Countries across the Middle East and North Africa are revolting against their royal rulers, occupying governments and West-backed dictators, but here's what happens when Syrians and Palestinians try to fight their freedom :

Palestinian protesters on the Syrian frontier on Sunday as they tried to breach the border for the second time in three weeks, reflecting a new mode of popular struggle and deadly confrontation fueled by turmoil in the Arab world and the vacuum of stalled peace talks.

Demonstrators attempted to evacuate a protester who was wounded by Israeli forces on Sunday.

Wave after wave of protesters, mainly Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria, approached the frontier with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israeli soldiers opened fire on those who crossed a new trench and tried to attack the border fence near the towns of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and Quneitra in Syria.

By nightfall, the Syrian news agency SANA reported that 22 protesters had been killed and more than 350 had been wounded. Israeli officials said that they had no information on casualties but suggested that the Syrian figures were exaggerated.

Even so, it was the worst bloodshed in the Golan Heights since Israel and Syria fought a war there in 1973.

Hamas Offers Truce But Israel Says No

Hamas clearly understands that the United States, and the international community, is rapidly losing patience with Israel over the establishment of a Palestinian state. Hamas has now made the extraordinary move of offering to begin truce talks with Israel.

Israel, however, has replied with a fast and firm "No" :

The Israeli Prime Minister's office has reacted coolly to an approach by the Hamas leader in Gaza suggesting truce talks.

The offer by the Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, was relayed through an Israeli reporter Sleman al-Shafhe, of Channel 2 television station. During the main news broadcast on Tuesday night, Shafhe said that Mr Haniyeh had phoned him earlier seeking to send a message to the Israelis.

Shafhe reported that Mr Haniyeh said he had the will and the ability to stop the rocket fire directed at Israel from Gaza, on condition that Israel stopped killing Palestinians there and lifted its economic blockade of the strip.

Mr Haniyeh had said he would have "no problem" negotiating with the Israeli Government on these issues, with an eye to reaching a mutual truce, Shafhe said.

But Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said "our partner for dialogue is the legitimate Palestinian government", referring to the one appointed by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli tanks and troops raided the central Gaza Strip again yesterday, killing at least two Palestinian gunmen, sources said. The Islamic Jihad's military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, claimed the two dead men as its own.

Mr Haniyeh's conversation with Shafhe was not recorded, but a Hamas government spokesman, Taher Nunu, confirmed that it had taken place and that Mr Haniyeh had spoken about a truce.

Abu Hamza, a spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, said on Tuesday that he was angered by Mr Haniyeh's call for a truce, and that there would not be one until the group had avenged the killing of its commander, Majed al-Harazin.

The Hamas overtures could stem from fears that its leaders may again be targeted by Israel, and hopes to stave off a broad Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Israel questions how much control Mr Haniyeh has over the armed factions, saying that in the past Hamas has used lulls in the violence to build up its strength.

The Israeli President, Shimon Peres, released an unusually harsh statement opposing talks. He described the overture "a pathetic attempt to deflect world attention away from the crimes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad".

Mr Haniyeh's call followed a series of Israeli military strikes that killed at least 10 Palestinian militants in Gaza on Monday night and Tuesday morning, in a concerted effort to suppress the rocket fire. Eight of those killed were from Islamic Jihad, which has been responsible for most of the recent rocket fire, and included Majed al-Harazin.

Two others were from Hamas, which has mainly limited itself to firing shorter-range mortar shells at the border crossings and at Israeli border communities.

Israel and Hamas have never had direct contacts because of the group's violently anti-Israel ideology. But in the past, they agreed to short truces negotiated by third parties.

Speaking at a Wednesday morning prayer gathering at a Gaza soccer stadium for the beginning of the Eid al-Adha festival, Mr Haniyeh blamed Israel for the tense atmosphere, referring to Israel's two-day air assault. "We greet it with tears in our eyes and sadness in our hearts," he said

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been very forthright in their demands that Israel make important concessions in establishing the 'two state solution' and stop settlement activity, the latest of which is a huge series of apartment buildings planned for Jews in the West Bank and Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, infuriating Palestinians, who intend to claim East Jerusalem as their capital.

Many Israelis are now starting to wonder if they're slowly being abandoned by the US, as the influence of the righteously pro-Israel NeoCons and AIPAC falls in Washington. You often see such comments dominating the discussion boards of Israel news sites like Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post.

The American mainstream media coverage of Israel is also becoming more negative, as though media bosses are losing patience with Israel's stalling of giving Palestinians their own state.

The near ceaseless rocket attacks on Israeli towns from inside Gaza are barely mentioned anymore in the American mainstream media, but the Washington Post yesterday ran a long story on the 'ethnic cleansing' of Arabs from towns inside Israel's borders. The Israelis quoted in the story were presented as racist and unwilling to live in mixed societies, which no doubt is true enough for many Israelis, but it was clearly the theme of the story.

International donors recently committed more than $US7 billion to the Palestinian Authority to rebuild Palestine's economy, and infrastructure. In Gaza, Hamas' popularity is rebounding, as Palestinians generally remain as cynical as the Israelis that current talks and negotiations will lead to full implementation of the 'two state solution'.

President Bush's first official visit to Israel in January, 2008, is likely to be his final hard pitch for Israel to enter into wider, less restrictive negotiations with the Palestinians. His visit is likely to be met with protests from both Palestinians, and Jewish right wing extremists.


Israel Building Massive Nuclear Bunker - Prime Minister Olmert Gets 'Nuclear Shelter' In His Home

Bush To Make His First Presidential Visit To Israel In January, 2008

Olmert : If Two State Solution Talks Fail, "Israel Will Be Finished"

Top Catholic Leader Rejects Israel's Jewish Identity, Says Lands Must Be Shared

Israel Air Strikes In Gaza Kill 13 Militants

Gaza City Goes To Hell

27 Killed In Hamas Vs Fatah Clashes In 24 Hours

Syria Says Palestinians Are "Playing Into The Hands Of Israel"

Reality inside Gaza has become so warped that one 'terrorist' group, backed, armed and funded by Israel and the US, is warring against another 'terrorist' group that is actually the democratically elected government.

If what is happening today in Gaza is not civil war, it is something so close as to be all but indistinguishable.

More than 50 people have been killed in five days of fighting, mostly militants, with at least 27 killed in one day. Fatah and Hamas militants are gunning each other down in the street, raiding each others' homes, destroying each others' security compounds and taking each other hostage :

Hamas militants waged an assault on the three main security forces compounds in Gaza City on Wednesday, seizing control over most of the Gaza Strip, in clashes with the rival Fatah movement which left at least 27 people dead.

Hamas' armed wing said "the coup-seekers" - a reference to Fatah - in that area have until Friday evening to hand over their weapons.

Hamas' assault on Gaza City, the main city in the coastal strip, came hours after the key southern town of Khan Yunis fell to Hamas. The Islamic militants detonated a one-ton bomb underneath the Preventative Security headquarters there, nearly demolishing the building and killing at least one person, Palestinian security and medical officials said.

From ABC :

Hamas Islamist fighters have gained ground against forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in intense battles for control of the Gaza Strip.

Diplomats said a top aide to Mr Abbas told them that some of the president's men ran for their lives, others ran out of bullets and that after five days of battle "Gaza is lost".

As Hamas continued to press for control of Gaza, the Arab League tried to end the fighting between Hamas and Mr Abbas's more moderate Fatah faction.

Hamas forces took important ground in north and central Gaza as they pressed their attacks on Wednesday (local time).

With the machine guns and mortars of civil war echoing in Gaza City after dark, hospital officials tallied another 33 deaths over the day, including a teenager at a peace rally and schoolboy shot leaving an exam room.

But most of the dead were fighters from Abbas's secular Fatah faction and their Hamas rivals.

Forty members of the security forces, loyal to Fatah, blew a hole in the fence between Gaza and Egypt and fled the chaos. Another 300 members of a clan which is loyal to Fatah surrendered to Hamas in a refugee camp in Gaza city.

Civillians demanding an end to the chaos came under fire and two were killed. It was not immediately clear who shot at them.

The Arab League has scheduled a meeting this weekend in a bid to end the fighting.

Syria claimed the fighting factions in Gaza are "playing into the hands of the Israelis" and warned them to stop :

"Syria is watching with concern the confrontations between brothers, which only serve the interests of the enemies of the Palestinian cause and of the Arab nation,’ the foreign ministry said.

‘We exhort our Palestinian brothers to stop the violence, because the recovery of (their) rights and the achievement of national objectives come through national unity.

‘The building of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the guarantee that Palestinians will return to their homes can only be achieved by unity in the ranks against the Israeli occupation."

A 'secret' UN report, written by Israel's highest ranking UN officials, condemns the United States for "pummelled into submission" moves by the United Nations to try and bring peace to the region. The report's chief complaints include the following :

* The international boycott of the Palestinians, introduced after Hamas won elections last year, was "at best extremely short-sighted" and had "devastating consequences" for the Palestinian people

* Israel has adopted an "essentially rejectionist" stance towards the Palestinians

* The Quartet of Middle East negotiators - the US, the EU, Russia and the UN - has become a "side-show"

* The Palestinian record of stopping violence against Israel is "patchy at best, reprehensible at worst"

Leaders Of Fatah And Hamas Both Survived Assassination Attempts

EU Will Consider Military Role In Gaza, If Asked

Palestinian Government On Brink Of Collapse

Secret UN Report Condemns United States For Middle East Failures

Bloody Battles Push Gaza Towards Civil War

Fatah & Hamas Go To War, As Israel Rains Down Gaza Airstrikes

King Abdullah Warns Of Last Days, Last Chance For
Peace In Middle East




Gaza is riven by factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas, it continues now into its seventh day, while negotiations and "cease fires" do little to halt the violence. Israel has moved tanks, infantry and artillery into the Palestinian territory.

Israel's air force has launched multiple strikes, killing more than ten people, including Hamas fighters and civilians.

Just when you think the politics and confusion and collusion surrounding Israel Vs Palestine couldn't get anymore convoluted and complicated, you read this :

Israel this week allowed the Palestinian party Fatah to bring into the Gaza Strip as many as 500 fresh troops trained under a U.S.-coordinated program to counter Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that won Palestinian parliamentary elections last year. Fighting between Hamas and Fatah has left about 45 Palestinians dead since Sunday.

The forces belong to units loyal to the elected Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate Fatah leader whom the Bush administration and Israel have sought to strengthen militarily and politically.

A spokeswoman for the European Union Border Assistance Mission at Rafah, where the fighters crossed into Gaza from Egypt, said their entry Tuesday was approved by Israel.

The troops' deployment illustrates the increasingly partisan role that Israel and the Bush administration are taking in the volatile Palestinian political situation. The effort to fortify the armed opposition to Hamas, which the United States and Israel categorize as a terrorist organization, follows attempts to isolate the radical Islamic movement internationally and cut off its sources of financial aid.

Of course, with those ski-masks on, there's no guarantee that they all actually Fatah party members, or even Palestinians. There's a lot of mercenaries looking for work that is just that little bit less dangerous than Iraq right now.

That Israel and the US was secretly helping to train Fatah fighters to go to war against the democratically elected Hamas government was a raging conspiracy theory in Gaza, and across the Islamic world, earlier this year. No longer.

While Hamas and Fatah gunmen slay each other in the streets of Gaza, Israel is pounding Hamas training camps and alleged terrorist hide-outs, or civilian homes, and ramping up the body count and tension.

Why does Fatah, once the ultimate enemy of Israel, and the party of the despised Yasar Arafat, now get special treatment, and training? They officially recognised Israel's right to exist, and are committed to a two state solution, as opposed to Hamas, who, like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, refuse to recognise Israel and appear to be sticking to their old doctrine of removing Zionists from all of the lands once known as Palestine.

In short, Fatah is now the party of the secular and more wealthy Palestinians, primarily in the West Bank, and is viewed by Israel and the US as "progressive", while Hamas remains the Islamist party of the poor and pissed off in Gaza, who rocket Israel at every opportunity, in part, they claim, to keep Israel from soaking up more Palestinian territory with settlements that even the United States recognise as illegal.

The United States, and perhaps more astoundingly, Israel, have officially chosen the side of Fatah. For now anyway. While it serves their interests :

The Bush administration recently approved $40 million to train the Palestinian Presidential Guard, a force of about 4,000 troops under Abbas's direct control, but both Israel and the United States, each deeply unpopular among Arabs in the region, have been trying to avoid the perception of taking sides in a conflict that this week in Gaza has resembled a nascent civil war.

Many within Fatah are avowed opponents of Israel, and any alliance with the Jewish state against the militant movement could damage Fatah's standing among Palestinians.

"We're not the ones giving these forces operational orders. That will be up to Abbas," said Ephraim Sneh, Israel's deputy defense minister, asserting that Hamas's arms smuggling from the Sinai and military training in Iran have given the movement a battlefield advantage.

"The idea is to change the balance, which has been in favor of Hamas and against Fatah. With these well-trained forces, it will help right that imbalance."

You rarely find a more precise and practical definition of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' than that quote.

As Palestinian rocket fire into Israel continued Thursday, the Israeli air force conducted a series of strikes across Gaza, from which Israel withdrew in 2005 after a nearly four-decade presence.

The airstrikes killed at least six Hamas gunmen that Israeli officials said were involved in rocket assaults on Israeli towns near Gaza.

"All options for our response are open," said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza. Some Hamas military leaders said specifically that "martyrdom operations," or suicide bombings, could be used in retaliation for the Israeli airstrikes.

Israeli military officials said Palestinian gunmen fired at least 17 rockets Thursday from Gaza, bringing the three-day total to more than 80. At least seven fell Thursday in the border town of Sderot, wounding several Israelis and damaging a synagogue, a high school and a building inside an industrial park, military officials said.

King Abdullah, of Jordan, was interviewed by the London Times yesterday. As well as expressing vast concern about the flood of Iraqis threatening to upset the equilibrium of his lands, Abdullah had plenty to say about just how close to the brink the Middle East is to a larger, longer, and far more violent series of wars. Palestine, as usual, remains the powderkeg :

"It is extremely disturbing for all of us. I hope that cooler heads prevail. Arabs and Muslims have realised that this is our last chance. I think it is beginning to dawn on Israelis and Palestinians that this is our last chance. They need to reach out to their brothers and sisters and say: 'We need to take one step back because if this continues we may lose our final opportunity'."

Abdullah pointed out that Israel does little to calm the tension amongst Palestinians, by pushing ahead with illegal settlements and the continuation of the 'security wall' that carves through Palestinian communities and cuts more and more Palestinians off from their farming lands and water resources by the day.

King Abdullah was one of the key constructors of the Arab Peace Plan that saw dozens of leaders from Arab countries settle on a set of conditions that Israel's prime minister Olmert said was something he could work with. He called the plan "revolutionary". He opposed the right of return for Palestinian refugees, but not much else, and said the plan could bring peace within five years.

After a great deal of publicity and positive reaction in Palestine, Israel and across the world, Olmert then stalled on doing anything to implement the plan, in a standard Israeli tactic, until new violence broke out amongst the Palestinians. Now the Arab Peace Plan has been all but forgotten and Olmert can now claim he wanted to make it work, but the Palestinians were not people willing to talk peace.

King Abdullah claims that the key to peace across the Middle East, and the Arab world is, as always, implementing the peace between Palestine and Israel :

"...if there is no future for the Palestinians, how can there be peace between the Israelis and the Arabs and the Israelis and the Muslims?

"Now people can say this is not the right time. You have an end of an administration in the United States, you have got changes in Europe (France, Britain). You have very confused situation in Israeli politics, but the timeline we are looking at is that there is a physical limitation on a future Palestinian state. If you look at issues like (Jewish) settlements and the wall, we might end up with a Swiss cheese on the West Bank. Then it all dawns on us that physically we don't have a Palestinian state to talk about.

"I do not think this is the 1960s or 70s or 80s or 90s where there is another opportunity to launch a process. We have a finite amount of time. Physically there may not be a chance for a future Palestinian state. Therefore do we bring the Middle East to decades more of chaos and violence because without a Palestinian state and a future for the Palestinians how can we have peace between the Israelis and the Arabs and Israelis and Muslims? That is why the urgency is now."

Abdullah seems to losing hope that the United States, and the UK, will be countries that ultimately find the solution. He holds much praise for the fresh enthusiasm shown by EU countries, like Germany, who see vast benefits from a more peaceful Middle East.

In poll after poll, the majority of Israelis and Palestinians say they want peace and a two state solution, and yet still the fighting and bloodshed rages on. Leaders on both sides, all sides, who can make the peace a reality, find yet more reasons to wage war instead. Against each other, and against themselves.

March 28 : Saudis Deliver Arab World Approved Peace Plan - Olmert Called It "Revolutionary", Said Peace Was Likely Within Five Years

Top IDF Officer : "We Will Make Hamas Pay For Terror"

The Siege Mentality - Demented Likud Leader Netanyahu Demands Water And Electricity To Gaza Be Cut Off

Six Days Of Gaza Mayhem - 47 Slaughtered By Infighting, 17 Slain In Israeli Airstrikes

US Defends Israel's Right To Rain Down Death And Destruction On Gaza - Israel Has Shown "Great Restraint" In Face Of Rocket Attacks

Plot To Assassinate Fatah Leader Abbas Surfaces Amongst Palestinian Chaos

"Islamophobia Is Worst Form Of Terrorism" - Claims That Anti-Muslim Hate Rising In Norther America And Europe

IDF Infantry And Tanks Enter Gaza - Airforce Strikes Kill Children

Factional Violence Turns Gaza Into "Hell On Earth"

Hamas Rocket Barrage Continues - At Least Nine Qassams Hit West Negrev

Saudis Tell Israel : Accept Peace Deal On Palestine Or Face War

Don't Place Your Future In The Hands Of "The Lords Of War" Saudis Warn Israel

Israel Will Be "Recognised" By All Arab Sates If They Pull Back To Pre-1967 Borders

The Saudis and Arab Gulf states have clearly had enough of Israel's endless stalling on the finalisation of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are loudly demanding Israel fall into line with a new peace plan or face the likelihood of further violence, and eventually war.

The meeting amongst the Arab states in Riyadh this week was an historical event of quite epic proportions. The Saudis shook hands with the Syrians, the Egyptians shook hands with the Iranians, who also shook hands with the Saudis, and key power players from the UN, including the Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, opened the talks. Then followed days of negotiations and working parties, conferences, speeches and discussions.

Remarkably, the United States were virtually all but invisible during the peace talks.

Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has been effectively marginalised and squeezed out of the current Big Push led by Arab states to bring the 60 year conflict between Israel and Palestine to an end.

The US may be sponsoring the talks, but they are doing so from the back of the room.

Here's the short version of the deal the Arab states, led by the Saudis, have come up with, and are waiting for Israel to accept :

...all Arab countries will officially recognize Israel in return for its withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 war.

A Palestinian state will be established in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with East Jerusalem as the capital. The plan also proposes granting the right of return to all Palestinian refugees.

It is the right of return for refugees that Israel opposes most vehemently.

In an interview with the London Telegraph, the Saudi foreign minister warned :

"If Israel refuses, that means it doesn't want peace and it places everything back into the hands of fate. They will be putting their future not in the hands of the peacemakers but in the hands of the lords of war," he said.

Prince Saud dismissed any further diplomatic overtures towards Israel. "It has never been proven that reaching out to Israel achieves anything," he said.

"What we have the power to do in the Arab world, we think we have done," he said. "So now it is up to the other side because if you want peace, it is not enough for one side only to want it. Both sides must want it equally."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to have gotten the message from the Saudis, and looks set to live up to his promise to work for peace with the Palestinians :

The Israeli Prime Minister today described an Arab plan to make peace with the Jewish State as "revolutionary" and said the region could sign a final deal within five years.

Ehud Olmert made his remarks in a series of newspaper interviews this morning, after leaders of the 22 Arab countries gave their unanimous backing to a plan which would commit them to developing diplomatic relations with Israel if it first agreed to a "land-for-peace" deal with the Palestinians.

Only two states, Egypt and Jordan, currently have full diplomatic relations with Israel after signing peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, so the latest pledge for full diplomatic normalisation - which includes the hawkish Syrian regime - is regarded as hugely significant.

“There is a real possibility that Israel can sign a global peace accord with its enemies within five years," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Asked whether he meant “all of the Arab world,” the Israeli leader replied: “yes."

Excerpts from a London Times earlier this week on the Arab summit:

Opening the summit, Mr Ban spoke of the urgency of reaching a solution, warning that the Middle East was on a knife-edge and describing the region as “more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it has been for a very long time”.

Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor of The Times, said from Riyadh that the talks are being seen as a significant attempt to achieve some sort of progress in the Middle East peace process.

“The Saudis have really taken up the mantle on this and there is a level of expectation,” he said. “The hope is that the Arab nations can find a wording they can all accept, giving them an agreed position.”

“Previously Israel had shown little support for the initiative, but recently it has been making friendly noises towards the plans. What the US would like is for this initiative to pave the way for some sort of talks between the Quartet – the US, EU, UN and Russia – and Israel and the Arab nations.

“The real thorn is the issue of Palestinian refugees, with Israel rejecting the idea of vast numbers returning.”

While Saudi Arabia is "flush with money", a key reason why the Saudis have been so influential and insistent on first negotiating peace between Fatah and Hamas, and then between the Arab world and the Israelis, may have a lot to do with the ascendancy of Iran :

The menacing spectre of Iran, the rising Shia power with nuclear-tipped ambitions for regional dominance, looms large across the waters of the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia is quietly moving to contain its bellicose neighbour. Prince Saud offered conciliatory words to Iran, laced with coded criticism. "We have no inhibitions about the role of Iran," he said. "It is a large country. It wants to play a leading role in the region, and it has every right to do so. It is an historic country. But if you want to reach for leadership, you have to make sure that those you are leading are having their interests taken care of and not damaged."

Saudi Arabia has privately urged Iran to stop enriching uranium, in compliance with United Nations resolutions and lay to rest any suggestion that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Prince Saud called for a "Middle East free of nuclear weapons" with "no exceptions for anybody, be it Israel or Iran".

King Abdullah Calls For End To Palestinian Blockade

At the Arab summit, Saudi King Abdullah addressed the gathered leaders of the Muslim world and announced that the international blockade against the Palestinian government now had to end :

"It has become necessary to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so that the peace process can move in an atmosphere far from oppression and force," King Abdullah said at the opening of the summit.

Israel and the United States have urged countries to cut political and financial support for the Palestinians because Hamas, which leads the government, refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.

Fears are high among Arab leaders that a US-led attack on non-Arab Iran, which has refused to comply with UN demands to halt atomic work, could further destabilise their region.

Riyadh, pressed by its ally Washington to show more leadership in the region, has called on Sunni Muslim states to overcome divisions, arguing a united front will help persuade Israel to address Palestinian grievances.

Finally, it's worth taking a look back at a speech President Bush gave to the UN General Assembly in September, 2006. Should a final peace be reached between the Israelis and Palestinians, historians will cite this Bush speech as a ignition switch for the momentum that has carried talks through the past seven months to the historical events now becoming reality in the Middle East.

The world must also stand up for peace in the Holy Land. I'm committed to two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side-by-side in peace and security.

I'm committed to a Palestinian state that has territorial integrity and will live peacefully with the Jewish state of Israel. This is the vision set forth in the road map -- and helping the parties reach this goal is one of the great objectives of my presidency.

The Palestinian people have suffered from decades of corruption and violence and the daily humiliation of occupation. Israeli citizens have endured brutal acts of terrorism and constant fear of attack since the birth of their nation. Many brave men and women have made the commitment to peace. Yet extremists in the region are stirring up hatred and trying to prevent these moderate voices from prevailing.

This struggle is unfolding in the Palestinian territories. Earlier this year, the Palestinian people voted in a free election. The leaders of Hamas campaigned on a platform of ending corruption and improving the lives of the Palestinian people, and they prevailed.

The world is waiting to see whether the Hamas government will follow through on its promises, or pursue an extremist agenda. And the world has sent a clear message to the leaders of Hamas: Serve the interests of the Palestinian people. Abandon terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, honor agreements, and work for peace.

President Abbas is committed to peace, and to his people's aspirations for a state of their own. Prime Minister Olmert is committed to peace, and has said he intends to meet with President Abbas to make real progress on the outstanding issues between them.

I believe peace can be achieved, and that a democratic Palestinian state is possible.

I'm optimistic that by supporting the forces of democracy and moderation, we can help Israelis and Palestinians build a more hopeful future and achieve the peace in a Holy Land we all want.

Freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed -- it must be chosen. From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom. And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East -- or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists? America has made its choice: We will stand with the moderates and reformers.

It is unfortunate then that historians will also recognise that as President Bush gave this speech, US State Department NeoCon aligned power brokers and hardline Zionist Israelis were telling Palestine's Prime Minister Abbas that he had to destroy the "unity" government of Hamas and Fatah.

Historians will recognise that it was the Saudis who brokered the eventual peace last month between Fatah and Hamas, and brought to an end the growing civil war inside Palestine. The US and Israel, along with the UK and Australia, refused to recognise Hamas, nor deal with them in any way whatsoever. This left Abbas isolated and near powerless. He had no choice but to work with Hamas to prevent further chaos.

It is likely that when the Saudis learned what the US and Israeli aligned Neocons were up to, they realised the NeoCon-approved 'Total Chaos In The Middle East' plan was being sparked into life, and they worked fast and hard to wind back the growing tensions in their region.

The Saudis brokered the peace between Hamas and Fatah, and then the Saudis created the Arab states unity that led to the Riyadh meeting where a final peace deal was developed and handed to Israel and the United States.

The Fatah-Hamas peace deal brokered by the Saudis shocked the Israelis and the United States. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. They were not involved. And that moment marked, for the Arab states at least, the failing influence of the United States to shape the future of peace in their region.

As discussed above, the Palestinians, the Saudis, all of the Arab states, now wait to see what Israel and the United States decides to do next.

Will it be peace? Or will it be war?

The Saudis have successfully let the world, and the world's media, know that the chance for final peace is now in the hands of Israel.

With Ehud Olmert's talk yesterday of a final peace within five years, the end of the conflict between Palestine and Israel has never looked so close, nor so realistic.

Olmert Praises "Revolutionary Change In Outlook" By Arab States, Commits To Talks

Abbas Extends Hand Of Peace To Israel

Millions Of Palestinian Refugees Cling To Hope Of "Right Of Return" To Their Lands

Israel Resists US Plans For Mid East Peace Talks Over Palestinians "Right To Return Home"

After Israel Veto Of Earlier Plans, Rice Presents Israel-Approved Scaled Back Version Of Middle East Peace Deal

Israel Unlikely To Budge On Palestinians Right Of Return

"There Is A Real Possibility Israel Can Sign A Global Peace Accord With Its Enemies Within Five Years"

Palestine : Devoid Of Hope For A Better Future, Hamas and Fatah Gunmen Go To War

When Hamas claimed victory in Palestinian elections almost a year ago, Palestinians had renewed hope that their misery would soon come to an end. Hamas still refused to officially recognise Israel, but instituted a "cease fire" regardless, and reached out to engage Israel, the rest of the Arab world and chiefly the United States, in peace talks.

But the United States, who backed democratic elections in Palestine, decided to side with Israel and locked Hamas out of 'Roadmap To Peace', two-state negotiations. Funding was cut, Israel destroyed power plants in Gaza and the West Bank under the guise of pursuing militants, and the killings continued.

The Palestinian Authority, once so deeply despised by Israel that its leaders could barely stand to even be in the same room as the Fatah members, let alone Yasar Arafat, suddenly found itself befriended by Israel and the United States.

Recently, Israel and the US began funding Fatah and, remarkably, arming it with an array of guns and ammunition. But there was a condition for the cash and the guns. Fatah had to break Hamas.

And so a virtual civil war rages today in the streets of Gaza, amidst Fatah-Hamas ceasefires and truces. Dozens have died in the past two weeks alone, including many children.

While the 'Qaurtert' meets in the United States, peace and an internationally acknowledged state for the Palestinians now seem further away than they've been for years. If not decades.

From Haaretz :

Clashes between Fatah and Hamas gunmen resumed across the Gaza Strip on Saturday in defiance of a truce deal, sending Gazans who had tentatively ventured from their homes scattering to seek refuge from the violence.

On Saturday afternoon, Fatah sources announced that Hamas gunmen kidnapped six unarmed members of the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service at roadblocks they had set up in the city.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' Damascus-based political leader Khaled Mashal agreed to an immediate cease-fire late Friday, after two days of factional violence left 25 Palestinians dead, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.

Rumours of Iranian involvement in Gaza, backing and arming Hamas, run rampant, as the US and Israel claims that at least six Iranian weapons experts were arrested at a Hamas-run university complex.

Through Gaza and the West Bank there now grows the very proxy Sunni Vs Shia war feared, and sometimes cheered, by all the major regional power players. But hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now on the verge of starvation. Many live without electricity, fresh water, basic sanitation.

And all the while, Israel and swarms of 'settlers' continue to occupy and annex Palestinian lands while the US pretends it doesn't see what's going on.

From the Melbourne Age :

"What's happening here in Palestine is good only for Israel, but what can we do?" said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, who on Thursday was the target of an unsuccessful Fatah assassination bid.

"We had a democratic process and people voted for Hamas and for us to form the Government. But the whole world supported Israel, even most Islamic countries. What we understand is that some Fatah people are co-ordinating with the Israelis and Americans to destroy our national project."

A Fatah commander in Gaza acknowledged that Fatah was being armed and funded by the US and Israel but said: "There is no other way for us to survive as Palestinians but to look for support from the Israelis, the Americans and the Arab world."

From Haaretz :

The Americans say events of the past week in Gaza have only proved to the Palestinians that the Hamas government cannot provide them with the security they need. "Hamas is trying to shake off responsibility and give it to the international community," a source in the State Department said, "but it's their responsibility."

The American noted that in Gaza, where Hamas' control is ostensibly stronger [than in the West Bank], Hamas is unable "to deliver the Palestinians what they expect."

This is, of course, exactly what Washington and Israel has dreamed of for the past twelve months. They want to prove they were right from the beginning, that Hamas could not bring peace to Palestine.

The majority of Palestinians chose to elect Hamas after Fatah's Palestinian Authority failed to bring peace and improvements to daily life for years. Palestinians are now continuing to be punished for their insolence in choosing to elect Hamas, against the wishes of Israel and the United States.


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