UN Memo Rips US on Mideast

Egypt brokers deal to stop escalating violence

(AP) - Gaza militants agreed to a cease-fire with Israel to stop spiking violence, a Hamas official said today, after a deadly attack across the Egyptian border on Israeli vehicles set off a three-day round of rapidly escalating Israeli airstrikes and rocket barrages from Gaza. The sudden flareup also threatened Israel-Egypt relations, after three Egyptian police were killed as the cross-border clash developed Thursday. Egypt complained strongly as thousands demonstrated in Cairo, and Israel apologized. More»

Party shares blame with Israel for sky-high unemployment

(NEWSER) - As joblessness mounts in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, more and more residents are blaming the ruling Hamas party for their woes, GlobalPost reports. Although Gaza has one of the fastest population growth rates on earth, 45% of people have no job and 85% depend on aid to get by. And while Palestinians largely blame Israel’s stifling economic blockade, they are increasingly turning their ire on Hamas, too. More»

(AP) - The last Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip before dawn today, the military said, as Israel dispatched its foreign minister to Europe in a bid to rally international support to end arms smuggling into the Hamas-ruled territory. The timing of the pullout reflected Israeli hopes to defuse the Gaza crisis before Barack Obama took office. The military said troops remain massed on the Israeli side of the border and are poised to take action if militants violate a fragile 3-day ceasefire. More»

Arabs and Muslims disappointed after 'promise of change'

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's studied silence on the Gaza attacks—there’s only one president at a time, and so on—isn’t playing well in the Middle East, writes Simon Tisdall in the Guardian. “Foreign wars don't wait for Washington inaugurations,” Tisdall notes. Many Arabs and Muslims “cannot understand why, given his promise of change, he has not spoken out.” More»

Israel's success—or failure—could prompt range of scenarios

(NEWSER) - Invading the Gaza Strip may boost Israel's leverage, shoring up alliances and isolating Iran—but that's optimistic, writes Steven Lee Myers in the New York Times. President Mahmoud Abbas could be the one isolated—from his own people—as surviving Hamas leaders seethe and militants plot revenge across the Arab world. Even friendly Arab nations may back away from Israel as people rage over images of destruction. More»