WASHINGTON, May 16 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush's comments in Israel Thursday ignited a political campaign row back home as Democratic leaders decried his comparison of engaging enemies to Nazi appeasement.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (IPS) - In separate speeches delivered an ocean apart, the two standard bearers of the Republican Party Thursday offered rosy visions of a future designed to gladden the hearts of Israel-centred neo-conservatives without offering any details about how their dreams will be achieved.

GAZA CITY, May 14 (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies.

CAIRO, May 14 (IPS) - In an effort to offset soaring inflation, President Hosni Mubarak last month announced generous salary increases for all public sector employees. The gesture lost its lustre days later, however, when the government drastically raised prices of subsidised fuel.

JERUSALEM, May 13 (IPS) - Badly tarnished by his management of the Lebanon war in the summer of 2006, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had begun, in recent months, to resurrect his public image. But a new corruption scandal in which he is being questioned by police has again undermined his credibility, and raised questions about his ability to govern effectively.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (IPS) - While this week's trip by President George W. Bush to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt was never conceived as a triumphant "victory lap" around the region, the swift rout of U.S.-backed forces by Lebanon's Hezbollah Friday has provided yet another vivid illustration of the rapid decline in Washington's influence in the Middle East during his tenure.

CAIRO, May 12 (IPS) - Palestinian resistance factions signed on to an Egyptian ceasefire proposal last month aimed at bringing a measure of calm to the hapless Gaza Strip. In a bid to secure Tel Aviv's endorsement of the plan, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to travel to Israel later this month.

BEIRUT, May 10 (IPS) - At least 11 people are dead and 30 injured during ferocious gun battles pitting opposition Shia Amal and Hezbollah fighters against members of the Sunni Future Movement, which is part of the majority March 14 alliance in government. As the opposition's militia men clamped down on government headquarters, the balance of power seems to have been shifted permanently in the Land of the Cedars.

BEIRUT, May 9 (IPS) - Men clad in black have roamed the streets of Beirut since Wednesday, their faces covered with ski masks or dark kaffiya, as they wreaked havoc in the large avenues leading to the airport or dividing Sunni and Shia areas. As darkness loomed over Lebanon, the winds of discord seem to set the Lebanese capital ablaze.

JERUSALEM, May 8 (IPS) - As Israel marks its 60th anniversary, Israelis are deeply pessimistic about the prospects of peace with their neighbours, with an overwhelming majority believing they will be at war again within the next five years.

BI'LIN, The West Bank, May 7 (IPS) - Some 1,700 Palestinians in the West Bank village of Bi'lin have been promised land, but so far it has not been delivered.

BEIRUT, May 7 (IPS) - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, announced in an audiotape broadcast Apr. 21 that Islamic groups would play a pivotal role in the war against Jews, and encouraged militants to expel invading 'Crusaders' masquerading as peacekeepers, referring to UNIFIL troops deployed in South Lebanon.

CAIRO, May 7 (IPS) - Calls for a nationwide protest against the rising cost of living ended in anticlimax on Sunday (May 4), with most Egyptians going to work as usual. Although protest leaders had urged the public to register its disaffection en masse by staying home, the streets of the capital were busy.

CAIRO, May 6 (IPS) - With next-door Gaza Strip in a humanitarian crisis, the government is desperate to avoid a repeat of January's Palestinian influx into the Sinai Peninsula. In recent weeks, the security presence along Egypt's 14-kilometre border with the hapless territory has been significantly reinforced.

GAZA CITY, May 6 (IPS) - It's been strangely quiet for some time at the port in Gaza. No clanging of hooks, no sounds of creaking cranes or of thumping of nets upon decks. Boat engines, normally puttering and spewing exhaust, lie entombed under covers.

BEIRUT, May 6 (IPS) - As clashes between supporters of Lebanon's feuding factions become increasingly frequent, Lebanon seems to be walking a fine line between stability and violence.

WASHINGTON, May 5 (IPS) - Amid regional fears of a summer war between Israel and Syria, the two countries may in fact be inching closer to a deal. Not even President George W. Bush's recent disclosures to Congress, intended to prove Syrian-North Korean nuclear cooperation, appear able to dent the resolve for peace, or at the very least, a reduction in tensions.

CAIRO, May 2 (IPS) - Hundreds remain in detention following a nationwide protest Apr. 6 against rising food prices and political stagnation. But this has not deterred activists from calling for a second general strike on May 4, timed to coincide with President Hosni Mubarak's birthday.

TORONTO, Apr 30 (IPS) - Like an aging group of retro rocker musicians, the Jewish Defence League (JDL) resurfaced in Toronto recently after a decade of dormancy, trying to look a little more mainstream.

BEIRUT, Apr 30 (IPS) - The growing rift between the U.S. and Iran has spread also to Lebanese soil, with Shia youngsters frequently seen burning U.S. flags. But ironically, for many of Hezbollah's Shia constituency, the U.S. is home.

WASHINGTON, Apr 28 (IPS) - Five months after the U.S. hosted the Annapolis conference to push for a decisive Israeli-Palestinian peace, negotiations between the two sides have shown no visible progress.

CAIRO, Apr 28 (IPS) - The appearance of long breadlines outside state-run distribution centres in recent weeks has raised fears of possible bread shortages. Although the government has taken measures aimed at easing the crisis, experts point to soaring international wheat prices that have made the commodity more costly for households worldwide.

JERUSALEM, Apr 28 (IPS) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he is "very interested" in peace with Syria. He has sent a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad expressing a willingness to give back the Golan Heights in exchange for a comprehensive peace treaty.

HEBRON, The West Bank, Apr 28 (IPS) - Nibaal Shriteh may soon be homeless. The 17-year-old Palestinian lives in a Hebron orphanage but, if the Israeli military has its way, she and 240 fellow orphans like her will be out on the streets.

BEIRUT, Apr 28 (IPS) - The political crisis gripping Lebanon has chipped away at what has been viewed by most since the 2005 parliamentary elections as an unlikely alignment of two political heavyweights.

CAIRO, Apr 24 (IPS) - A year-long military trial of 40 leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement ended last week with stiff jail terms for most of the defendants. Although the group is officially banned by the state, many observers were taken aback by the severity of the rulings.

BEIRUT, Apr 24 (IPS) - The lush Bekaa Valley is nestled between snowy Mount Lebanon and the Syrian border. The region, reputed for its wine production, was this week the witness to a violent crime in the Christian city of Zahleh, where two members of the anti-Syrian Kataeb party (Phalangists) were gunned down.

CAIRO, Apr 23 (IPS) - Egypt's parliament ratified legislation earlier this month outlawing public demonstrations in or near religious establishments. While government officials say the move is meant to preserve the inviolability of Egypt's mosques and churches, critics say the new law aims to further stifle freedom of expression.

JERUSALEM, Apr 22 (IPS) - In the clearest indication yet that Israel now believes Iran's nuclear aspirations will be curbed, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that efforts being undertaken by the international community will ensure that Tehran does not acquire nuclear capability.

GAZA CITY, Apr 22 (IPS) - The one political result of Israel's attacks and sanctions on Gaza has been that the Hamas leadership, and particularly Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have emerged greatly strengthened.