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

ENVIRONMENT: West Bank Becomes Waste Land
By Mel Frykberg*
RAMALLAH (IPS/IFEJ) – Israel has found a cheap and easy way to get rid of its waste, much of it hazardous: dump it into the West Bank. A few Palestinians can be bought, the rest are in no position to complain.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46858

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POLITICS: U.S.-Israel Balance Echoes Tensions of 1991
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
LONDON (IPS) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Pres. Barack Obama in Washington next Monday, amid speculation that their two administrations may be heading for a confrontation worse than any they have known since 1991-92.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46864

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MIDEAST: Obama Has Real Chance to Change Arab Opinion - Survey
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – President Barack Obama has a major opportunity to improve the mostly negative views about the United States in the Arab world, but is likely to have only a short period of time to do so, according to a major new survey of public opinion in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46909

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MIDEAST: Netanyahu Up Against a New U.S.
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – June 5 is a date that resonates powerfully in the troubled modern history of the Middle East. On that fateful day, 42 years ago, the seminal 1967 Arab-Israel war erupted. Six days later, Israel was in control of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights and all of the Palestinian territories.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46915

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MIDEAST: ‘Hamas Against Zionist Ideology, Not Judaism’
By David Cronin
GAZA CITY (IPS) – A founding member of Hamas says he hates all weapons and insists that his organisation is not anti-Jewish.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46841

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MIDEAST: Netanyahu Out of Step With Obama
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – A day before he enters what some Middle East analysts are calling not the Oval office but the lion’s den, Benjamin Netanyahu, re-incarnated as Israel’s leader, is determined not to be easy meat but also, on the other hand, not to become a bone in the throat of his host, President Barack Obama.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46880

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MIDEAST: Rising Again After the Assault
By Erin Cunningham
KHUZA’A, Gaza (IPS) – Khuza’a is a small farming village perched on a gentle slope east of Khan Younis. Its fertile farmland once produced fruit and vegetables for export to Israel, whose own lush plains are just 500 metres from Khuza’a’s centre, and are visible through the town’s narrow streets.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46889

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MIDEAST: Despite Smiles, Obama, Netanyahu Seem Far Apart
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – While reaffirming the “special relationship” between their two countries, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared unable to bridge major differences in their approaches to Iran and Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts following their White House meeting here Monday.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46897

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POLITICS-US: Bigger, Badder Jihad Plot in ‘Obsession’ Rebooted
By Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON (IPS) – A new documentary from a shadowy non-profit, the Clarion Fund, has ties to groups widely accused of Islamophobia.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46902

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EGYPT: Move to End Organ Trafficking
By Cam McGrath
CAIRO (IPS) – Egypt’s parliament is set to review a long-overdue draft law to regulate organ transplant operations. If passed, the legislation could make more human organs available for transplant, and curtail the country’s booming organ trade.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46886

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MIDEAST: Israel Expanding ‘Beautifully’ In Jerusalem
By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – Even as Pope Benedict XVI tries his best during his current Holy Land visit to pay reverence to the attachment of all three monotheistic faiths to Jerusalem, on the ground a less lofty imprint is already furthering Israeli control over the Holy City in a way that could threaten the claims of all but Jews to Jerusalem.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46839

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POLITICS-US: Back to Military Commissions?
By William Fisher
NEW YORK (IPS) – Human rights advocates and legal scholars fear that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama may resurrect the military commissions designed by his predecessor to try Guantanamo detainees after Obama?s 120-day moratorium on proceedings expires on May 20.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46828

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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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