IPS correspondents bring you independent perspectives on what is happening in Iran, Iraq and across the Middle East.

Q&A: ‘Hamas Won’t Give In To Blackmail’ *
Mel Frykberg interviews Hamas Foreign Minister AHMED YOUSEF
RAMALLAH (IPS) – At the eleventh hour, just as a permanent ceasefire painfully mediated by the Egyptians after weeks of intensive shuttle diplomacy was about to take effect, Israel suddenly changed its preconditions for a settlement with Hamas.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45854

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POLITICS: Rights Group Calls for Israel/Hamas Arms Embargo
By Daniel Luban
NEW YORK (IPS) – A prominent international human rights organisation has called for an arms embargo against both Israel and Hamas after finding evidence that both sides used foreign-supplied arms to commit war crimes during the recent conflict in Gaza.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45860

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MIDEAST: ‘EU Paying for Gaza Blockade’
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS (IPS) – European Union aid has been given to an Israeli oil company which has reduced the supply of fuel to Gaza as part of an economic blockade internationally recognised as illegal, Brussels officials have admitted.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45836

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IRAQ: Doctors in Hiding Treat as They Can
By Dahr Jamail
BAGHDAD (IPS) – Seventy percent of Iraq’s doctors are reported to have fled the war-torn country in the face of death threats and kidnappings. Those who remain live in fear, often in conditions close to house arrest.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45844

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MIDEAST: Human Rights Defenders Under Siege
By William Fisher
NEW YORK (IPS) – The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama must take a leadership position in championing human rights in the Middle East and North Africa by using U.S. economic and trade leverage and confronting the growing global threat of authoritarianism being promoted by Arab regimes, advocates say.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45839

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IRAQ: Still Homeless in Baghdad
By Dahr Jamail
BAGHDAD (IPS) – “We only want a normal life,” says Um Qasim, sitting in a bombed out building in Baghdad. She and others around have been saying that for years.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45812

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TRADE: ‘Gulf States? Technology Can Be Swapped for Africa's Food’
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN (IPS) – Countries in the Gulf and in Africa can form mutually beneficial partnerships, with Africa supplying fertile arable land and the Gulf investing in technology, fertiliser and other agricultural inputs.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45883

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US-ISRAEL: Storm Clouds Ahead?
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – After eight years of the closest possible relations, the United States and Israel may be headed for a period of increasing strain, particularly given the likelihood that whatever Israeli government emerges from last week’s election will be more hawkish than its predecessor.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45818

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EGYPT: Israel Ditches the Go-Between
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) – Senior Egyptian officials have indicated that the new demands raised by Israel for ceasefire could affect the peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas being brokered by Egypt.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45853

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MIDEAST: Border Politics Slows Aid to Gaza
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) – Egyptian authorities are continuing to prevent humanitarian aid from crossing the border into the Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45846

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MIDEAST: Little Hope From New US Mediation
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) – Egyptians seem at best only cautiously optimistic over the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as U.S. envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is mandated chiefly with settling the Arab-Israeli dispute.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45816

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MIDEAST: Hamas Offered a Bullet to Bite
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – Israel’s outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert is risking a crisis of confidence with Egypt by insisting that a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas precede any Egyptian-mediated ceasefire arrangement to end the Gaza war.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45813

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UAE: Women’s Participation is the Norm
By Meena Janardhan
DUBAI (IPS) – In the gender-sensitive Gulf milieu, efforts by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to empower women and recognise them as partners in the nation-building process has received praise, but experts stress that the scope for improvement is limitless.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45876

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DON'T MISS IPS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

U.S. President Barack Obama has inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tanking economy, and global crises like climate change. IPS reports on the implications of the new administration not just for U.S. citizens, but for the world.
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/us_elections2008/index.asp

For more IPS reporting on the Middle East – www.ipsnews.net/middle.asp

Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iraq/

Iran: The Parthian Shot – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iran/

Holy Land/Unholy War – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/israel_palestina/

Afghan Divide – www.ipsnews.net/afghanistan/

Bush’s Legacy – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/warII/

IPS coverage of terrorism – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/terrorism/

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