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

EXCLUSIVE-PART 4: FBI Ignored Compelling Evidence of bin Laden Role
By Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Osama Bin Laden had made no secret of his intention to attack the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia. He had been calling for such attacks to drive it from the country since his first fatwa calling for jihad against Western “occupation” of Islamic lands in early 1992.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47363

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LEBANON: How Not to Oppose an Opposition
By Mona Alami
BEIRUT (IPS) – Christian heads of both the majority and the opposition have raised their stakes ahead of the imminent formation of the Lebanese government headed by Sunni leader Saad Hariri.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47366

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POLITICS: U.S. to Name Ambassador to Damascus after Four Years
By Katie Mattern and Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON (IPS) – After informing the Syrian embassy in Washington on Tuesday night, the U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will be sending an ambassador to Damascus for the first time since 2005.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47359

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MIDEAST: The Writing Is On the Settlement Walls
Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM (IPS) – A paralysing equation has long bedevilled would-be Middle East peacemakers: either, go directly to negotiating the kernel issues of the Israel-Palestine conflict – borders, security, refugees, Jerusalem – and leave, in the context of a full peace, the thorny question of Israeli settlements in the West Bank to fall naturally into place. Or, tackle the settlements head-on, thereby opening the way for a peace drive.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47349

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MOROCCO: African Refugees Targeted
By Daan Bauwens
RABAT (IPS) – More than 300 African refugees are gathered at the gates of the Moroccan United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), asking to be moved to another country because their rights are not respected in Morocco. Several refugees say they have been beaten up by Moroccan UN personnel.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47331

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MIDEAST: Bloody Showdown Looming if Unity Talks Fail
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) – Egyptian mediators have set Jul. 7 as deadline for final Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo. The Egyptians say time is running out, and if there is no progress in July, they will no longer be prepared to arbitrate.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47327

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EGYPT: Unquiet Flows the Nile
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) – Differences over sharing of Nile waters may have deepened following the failure among the nine countries along the Nile to come to an agreement.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47306

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MIDEAST: Aid Agencies Slam Gaza Blockade
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) – Forty international aid agencies and NGOs have released a joint statement condemning Israel’s blockade of Gaza, to mark the second anniversary of the coastal territory being hermetically sealed off from the outside world.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47302

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LEBANON: Defeated Shias Ponder Uncertain Future
By Mona Alami
TYRE (IPS) – A large highway cuts through the green hills connecting Lebanon’s south to the Mediterranean Sea. Here, nestled amid banana trees and colourful bougainvillea bushes, lies the city of Tyre, a bastion of the Shia community and a significant base of the Lebanese opposition. Now, following the parliamentary elections and the victory of the March 14 political group, Shias of the south are asking what lies in store for them.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47301

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US-MIDEAST: Carter Adds Weight to Shuttle Diplomacy Push
Analysis by Helena Cobban*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Pres. Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and peace envoy Sen. George Mitchell have been moving steadily ahead with the campaign Obama launched on his first day in the White House, to broker a comprehensive and sustainable Arab-Israeli peace.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47294

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SIGN UP TO RECEIVE THE NEW IPS GenderWire:

Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women?s. You can change your perspective – Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
ipsnews.net/_newsletter/genderwire.asp

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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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