by the end of 2008, voices are growing on both sides advocating …

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Israeli President Shimon Peres cast strong doubt on Tuesday over whether Israel and the Palestinians could reach a peace deal by the end of the year as hoped.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie won an assurance from Israeli prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni on Tuesday that peace talks will not stall while she tries to form a new coalition government.

Relatives of a Palestinian who was shot dead after his car ploughed into a group of Israelis at a bus stop have denied it was a deliberate attack.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani called for adopting measures to seriously deal with the inhuman actions of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian nation.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki once again reiterated the need for the withdrawal of the US troops from the war-wrecked Iraq.

GAZA, Sept. 17 (UPI) — A Palestinian human rights group is calling on Hamas to conduct an investigation into bloody clashes between it and a Gaza City clan opposed to its rule.