Middle Orient

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israelis are puzzling over the prospect of peace with Syria after their two foreign intelligence agencies gave dramatically different assessments of recent diplomatic overtures from Damascus.

MECCA — Divided in their troubled homeland, Iraqi pilgrims who made the perilous journey to Mecca for Hajj this week are united in their prayers for peace, stability and the loved ones they have lost.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday announced new presidential and parliament elections to end an increasingly violent standoff with Hamas — a huge gamble that could strengthen the Islamists, drive his people into civil war and further put off peace talks with Israel.

January 25: In its first electoral outing, Hamas sweeps legislative elections in the Palestinian territories, ending 10 years of Fateh domination

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister reached out to Sunni Arabs at a national reconciliation conference on Saturday, urging Saddam Hussein-era officers to join the new army and urging a review of the ban against members of the former dictator’s ruling party.

NAJAF — Najaf, home to the golden domed shrine of the Imam Ali, is Iraq’s holiest Shiite city and has long lived off a constant flow of pilgrims. Now, with Iraq engulfed in a vicious sectarian war

BEIRUT — Lebanese opposition protesters led by Shiite group Hizbollah are digging in for the winter and vowing not to quit their central Beirut encampment until the Western-backed government falls.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she would ask the US Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — The embattled Gaza Strip breathed a sigh of relief Thursday as a truce between rival Palestinian factions took hold and President Mahmoud Abbas urged all sides to consolidate the ceasefire. No clashes between Abbas’ Fateh Party and the ruling Hamas movement have been reported since early …

A SUICIDE BOMBER killed 15 police officers and recruits in central Baghdad on Thursday as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates met Iraqi leaders in an bid to draw up a new plan to end the war. The latest brutal attack on Iraq’s beleaguered security forces came as Gates met Prime …