* Al Qaeda No. 2 warns against Gaza truce Al Qaeda’s No. 2 warned Palestinians in Gaza against accepting a truce with Israel in an audio message posted on extremist Web sites.

* EU worried over Bibi’s peace plans EU officials raised concerns Monday over the commitment of Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu to pursue genuine peace talks with the Palestinians.

* Global jihad could be behind rockets Al-Qaida affiliated global jihadi groups could be playing an important role in the trickle of rocket fire and border attacks being directed against Israel.

* New U.S. Intel Chief: Support of Israel Not a U.S. Interest A flurry of reports over the weekend said that the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, considered a sharp critic of Israel, is to be named to a top intelligence post in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

* Iran secretly accelerated A-bomb drive Iran is speeding ahead toward the production of a nuclear weapon, and is operating a shadow nuclear program in tandem with its public program to achieve that goal.

* Israelis split on taking Evangelical charity More than 40 percent of Israeli Jews, including nearly 80% of the Orthodox, believe Jewish groups should not accept charity from evangelical Christian organizations.

* EU Commission hails enlargement The European Commission says the 27-nation EU must not let the current economic crisis jeopardise the gains of eastward enlargement.

* EU nations call for better financial regulation Leaders from the EU’s largest economies have called for stricter regulation of the financial sector to prevent a repetition of the current crisis.

* Brown: World needs “Global New Deal” The world needs a “global New Deal” to haul it out of the economic crisis it faces said UK PM Gordon Brown.

* Peace Winner Blair Wins $1 Million, Wants Hamas Part of Solution The University of Tel Aviv has awarded Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair a $1 million prize for his efforts to make peace in the Middle East.

By: Anat Lapidot-Firilla – Haaretz

There are many different theories about Turkey’s increasingly harsh criticism of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians. Some have suggested that the hostility is grounded in the internal struggle between Turkey’s secular military and the country’s Islamist ruling party. By this logic, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attacks on Israel are meant to embarrass the army, which has extensive links with Israel’s military establishment. Others view Turkey’s vocal support for Hamas as indicative of an explicit decision on the part of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to pull the country out of its alliance with the West – while drawing closer to Iran.

An explanation that has gained acceptance among the shrinking Turkish opposition is that AKP’s foreign policy in general, and toward Israel and Hamas in particular, is linked to Erdogan’s religious agenda. Others view the escalating anti-Israel rhetoric as a symptom of the populist political atmosphere, as Turkey gears up for local-government elections, in late March. And still others view the heightened tension through the lens of regional and international hegemonic struggles. But, even proponents of that approach are having trouble explaining the intensity and tenacity of Turkish insistence on being the one and only regional mediator, and the rage directed by Erdogan at Israel’s premiers (not only Ehud Olmert, but also Ariel Sharon before him) for not giving him proper respect and allowing him to exercise what he suggests is his rightful role as a regional mediator.

Indeed, Erdogan’s statements about Israel have to be seen in the context of Turkey’s changing self-perception vis-a-vis its neighbors and the rest of the Muslim world. Turks increasingly propound a vision of their nation as the moral leader of both. They see themselves assuming a burden inherited from their Ottoman forbears, whose empire stretched from North Africa to Europe and Central Asia, a mission that includes fostering regional peace and stability, as well as economic prosperity.

The “Turkish man’s burden” requires both taking a more critical stance toward Israel and being seen as protector of the Palestinians. Mediating between Israel and Syria is the other side of the same coin of Turkey’s changing self-perception.

In this sense, the shrill complaints about Israel’s Gaza offensive do not diverge from the accepted discourse in Turkey in recent years. But it has certainly become sharper and more militant. Attacks on Jewish-owned properties, an “enlisted” press, and the use of state educational and religious institutions to instigate an anti-Israel campaign are only some examples. Israel is portrayed as barbaric, uncivilized, as well as ephemeral, and the Arab regimes that have failed to rush to the defense of the Palestinians are described as dictatorial and lacking in moral legitimacy.

The idea of Turkey as leader of the Sunni Muslim world is not new. It should be recalled that even toward the end of the Ottoman Empire, as the “civilizing project” of founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which embraced secularism and Westernization, was starting up, a feeling of responsibility toward the Arab and Kurdish periphery was developing. Agents of “the project” were sent out to the provinces to disseminate its ideas, and the descendants of tribal elites from all over the empire were assembled for re-education in Istanbul, in the hope that when they returned home they would spread the values of Turkish civilization. At the time, this sense of burden also competed with parallel French, and even American, cultural enterprises in the region. However, with Ataturk’s rise to power at the end of World War I, and during the entire Kemalist period, the civilizing efforts were directed inward, with a policy of disengagement from the Arab and Muslim Middle East prevailing through the 20th century.

Erdogan himself has explained his behavior in Davos, where he stormed off stage in reaction to criticism by Israeli President Shimon Peres, as an attempt to defend the honor of the Turkish nation. He is not the first Turkish leader to feel he is entrusted with such a responsibility. Ataturk, and Adnan Menderes – the prime minister overthrown and hung following a military coup in 1960 – are both examples. However, their declarations used to be focused on Turkey domestically.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union reawakened some imperialist notions in Turkey. It began with a sense that it was Turkey’s responsibility to introduce democracy to the Turkic populations in the former Soviet republics. These days, the AKP is conducting an information campaign aimed at repositioning Turkey in Central Asia, the Balkans and the Arab Middle East. In its aspiration to hegemony, Turkey is competing with both Iran and Egypt – and, in its imagination, maybe even Israel.

The Kemalist elite is uncomfortable with this attitude. Its members are embarrassed by Erdogan’s public outbursts, even if criticism of Israel is acceptable to most. The premier’s “non-normative” outbursts have led some establishment commentators to go so far as to publicly question his psychological stability.

The new Turkish “burden” highlights the fact that Turkey is part of the Muslim Middle East. Just as the Kemalists were gearing up for accession to the European Union, Erdogan came along and emphasized the very elements they had tried to suppress for the past century. Just this week, journalists and academics associated with AKP launched a campaign asserting that Europe has no future without Turkey, a claim that seems detached from 21st-century realities. Reality, rather, demands the furthering of reforms and compliance with EU requirements.

Although it is unlikely to happen, it may now be time for Erdogan and his advisers to reassess their foreign policy toward both Israel and Europe, and to tone down their rhetoric. Erdogan’s insistence that he is no anti-Semite is probably sincere. But arguing that the world’s media are controlled by Jews may not be the best way for him to make his case.

Anat Lapidot-Firilla is a senior research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and teaches at the Hebrew University.

By: Jonathan Spyer – The Jerusalem Post

Last weekend, a conference held under the title “Gaza the victory” took place at hotel near Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. The conference brought 200 Sunni clerics and activists together with senior, Damascus-based Hamas officials.

Turkish women chant Islamic slogans as they wave Palestinian flags at Abdi Ipekci arena in Istanbul.
Photo: AP

Closed meetings held after the main conference sessions focused on the creation of a “third jihadist front” against Israel – the first two being Iraq and Afghanistan, in the view of the conference delegates. The gathering was addressed by Muhammad Nazzal, a top Hamas official from Damascus.

In an echo of the attempts by Islamists across the Middle East to pressure Egypt during the recent Gaza operation, Nazzal called on regional governments to “open the borders and let the fighters through.”

The gathering in Istanbul is significant for two reasons. First, it showcases the continued efforts by Islamist movements to present the Gaza events as a watershed dividing the path of “resistance,” which they favor, from the path of “collaboration” that they accuse leading Arab states of following.

Second, and perhaps more important, the location of the conference is a further indication of the move of the Islamist AKP government in Turkey toward a more and more open alignment with anti-Western and anti-Israeli forces in the region.

The conference organizers themselves were aware of the significance of the event’s location. One of them told a BBC journalist attending the event, “During the past 100 years relations [between Arabs and Turks] have been strained, but Palestine has brought us together.”

Speakers at the conference made constant reference to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to storm off the stage in protest during a recent debate in Davos, Switzerland, on the Gaza operation.

The current Turkish government’s willingness to engage with and host regional and Palestinian Islamist forces is not new. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal made a controversial trip to Ankara less than a month after Hamas’s victory in Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Interestingly, Mashaal was asked to come directly by the AKP government, after the more secular-minded Turkish Foreign Ministry refused to extend an invitation to him.

At the time, some analysts sought to present the invitation to Mashaal as a one-off gesture without deeper significance for the Israeli-Turkish relationship. Subsequent events have disproved this interpretation.

Turkey’s response to the Gaza offensive has highlighted a deep rift in relations. Erdogan in the course of the operation questioned Israel’s UN membership. The atmosphere in Turkey during Operation Cast Lead became deeply charged against Israelis and Jews – with a number of ugly incidents recorded across the country. Erdogan attended the emergency summit in Doha on January 16 that was convened by Syria and Qatar to offer support to Hamas.

Turkey’s courting of Hamas and hosting of Islamist gatherings form part of a more general regional policy pursued by the AKP government in Ankara. The AKP seeks to build Turkey’s regional “strategic depth” – in its preferred phrase – by building up relations with Syria and Iran. This is presented as a desire to counter-balance, rather than replace, Ankara’s already deep links with the West.

However, in the current situation of sharp polarization and cold war in the region, it is becoming increasingly unfeasible for countries to maintain close relations with both the US-led and the Iranian-led camps. The prospect of Turkey moving toward the Iranian-led alliance can no longer be dismissed as fanciful.

Turkish analysts have noted the rise of a “Muslim nationalist” orientation in the country, of which the political dominance of the AKP over the last half decade forms the political expression.

From this perspective, a regional policy which stresses alliances with other Muslim governments and movements across the region is a natural choice. Growing warmth in Turkey’s relations with Iran and Syria, and the sympathy shown their key client organization Hamas last weekend in Istanbul are all elements of this emerging policy.

Of course, it is much too soon to write off the relationship between Turkey and Israel. There are powerful forces within the country which oppose the AKP’s “strategic depth” orientation. Nevertheless, Turkey’s position on recent events has brought great cheer to the Iranian-led camp, and is leading to corresponding new efforts at courtship from Teheran.

Senior Iranian officials praised Turkey’s stance during the Gaza crisis, and called for a strategic alliance between the two countries. Yahya Safavi, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and now security adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said earlier this month that “Erdogan’s… courageous words at the Davos summit against the war crimes of the Zionist regime… are evidence of the Islamic awakening among the Turkish people – a result of the influence of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.”

Majlis speaker and former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani visited Turkey during the Gaza crisis, holding closed talks with Erdogan. Following the meetings, both men called to enhance the already extensive economic links between Iran and Turkey.

Where is Turkey heading?

What can be said with certainty is that Ankara’s long-maintained policy of equidistance between Israelis and Palestinians has been dispensed with by the current leadership. The AKP government is aligning itself not only with the Palestinians, but with Hamas. In the longer term, this may portend a slow shift toward greater alignment with the Iranian-led regional alliance. Such a shift, if it occurs, will be of primary significance to the strategic balance in the region.

* ‘Iran, Syria continuing nuke projects’ “Iran and Syria are secretly working on nuclear technology in a manner which risks peace in the region and the world.

* Clinton urges stronger China ties Hillary Clinton has called for a deeper US-China partnership, on her first overseas tour as US secretary of state.

* PA official: US has given green light for Hamas-Fatah talks The new US Administration has given the Palestinian Authority a “green light” to talk to Hamas about the possibility of forming a Palestinian unity government.

* Credit crunch plays into China’s shopping plans With the world suffering through a major credit crunch, China has suddenly gone shopping..

* Hamas gives Kerry letter to Obama Hamas official Ahmed Yousef on Saturday said he wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama, which was received by Senator John Kerry during a visit to Gaza.

* Kerry, Assad meet in Syria The United States and Syria are exploring the possibility of better relations after years of tension.

* Bibi: Let’s join hands in unity gov’t After the failure of his last-ditch effort to muster Kadima leader Tzipi Livni’s support for a unity government on Friday, President Shimon Peres formally entrusted Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu with the task of building a coalition.

* What is behind Turkey’s antagonism toward Israel? There are many different theories about Turkey’s increasingly harsh criticism of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians.

* Israel responds to Lebanon rocket A rocket fired from Lebanon has lightly wounded three people in northern Israel.

* Hamas: Israel picked ‘most dangerous’ politician to lead it A Hamas spokesman on Friday said Israel had picked the “most extremist and most dangerous” to lead the country.

* Iran holds enough uranium for bomb Iran has built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb.

* Netanyahu to form Israel cabinet Mr Netanyahu said Israel faced “great challenges” including the global economic crisis and what he said was Iran’s wish to obtain nuclear weapons.

* Mitchell could support PA unity gov’t US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell expressed support for Egyptian efforts to forge a Palestinian national unity government.

* PA wants new gov’t to honor old pacts The Palestinian Authority’s official spokesman, Nabil Abu Rodaina, responded Friday to President Shimon Peres’ decision to charge Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu with the task of forming the next government.

* ‘Processed uranium found at Syrian site’ UN nuclear agency samples taken from a Syrian site suspected of being a secretly built reactor have revealed new traces of processed uranium.

* Clinton arrives for Chinese talks US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Beijing for wide-ranging talks with China’s leaders.

* Analysis: Turkey’s shift toward Iran, Syria is no short-term blip Last weekend, a conference held under the title “Gaza the victory” took place at hotel near Istanbul’s Ataturk airport.

* US will consider Russian missile defense concerns U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that Russian concerns will be taken into consideration as the Obama administration decides the fate of planned missile defense bases in Eastern Europe.

* Jews hail expulsion of Holocaust-denying bishop World Jewish leaders on Friday praised Argentina’s decision to order the expulsion of an ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop who caused an international furore by denying the full extent of the Holocaust.

* Iraqi cleric hopes elections will help push out US A prominent anti-American Shiite cleric said Friday he hopes recent provincial elections will help unite Iraqis to push out the United States.

By: Sana Abdallah – Middle East Times

AMMAN — The Kurds in the northern autonomous region of Iraq are worried that the U.S. forces will leave the country without intervening in resolving key disputes with the central Baghdad government, amid warnings that the unresolved questions could erupt into an Arab-Kurdish war.

SCREWING UP — An Iraqi worker turning a valve at the Shirawa oil field outside the northern city of Kirkuk. A U.S. think tank has warned the Barack Obama administration of screwing up if it doesn’t move quickly to avert “violence and instability in Iraq” over the growing oil dispute in Kurdish territory. (AFP via Newscom)

The latest warning came Tuesday from the Kurdish regional government’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, who told reporters there “will be war” if Washington does not resolve the “outstanding problems in Iraq and help the Iraqis confront these problems.”

He said such a U.S. role should be part of what U.S. President Barack Obama describes as a “responsible withdrawal.”

Obama indicated he might pull out American troops from Iraq before the deadline set in a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, signed with the George W. Bush administration in November, which states that all the forces will quit Iraq by the end of 2011.

The Kurds, who set up their own autonomous region with U.S. help in 1991 under Saddam Hussein’s regime, are concerned that the Obama administration will not do enough to pressure the Arab-dominated central government to make concessions to the Kurds.

Barzani identified three main disputes that have been put on hold: Article 140 of the new constitution, the oil law, and the law on distribution of its oil wealth.

All these issues are linked to the status of Kirkuk, the center of northern Iraq’s oil industry that sits on 13 percent of the country’s known oil reserves.

Kirkuk is a mixed province, whose 900,000 people are made up of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians. The Kurds are seeking to annex it to their autonomous region, but the Arabs and Turkmen say the oil wealth is a national, not a regional, wealth and should therefore remain under the control of the central government.

The Kurds want to revoke what they see as the demographic distortion caused by Saddam’s “Arabization of Kirkuk” in the 1970s, during which thousands of Arab families were moved to the province and reportedly expelled Kurds from their homes to other regions to consolidate Arab control of the oil fields.

Many Kurds also have a historic claim to Kirkuk, describing it as their “historic capital” because of ruins in the area dating back thousands of years.

Resolving the thorny status of Kirkuk has been delayed, including Article 140 of the constitution that calls for a settlement of the territorial disputes dating back to the Arabization policies.

Plans to hold a referendum on the issue have been repeatedly delayed, namely because it seeks to remove Arab families who had been settled there under Saddam’s program from Kirkuk to their original home regions before carrying out a census, and then a referendum on whether the area should become part of the autonomous Kurdish region. The constitution set 2007 as a deadline to hold the referendum.

Kirkuk and the three northern Kurdish-controlled regions were not part of last month’s local elections. And Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite Arab, seems to have consolidated his power when his candidates swept much of the polls.

Maliki has previously made it clear that the constitution gave too much power to the provinces and has called for amending it in a way that would give more authority to Baghdad.

In recent months, he has also moved Iraqi troops into areas claimed by the Kurds – something Kurdish leaders see as a warning from the central government that it seeks to spread its power across the entire country, threatening the autonomous status of the Kurdish region and weakening its claims over Kirkuk.

As for the clash on the oil law and distribution of oil wealth, the Kurdish regional government wants the freedom to develop its own oil fields, but Baghdad insists on a centralized national system – a dispute that has delayed the endorsement of the oil legislation for two years.

With no signs that the central government and the Kurds are about to resolve their differences, the Kurds are counting on the Americans to resolve their problems for them.

Although U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden visited Iraq and Kirkuk in January, a week before he and Obama took office, the administration so far seems to adopt a hands-off policy in this regard.

U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said last week that “there are ways for people in Iraq to bring the concerns that they have to the levers of power. It’s a democracy, and it’s not really up to the United States to reassure anyone.”

A Washington-based think tank disagrees. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a report, published on Feb. 10, that the United States should “move quickly” on these issues before it loses its influence with the U.S. withdrawal.

It recommended a number of U.S. policy steps to resolve the Kirkuk dispute and other issues, insisting the “United States has to take the lead, because it remains, despite its mistakes, the only power with the requisite capacities to cajole, convince and pressure governments and groups to act.”

The think tank warned, “If ignored or mishandled, Kurdish aspirations have the potential to ignite violence and instability in Iraq, as well as the region.”

Iraqi politicians in Baghdad have brushed aside these types of warnings by Kurdish leaders, saying such statements “don’t serve national interests” and that these disputes are best resolved “according to the rule of law.”

By: Etgar Lefkovits – The Jerusalem Post

Muslims view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran’s showdown with the West as essentially a religious conflict, an expert on Islam said recently.

“I think that in the Muslim perception, [the conflict] is basically a religious conflict,” said Prof. Bernard Lewis in an address at the sixth annual Jerusalem Conference. “It is to decide who will dominate Islam, and whose version of Islam will prevail in the Islamic world.”

The world-renowned historian and Princeton University professor emeritus said that the Iranian nuclear threat has led moderate Arab countries in the Middle East to forge quiet alliances with Israel, as was evident in the recent military operation against Hamas in Gaza.

“This represents a mortal threat to established Arab regimes in the region, and like Sadat in his day – but for even more compelling reasons – they are looking to Israel for help in dealing with what they see as the major threat,” Lewis said.

He made the remarks at the concluding session of the conference in a half-hour-long conversation with Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Lewis said the recurrence of what he dubbed the “Sadat gambit” – a realization that other threats were far more dangerous than Israel – came as for the first time in centuries, the predominantly Sunni Muslim world was seeing Shi’itism as a “mortal threat” to Sunni ascendancy, which has prevailed in the Muslim world since time immemorial.

The nonagenarian historian, who first used the phrase “the clash of civilizations” 11 years before the 9/11 terror attacks on the US, noted that nuclear weapons in the hands of an Islamic regime with an “apocalyptic mind-set” represented an unprecedented danger.

“Mutual assured destruction was the main deterrent preventing the use of nuclear weapons by the Soviets,” Lewis said. “For [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and his group, with their apoclayptic mind-set, mutual assured destruction is not a deterrent but an inducement.”

He said there was a woeful lack of awareness of both the magnitude and threat of the jihadist goal of radical Islam, stemming from both ignorance and a provincial colonialist outlook of the threat as “some local trouble.”

Lewis said that the best hope for the future in the Muslim world was the spread of democracy in places where previously it would have been inconceivable – a phenomenon he dubbed “the Sharansky effect” after former MK and prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky, who has argued that democracy is the basis for peace.

“It is still limited, precarious and dangerous, but it is happening, and that is the best hope for the future,” he concluded.

By: –

An expected move by Jordanian parliamentarians to file a petition with the International Criminal Court at The Hague accusing senior Israeli figures of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead does not reflect the kingdom’s official position, experts say.

The petition is expected to be filed this week by the head of Jordan’s Parliamentary Legal Committee, Mubarak Abu Yamin, against several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, Arab media reported this week.

“Jordan is an absolute monarchy, not a constitutional monarchy, which means the king has the power of authority over the government and the parliament,” said Samer Libdeh, an Amman-based senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Liberty in the Middle East, a think tank that promotes democracy in the region.

“The parliament does not have decision-making leverage over foreign policy issues,” he said.

The move does, however, reflect increasing tension between those within the country who seek to inch closer to Hamas and its supporters, rather than to the more moderate Fatah and its supporters.

“The major issue is that the majority of parliamentarians, as well as the current establishment in office from the palace and leading intelligence officers, have been calling to have close ties with Hamas,” Libdeh said.

The rise of Islamism in the region is also influencing Abdullah, who has traditionally sided with the moderate camp and who appears to be at a crossroads, Libdeh said. Jordan is now flirting with the idea of moving closer to Islamic resistance movements and the countries that have supported them, such as Syria and, more recently, Qatar, he said.

This was evident during Operation Cast Lead, when Jordan initially took a harsh stance against the offensive but then appeared to swing back to the Saudi-Egyptian camp.

Although Abdullah did not allow protesters to demonstrate during the second intifada, he did allow Islamists to take to the streets during Israel’s recent military operation in the Gaza Strip, Libdeh said.

But the king decided at the last moment not to attend the Doha summit on Gaza, which was attended by states that sympathize with Hamas and was boycotted by Saudi and Egyptian officials.

“Till this moment, he is swinging” between the two camps, Libdeh said. “He’s not really clear about the direction that Jordan will go in, in the long run.”

The pressure Abdullah faces from conservative elements is also reflected in recent staff shuffles.

In October, the chief of the Royal Court, Basem Awadullah, a reform-minded politician who had challenged the conservative establishment, left his job and was replaced by conservative tribal politician Nasser Lawzi. The post is among the country’s top positions. Recently, the Royal Court has been taking the lead on the peace process, Libdeh said.

And in December, chief of intelligence Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Dahabi, who held clandestine talks with Damascus-based Hamas political bureau member Muhammad Nazzal in Amman months earlier, was replaced by the more liberal Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Ratha’n Raqqad.

King Abdullah likely brought in Raqqad in an effort to take a more balanced position following a row that occurred between the more conservative Dahabi and the more liberal Awadullah over who should take charge of the peace process file.

“The king is caught between these two movements… the liberal and the conservative elements,” Libdeh said.

But as the debate continues among the elite on where Jordan is headed, America’s $600 million a year in aid – which would certainly be in jeopardy if Jordan shifted to the “the axis of resistance” – weighs heavily as a consideration.

“Jordan cannot escape this fact,” Libdeh said.

* Netanyahu PM bid wins key support Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s right-wing Likud party, has won the backing of a leading far-right party for his bid to become PM.

* U.S. Plan: Ask Syria to Disarm Hizbullah United States Senator John Kerry said Wednesday that the new U.S. administration plans to take a new tack in the effort to disarm Lebanese terrorist group Hizbullah.

* US faces fresh Afghan obstacles Kyrgyz MPs have voted to close a key US base supplying troops in Afghanistan, hours before Nato chiefs meet to study a US plea to boost troop levels.

* Dichter Warns Israel Faces Two New Arab States: Hamas and Fatah Israel faces the danger of a “three-state solution” with Hamas in control of Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority responsible for Judea and Samaria.

* Iraq’s Kurds Call for U.S. Mediation With Baghdad The Kurds in the northern autonomous region of Iraq are worried that the U.S. forces will leave the country without intervening in resolving key disputes with the central Baghdad government.

* Pope tells Nancy Pelosi life must be protected Pope Benedict XVI received Nancy Pelosi, one of the most prominent abortion rights politicians in America, and told her Wednesday that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life “at all stages of its development.”

* Financial crisis slowing enlargement, Prague warns Despite “fatigue” setting in amongst EU member states as a result of the ongoing economic crisis, the process of enlargement of the bloc should not be neglected.

* Clinton: U.S. Preparing for Possible Regime Change in North Korea The Obama administration and America’s Asian allies are preparing for a possible regime change in North Korea.

* Iran envoy calls for global nuclear disarmament An Iranian enovy called on Thursday for global negotiations aimed at total nuclear disarmament.

* John Kerry leads congressional visit to Gaza Three congressional Democrats, including Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, visited Gaza on Thursday.

* Peres to consult parties on prime minister pick President Shimon Peres will begin consulting with all the parties on Wednesday on who should be the next prime minister.

* ‘Syria building chemical weapons plant’ Syria has been conducting extensive construction work on a chemical weapons facility in the country’s northwest.

* IAEA: Iran, Syria must cooperate more International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday that Iran was still not cooperating enough.

* Obama to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he would send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer.

* Islam expert: Conflict seen as mainly religious Muslims view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran’s showdown with the West as essentially a religious conflict.

* Clerics urge new jihad over Gaza At a weekend meeting in Istanbul, 200 religious scholars and clerics met senior Hamas officials to plot a new jihad centred on Gaza.

* Analysis: Amman caught between Hamas and Fatah An expected move by Jordanian parliamentarians to file a petition with the International Criminal Court at The Hague accusing senior Israeli figures of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead does not reflect the kingdom’s official position.

* Czech lower house passes EU treaty The Czech Republic took the first step toward ratification of the EU’s new set of institutional rules on Wednesday (18 February).

* Syria urges better ties with US President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has urged the US in a newspaper interview to engage in talks with Damascus and restore full diplomatic ties.

* Clinton seeks to improve US image with Muslims Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is continuing the Obama administration’s efforts to rehabilitate America’s image abroad.