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

U.S.: Obama's Outreach to Muslim World Teetering
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – U.S. President Barack Obama's extraordinary efforts since his first days in office to reassure Muslims in the Greater Middle East about U.S. intentions in the region have suffered a series of setbacks that threaten to reverse whatever gains he has made over the past 10 months in restoring Washington's badly battered image and influence there.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49120

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Q&A: 'This Calm Will Not Last'
Jon Elmer interviews Palestinian icon LEILA KHALED
AMMAN (IPS) – Leila Khaled became an instant icon of the Palestinian struggle in 1969, when at 24 she was an operative in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacking of a Boeing 707, the first in a series of high-profile actions intended to put the Palestinians on the political map.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49126

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U.S.: Rights Groups Condemn Bid to Quash Goldstone Report
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON (IPS) – International human rights groups have raised concern over a proposed non-binding resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives which would call on the White House to oppose any future endorsement or consideration of Judge Richard Goldstone's “Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict”.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49082

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MIDEAST: Israel Divided Over 'Illegal' Children
By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
TEL AVIV (IPS) – “Migrant workers bring with them a profusion of diseases – hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis, AIDS and drug addiction: Our critics can be as sanctimonious as they like, but unless we stop the wave of migrant workers, the whole character of the State of Israel, its Jewish character, will be under threat.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49101

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RIGHTS-US: Lawsuit Probes Role of Psychologists in Terror War
By William Fisher
NEW YORK (IPS) – The state board responsible for licensing – and disciplining – psychologists in Louisiana is accused of turning a blind eye to serious allegations of abuse against one of its members, including complicity in beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body positions during his service as a senior advisor on interrogations for the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49107

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MIDEAST: Israelis Show the Light to Palestinian Herders
By Mel Frykberg
SUSYA, West Bank (IPS) – Hundreds of impoverished Palestinian herders and farmers living in caves and tents in a remote area of the Palestinian West Bank have been provided free electricity due to the ingenuity of two Israeli physicists.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49098

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US-MIDEAST: J Street Meet Draws Foreign Policy Heavyweights
By Eli Clifton*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – J Street, the relatively new “pro-Israel, pro-Peace” advocacy group, exceeded expectations for its inaugural conference here in Washington with over 1,500 participants attending the four-day event.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49045

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MIDEAST: Harvesting in Death Zone, With a Song
By Eva Bartlett
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza (IPS) – On a quiet October morning, Fida Zaneen, 19, sings a traditional love song as she pulls olives from trees in Beit Hanoun's border region during the annual olive harvest.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49071

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MIDEAST: Palestinians File Lawsuits Over Gaza War
By Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH (IPS) – As the legal and moral implications of the UN Goldstone report on Israel's military assault on Gaza continue to mount, Gazans are taking matters into their own hands and preparing civil lawsuits.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49070

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MIDEAST: Egypt Makes Cultural Clout Count
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO (IPS) – Egypt has long been recognised as the cultural trendsetter of the Arabic- speaking world. Despite recent challenges to this role with the advent of satellite television, experts say that contemporary Arab culture remains largely defined by Egyptian literature, music, film and television.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49061

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RIGHTS-US: Another Legal Setback for Arar Torture Case
By William Fisher
NEW YORK (IPS) – A federal appeals court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought against a former U.S. attorney general by a Canadian citizen who sought damages for being unlawfully detained by U.S. authorities in New York and then secretly shipped to Syria, where he was imprisoned for a year and claims he was tortured.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49122

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MIDEAST: Demolishing Hope for Peace
By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
SUR BAHER, Occupied East Jerusalem (IPS) – “We knew something bad was about to happen when we saw the roadblocks being thrown up, and police everywhere. It soon came down the grapevine – the Israelis were demolishing more houses.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49049

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EGYPT: A Big Catch Feeds Millions
By Cam McGrath
CAIRO (IPS) – As the sun rises over the Nile delta, workers at a fish farm in northern Egypt open a sluice gate and sort through the thousands of wriggling tilapia that pour out of a concrete holding tank. The fish are sorted, packed into crates and sent to supermarkets in Cairo and Alexandria, where they are sold as “the catch of the day”.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49099

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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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