Middle Orient

Palestinian and Israeli officials yesterday gave widely different reactions to US President George W. Bush’s call Monday for an international peace conference to address the conflict, while analysts remained distinctly underwhelmed.

About 100 Palestinians smashed doors and windows inside an airport building in this Egypt-Gaza Strip border town early Tuesday after being trapped there for more than a month since the border’s closure, police and one of the rioters said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Arab foreign ministers in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh at the end of July, Egypt’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

A bloody eight-week-old battle between the Lebanese army and Islamists claimed the life of its 100th soldier on Monday, as a blast hit a UN post in the south of the country.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki sought to soften earlier comments that American troops can leave “any time they want”, saying Monday that Iraq’s security force was on the road to taking over from US troops — but it’s not there yet.

Iraq is on the verge of deeper disaster, and the violence that kills hundreds of people every week will only get worse in the months ahead, the country’s first post-Saddam prime minister said on Monday.

Israel plans to release 250 Palestinian prisoners by the end of the week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the two leaders met in Jerusalem on Monday.

A triple bombing, including a massive suicide truck blast, killed more than 80 people Monday in Kirkuk, the deadliest attack yet in the oil-rich northern city. The bloodshed reinforced concern that extremists are heading north as US-led forces step up pressure around Baghdad.

King Abdullah on Monday welcomed US President George W. Bush’s call for an international conference to revive Middle East peace talks, describing it as “a step in the right direction”, a Royal Court statement said.

Since July 3, when Pakistani troops laid siege and eventually stormed the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, more than 100 people, mostly from the security forces, have been killed in attacks in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), primarily in the Swat region over the past few days.