Middle Orient

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a bid for political survival, struck an alliance Monday with a tough-talking politician who has called for stripping Arab Israelis of their citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Hamas and bombing Palestinian population centres.

BAGHDAD (AP) — The prime minister on Monday announced a military crackdown to tame the country’s staggering armed violence, taking special aim at continuing lawlessness in the southern city of Amarah, where police have fled the streets as Mehdi Army fighters hunt them down in a brutal Shiite-on-Shiite settling of …

TEL AVIV — Aghast at the destruction that ensued as Israel’s army and Hizbollah fighters waged war in Lebanon this year, Israeli David Sasson felt compelled to try to make contact with the Lebanese side.

GAZA — Fear of an escalating power struggle between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas added to the gloom on Monday for Palestinians marking a Muslim holiday that would normally be a festival of joy.

RAMALLAH — Last May Adel Samarra’s wife of 31 years left the West Bank to go to Jordan to renew her Israeli visa for the 126th time. On the 125 previous occasions the process had gone off without a hitch for the US passport holder, but five months ago Samarra’s …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The United States has shown “arrogance” and “stupidity” in Iraq, a senior US diplomat said in an interview aired on Sunday, after US President George W. Bush said he was flexible on tactics, if not strategy. In an attack that highlights the problems Washington faces in recruiting …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army dropped phosphorous bombs against Hizbollah targets in Lebanon during the war there this summer, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Sunday, confirming Lebanese allegations for the first time. Phosphorus weapons can cause severe burns and are banned for use in civilian areas, but Israel …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Several Israeli Cabinet ministers called on Sunday for a military operation to retake control of Gaza’s southern border and prevent Palestinian fighters smuggling weapons from neighbouring Egypt. “Action must be taken without hesitation,” Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai of the religious party Shas told reporters. …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Several Israeli Cabinet ministers called on Sunday for a military operation to retake control of Gaza’s southern border and prevent Palestinian fighters smuggling weapons from neighbouring Egypt. “Action must be taken without hesitation,” Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai of the religious party Shas told reporters.

GAZA CITY — In Gaza City’s Firas market the stalls are laden with gift items and toys, fireworks and new clothes, cooking utensils and fish, as people crowd around, looking, touching and walking on. As the fasting month of Ramadan draws to an end and people look ahead to the …