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   MIDEAST-U.K. - June 13, 2006 - 9:00 a.m.
   Blair Seeks Negotiated ME Peace; Stops Short of Backing Olmert's Vision
   Olmert Promoting "Realignment Plan" which He Calls Stopgap Measure
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for the international community on Monday to push hard for a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace or risk seeing Israel pursue selective redeployment in the occupied West Bank. Speaking at a news conference after talks with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Blair said the key was to press the new Palestinian government under Islamic militant group Hamas to renounce violence and accept coexistence with the ewish state. "The reality is this thing has got to be moved forward by negotiation, or we are in a stalemate that Israel is necessarily and realistically going to want to unlock," Blair said. But he stopped short of endorsing Olmert's vision, where by dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be removed and others annexed behind a fortified Israeli border taking in swathes of occupied land where Palestinians want a state.

"Realignment Plan" Olmert was in London to promote a "realignment plan" that he calls a stopgap measure in the absence of peace, and to urge a strong European stand on arch- foe Iran's nuclear program. He will meet French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Tuesday. Britain and France have had supporting roles in navigating a beleaguered "road map" for ending more than 5 years of Middle East fighting and founding a peaceful Palestinian state. "We, the international community, have got a choice," Blair said. "We either put our best effort into making sure that negotiated settlement becomes a reality, or we are going to face a different reality." Olmert's unilateral proposal was dubbed "bold" by U.S. President George W. Bush. Yet the Europeans share Arab fears that it could deprive Palestinians of viable statehood.

No Stalemate
Olmert said he favors a return to talks on a two-state peace accord, but on condition Hamas, which formally seeks Israel's destruction, softens its stance. "One thing will not happen: a stalemate," Olmert said. "Either we move in this direction, and we will make every possible effort, or there will be another reality ... and this reality is moving forward in order to change the present status quo in the Middle East." In a later briefing to reporters, Olmert declined to say how long he would give Hamas and Abbas before Israel goes it alone. "I don't play the ultimatum game," he said.

Olmert is expected to hold a first summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas soon. But he rejected the implication this would entail opening negotiations on a two-state accord. "I did not say I am going to negotiate with him. I will meet him and do everything necessary to consolidate a proper range of expectations," Olmert said, reiterating that he expects Abbas to curb Hamas. Olmert, for his part, hinted that Israel could resume its controversial assassination of Hamas leaders, including Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Hanieh, if the militant group resumes its suicide-bomb campaigns against Israelis. "Whoever's involved in terror will not enjoy immunity," he said.

Olmert had similarly strong words about Iran, which Israel, believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, considers a potential threat to its existence. Tehran refuses to recognize Israel but says its nuclear program is for energy. "Israel will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran," Olmert said. He declined to be drawn on whether an Israeli preemptive military strike against Iran was possible, but voiced support for European-led efforts to negotiate a compromise.

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   IRAQ-BUSH-SECURITY - June 13, 2006 - 9:00 a.m.
   Bush Says Zarqawi's Successor, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir "On Our List" of Targets
U.S. President George W. Bush vowed on Monday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor as al-Qaeda's chief in Iraq would be "on our list" of targets and said U.S. troops must stay for now to help secure the country. Confronting low public approval ratings and an increasingly unpopular war, Bush spoke after a day of talks with his national security team about how to capitalize on the death of Zarqawi and the creation of a Iraqi unity government. Zarqawi, astermind of some of the bloodiest bombings since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, died last Wednesday during a U.S. air strike on an al-Qaeda hide-out. The group named a successor, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, little known in the West, even as Bush conferred by video conference from Camp David with his war commanders in Baghdad about the way forward in Iraq. (This is an update to the Iraq story in the Regional Report on page 10 in which no successor had not been named.)

Bush, when asked about Muhajir, suggested he could suffer the same fate as his predecessor. "I think the successor to Zarqawi is going to be on our list to bring to justice," he said tersely. But while hailing Zarqawi's death as a "major blow" to al-Qaeda, Bush said: "I fully recognize that's not going to end the war." Al-Qaeda threatened revenge attacks, and insurgent bombings killed at least 34 people in Iraq on Monday. Zarqawi's death and the completion of Iraq's unity government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had raised hopes among some Americans of a U.S. troop draw down.

Bush, who has resisted offering any timetable for bringing the 131,000 U.S. troops home, made clear that American forces must stay to provide security but said Maliki and his government will make an assessment of their security needs. "Whatever we do will be based upon the conditions on the ground," Bush said, turning aside a question about possible troop reductions.

Public Disenchantment
Bush has seen public disenchantment with the war increase as American casualties, now nearing 2,500, mount. His fellow Republicans worry his Iraq policy could hurt their chances of keeping control of Congress in the November midterm elections. Bush urged patience as he ended the first day of a two-day conference to chart America's future role in Iraq. "No question the fighting is tough, no question the enemy is violent and mean, but the enemy doesn't stand for anything," Bush insisted. "I keep reminding the American people that the stakes are worth it," he said, flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other key advisers.

Military commanders had hoped to reduce the U.S. presence to 100,000 troops by the end of the year, but an unrelenting insurgency and sectarian violence have cast doubt on that. White House counselor Dan Bartlett called completion of Maliki's unity cabinet, which will participate by video conference on Tuesday, a "fundamental break point" for the Iraqi people. Bush and his aides were expected to press Iraqi leaders not to squander the chance to assert their authority and win the confidence of ordinary Iraqis.

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   JORDAN-ZARQAWI - June 13, 2006 - 8:30 a.m.
   Jordan Says Legal Action to Be Taken against Four IAF MPs on Incitement
Jordan on Monday began legal action against four Islamist deputies accused of voicing sympathy for slain al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The four were referred to the state security court, which was now investigating their case, government spokesman Nasser Joudeh told reporters. The state prosecutor ordered their arrest on Sunday after they visited the family of Zarqawi, killed on Wednesday in a U.S. raid in Iraq. The four deputies, all rominent members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), were among hundreds who went to a tent setup by Zarqawi's family in his birthplace in Zarqa to welcome hundreds of sympathizers who came to pay their respects. One of the deputies, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Faris, attended prayers for Zarqawi's soul during Friday prayers in the industrial city 25 km (16 miles) northeast of Amman and called him a "martyr", witnesses said.

The deputies, who have no legal immunity as members of parliament while the assembly is in recess, could face up to ten years in prison if convicted under new anti-terror laws, legal sources said. Many Jordanians venerate Zarqawi as a Muslim "martyr" and a hero for staging bloody attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. Jailed by Jordanian authorities for several years in the early 1990s, Zarqawi went on to fight U.S. forces in Iraq, where Osama bin Laden named him the "prince" of al-Qaeda in Iraq. But other Jordanians say the Islamist deputies' visit ignored the feelings of relatives of the victims of hotel bombings in Jordan that killed 60 civilians last November, for which Zarqawi's militant group claimed responsibility.

The government seized on the visit to attack the IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, raising their leader's fears of a clampdown on their activism. Several hundred pro-government supporters staged a noisy demonstration in front of parliament urging the four deputies' expulsion from the 110-member assembly. The IAF, the largest opposition party, demanded their release. "This is a massacre of democracy. We are not intimidated by these arrests nor of any increase in those arrested, but we warn the government of any steps to further marginalize and tighten curbs on us," said Zaki Bani Irsheid, the head of the IAF.

Bani Irsheid, who denied the visit was officially sanctioned, said it did not violate any laws and was in tune with age-old traditions of paying respects to a bereaved family. "The visit was part of our Muslim customs towards the family and it has no political dimensions," said Bani Irsheid. Born Ahmad Fadhil al-Khalayleh to a notable family that is part of the country's largest Bani Hassan tribe, Zarqawi's relatives include many in the army and the royal palace.

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   SYRIA-OPPOSITION - June 13, 2006 - 8:30 a.m.
   Ex-Syrian Vice President Confident Hariri Probe Will Convict Senior Syrian
Officials Syria's former vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam has said he was confident the U.N. inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al- Hariri would convict senior Syrian officials. "I am as sure of this as I am that the sun will continue to rise from the East," he said late on Sunday in a telephone interview from Paris, where he has been living since breaking away rom President Bashar al-Assad last year. "The Syrian regime knows what it did ... and how the crime was committed. The day of truth will come."

Khaddam, a veteran aide to late President Hafez al-Assad, said he did not have hard evidence to back his claim, but he was partly basing his prediction on a conversation he had with Assad several months before Hariri's February 2005 killing. "I heard personally from Assad that he delivered very strong threats to Hariri. After the meeting, Hariri's blood pressure rose and he was bleeding from his nose," Khaddam said, repeating remarks he first made in December. The U.N. inquiry's latest report, prepared by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, said on Saturday "considerable progress" had been made in the investigation into the killing, but gave no indication the commission knew who was behind it.

Syrian cooperation with the commission, which investigator shad previously faulted, was "generally satisfactory," the report said, although continued cooperation "remains crucial." Syria had accused Brammertz's predecessor, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, of leading a politically-motivated inquiry after he implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the murder. Syria denies any role. Damascus, the dominant force in Lebanon until it ended its 29-year military presence in the aftermath of the murder, has yet to react to Saturday's report. State-run media had previously compared Brammertz favorably to his predecessor, a position Khaddam said stemmed from a false hope the inquiry would eventually clear Syrian officials.

"Their comfort is similar to that of a cancer patient who has been given an extra two months to live," said Khaddam, who was branded a "traitor" in Syria for his attacks on Assad. "The latest report is highly professional...and I think Brammertz is smart for not mentioning names to avoid being accused of running a political inquiry." Brammertz interviewed Assad and his Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa in April. His report said both men provided answers useful to the investigation. Khaddam, who has formed an opposition front in exile to bring about a regime change in Syria, said he gave a lengthy testimony to the Brammertz commission. He did not elaborate.

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   EGYPT-BROTHERHOOD - June 13, 2006 - 8:30 a.m.
   Protesting Muslim Brotherhood Members Beaten, Tear-Gassed by Egyptian Police
Egyptian police arrested 110 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on Monday, and beat and tear-gassed others as they protested outside a courthouse in which a prominent Brotherhood member was on trial, sources said. The group's Web site and an eyewitness said thousands of police had surrounded the demonstrators in the large Nile Delta town of Zagazig and had dispersed the crowd using sticks, teargas, rubber bullets and water cannons. The Web site said 10 demonstrators ad been injured and 110 arrested but an eyewitness gave a higher figure. Egypt's Interior Ministry was not immediately available for comment.

"The police attacked with sticks, teargas and water cannons. There were people injured through suffocation and beatings. People were taken to hospital," witness Nasser Nouri said. The protest was in support of Hassan el-Hayawan, who was on trial on charges of possessing firearms without a license, obstructing voting and being a member of an illegal organization. He was later acquitted.

The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's strongest opposition group and is usually tolerated despite being banned as an illegal organization. It fields parliamentary candidates as independents to sidestep the ban. The arrests come shortly after U.S. lawmakers narrowly defeated a bid to cut aid to Cairo on Thursday, a move intended to show U.S. displeasure with Egypt's democratic setbacks. Egypt is the second largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel. The United States publicly criticized Egypt three times last month for its harsh crackdown on political dissent.

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   IRAN-NUCLEAR - June 13, 2006 - 8:30 a.m.
   IAEA Head Urges Iran to Cooperate, But Iran Insists on "Nuclear Rights"
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday Iran was still resisting investigation into its disputed atomic program as pressure grew on Tehran to respond to a diplomatic overture from world powers. As the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met in Vienna, Iran insisted on its right to enrich uranium but did not reject outright the offer of incentives made by U.N. Security Council powers last week. "I would continue o urge Iran to provide the cooperation needed to resolve these issues," IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei told the meeting. "I remain convinced that the way forward lies through dialogue and mutual accommodation."

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who visited Tehran last week to hand over the package of trade, technological and security incentives for Iran to halt nuclear fuel work, said he expected a response soon. Solana, speaking to reporters at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, said he hoped for contact with the Islamic Republic, at least privately, by the weekend. A U.S. State Department official, who asked not to be identified, said Iran must not be allowed to mull over the offer endlessly while expanding a pilot uranium-enrichment program until it becomes a fait accompli. "We cannot let Iran consider these terms indefinitely, saying they are prepared to enter negotiations but at the same time just continuing their nuclear activities," he told reporters outside the IAEA board session in Vienna.

Diplomats said the 35-nation IAEA board would debate Iran but pass no resolutions, to avoid any diplomatic upset while Tehran considered an answer to the big power initiative. Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham on Monday restated Tehran's non-negotiable requirement for any negotiations, rejected by the powers: "We have obtained this technology, it is our obvious right and we do not negotiate over our obvious nuclear rights."

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   LEBANON-GEAGEA - June 13, 2006 - 7:30 a.m.
   Geagea: Uncovering Pro-Israeli Network Proves March 14 Defense Strategy
Viable Christian right-wing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that the uncovering of a pro-Israeli terrorist network, blamed for the recent assassination of two Islamic Jihad officials in Lebanon, indicated the importance of the March 14 Coalition defense strategy, AN NAHAR reported Monday. Lebanese army intelligence say they have uncovered a network of pro- sraeli agents allegedly responsible for the killing in Sidon of Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother Abu Nidal, both members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group (see MER 12/6/06).

What to do about international pressure to disband the military arm of Shiite Muslim Hizbullah is the most serious question facing Lebanon 14 months after Syria ended its three-decade presence in its smaller neighbor. Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, says it will not disarm and has proposed to senior politicians a defense strategy that allows its guerrillas to keep their weapons as a deterrent to Israel. But anti-Syrian Christian, Sunni and Druze leaders have demanded that Hizbullah give up its arms.

"There are two defense strategies currently on the dialogue table: one proposed by March 8 (Hizbullah and pro-Syrian forces) and another by [anti- Syrian] March 14. What happened on May 28 incorporated the March 8 defense strategy. Whereas the uncovering of the Israeli network incorporated the March 14 strategy," Geagea was quoted as saying. Last month, Israeli jets attacked Syrian-backed Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas in Lebanon, hours after rockets fired deep into northern Israel wounded an Israeli soldier. The flare- up came after a mysterious blast in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon that killed an Islamic Jihad official and his brother (see MER 27/5/06). Gun battles broke out between Israeli soldiers and Hizbullah guerrillas along the volatile Lebanese-Israeli border.

"The killing of the Majzoub brothers was treated in two manners: one was useless, manifested in attacking Israel with missiles leading, therefore, to an Israeli retaliation that further harmed Lebanon. The second was by the state, which silently pursued the killers, which eventually lead to uncovering them..." Geagea said. He added that the approach of the March 14 Coalition has safeguarded the citizens from further assassinations that the network could have carried out. "The most important point in a defense strategy is consensus among the Lebanese on the state and national army," Geagea said. He added that the regular army is in need of capabilities to fight Israel, "but we have to believe in it and provide it with political support".

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   LEBANON-POLITICS Ð June 13, 2006 Ð 7:30 a.m.
   Sfeir Says Lebanese Are Divided; Officials Disregard People's Sufferings
   Kabalan Hails National Army, But Defends Resistance's Arms
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir has said that the Lebanese are divided and the overall situation in the country is alarming, AN NAHAR reported on Monday. The prelate charged that officials are busy with their own business, ignoring the sufferings that the Lebanese people are going through. "The region around us is being haunted by phantoms of war," Sfeir said. eanwhile, Acting President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan, said that the Lebanese national army safeguards the nation, "and the resistance does not point its weapons toward the Lebanese". "Lebanon's sole enemy is Israel. We are desperately in need of solidarity, cooperation and unity between the Christians and Muslims. We are friends, brothers and partners in one country," Kabalan was quoted as saying. "We call for defending the resistance and its weapons...as long as Israel continues to direct its arms toward our nation. We should safeguard the resistance because it protects our border and people," Kabalan added.

Hizbullah has come under increasing international pressure to disarm in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559. The Party of God, which played a crucial role in ending the Israeli occupation of major parts of south Lebanon in 2000, is keen on maintaining its weapons on the ground that Lebanon still needs an armed resistance to protect it from ongoing Israeli aggression and occupation. Despite the resolution, Hizbullah remains active in southern Lebanon, regularly skirmishing with Israeli forces, which are occupying the Shabaa Farms border area. Some Lebanese believe it is time Hizbullah lay down its arms and stick to politics.

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   IRAQ-SECURITY Ð June 13, 2006 Ð 7:30 a.m.
   Al-Qaeda Warns of All-Out Attacks Against Enemy In Iraq
   US Sees Gradual Reduction of 131,000 Troops if New Iraqi Unity Govt Holds
   US Raids Produced a "Treasure Trove" of Intelligence from Zarqawi Hideout
   More Detainees Freed Under "Reconciliation" Drive
Al Qaeda in Iraq vowed on Sunday to carry out attacks to "shake the enemy" after the killing of its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, heightening fears his death will bring no respite from carnage. The group said in an Internet statement its leading body met after Zarqawi's death to discuss strategy and renew a pledge to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "We plan large-scaled operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep, in coordination ith the other factions of the Mujahideen Council," the statement said.

Iraqi leaders and their closest ally U.S. President George W. Bush hailed Zarqawi's death in a U.S. air strike on Wednesday as a major victory in the battle against "terrorism". But no one expects violence to ease dramatically: A car bomb killed six people and wounded 42 in Baghdad just hours after the statement was published, police said. Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda militants are waging a campaign of bombings and shootings to topple the Shi'ite-led government backed by Washington.

The commander of U.S. troops in Iraq predicted in an interview with CBS television on Sunday a gradual reduction of the 131,000 U.S. forces there if the new Iraqi unity government held together and the Iraqi army improved. Army General George Casey said a growing number of Iraqi army units were capable of leading the battle against the insurgency with U.S. logistical support and he expected almost all of them to develop the capability by the end of this year. "As long as the Iraqi security forces continue to progress and as long as this national unity government continues to operate that way and move the country forward, I think we're to be able to see continued gradual reduction of coalition forces over the coming months and into next year," Casey said.

Insurgents killed four Iraqi soldiers during an attack on a desert Iraqi army base in rebellious Anbar province on Sunday and police found the beheaded body of an Iraqi soldier in a river near Tikrit. A roadside bomb in northern Baghdad also seriously wounded a senior police officer. A policeman driving the car was killed and another was wounded.

U.S. military spokesman Major General William Caldwell has said that raids carried out after U.S. warplanes killed Zarqawi had produced a "treasure trove" of intelligence. And National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN on Sunday Iraqi security forces had infiltrated al Qaeda, saying: "We have managed to infiltrate this terrorist organisation and we got quite a few, not only Zarqawi, but others now." "We found diaries, telephone numbers, computers, we found a database in that computer. There was a lot of information Zarqawi used to carry with him," he said.

More Detainees Freed
More than 150 Iraqi prisoners were released on Sunday under a national reconciliation plan announced by Prime Minister al-Maliki last week to free a total of 2,500 inmates, witnesses said. Many protested their innocence and said they were detained at random. "I went to a funeral and I ended up here," said Awad Jassim Mohammad, a man in his 60s, who said he was arrested on June 30, 2004 on suspicion of attacking U.S. forces. Abu Ghraib is the site of a U.S. prisoner abuse scandal in 2004. The second group of inmates to be released in less than a week emerged from the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad into the blistering sun. Some held copies of the Koran and carried prayer rugs under the arms. They were received by Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.

Nearly 600 detainees were released on Wednesday under a plan Maliki's Shiite- led government hopes will draw members of the disgruntled minority Sunni community into the U.S.-backed political process in a bid to defuse the Sunni insurgency. Wearing a traditional white Arab dishdasha, or long robe, and leaning on a cane, Mohammad told reporters when asked if he was guilty: "Thank God I was not."

Charges Unknown
Abdul Kareem Yassin Amash, 38, said he was arrested a year ago while he slept in his home in the northern city of Mosul. "I'm leaving and I still don't know (the charges)," he said. "I'm not thinking about myself right now, I'm thinking about the thousands who are still here," said Amash, sporting a greying moustache and stubble and an Arab headdress. "There are people with families, kids, and they've been some for three years ... and forgotten about." One woman yelled and then fainted when she learned her son was not among those freed from U.S. and Iraqi detention centres. "My son has been held nine months," she screamed. "My son." Another freed detainee ran towards his family, hugging his father and kneeling down to kiss his feet as a woman relative cried.

Maliki, a Shiite Islamist whose three-week old government received a huge morale boost with the killing al Zarqawi, hopes the inclusion in his government of national unity of Sunni Arabs once dominant under Saddam Hussein will help tame the insurgency. When he made the prisoner release announcement, Maliki said it will only include people who had no evidence against them and who were not Saddam Hussein loyalists or people with "Iraqi blood on their hands."

A critical U.N. human rights report last month said that there were 28,700 detainees in Iraq, including 5,000 held by the Interior Ministry. U.S. and Iraqi prison officials do not give a breakdown of the detainees' sectarian affiliation, but most are believed to be Sunni Arabs. Leaders of the Sunni Arab community, wary of the U.S.-backed political process, which brought the empowerment of the long- oppressed Shiite majority, have demanded the release of Sunni prisoners from U.S.- and Iraqi-run jails. Arkan Abdullah, 17, who said he was arrested in February while working on a farm, said he was hopeful the release of prisoners would promote national reconciliation. "It's a good start and hopefully the government will make it, but I'm a student and probably missed most of my tests and exams," he said.

The Middle East Reporter©2000 All rights reserved Mansour Building, Rue Spears, P.O.Box. 11-3987 Riad Solh Beirut 1107-2150, Lebanon Contact us at MER@MiddleEastReporter.com

   SAUDI-QAEDA Ð June 13, 2006 Ð 7:30 a.m.
   Internet Statement Hails Zarqawi; Says His Death Gives Jihad New Momentum
Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia hailed their slain comrade in Iraq, Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, in an Internet statement on Sunday, saying the "martyrdom" gave fresh impetus to their holy war in the birthplace of Islam. "Jihad will not stop. Jihad will continue until the day of resurrection ... may this news provide new momentum," the statement signed by the al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula said. The statement could not be authenticated, but it was osted on a Web site frequently used by Islamist militants. "If it wasn't for God and this man, we would have found (U.S.-led forces) with their tanks and planes inside the Arabian Peninsula, killing and violating sanctities. May God accept you as a martyr ... the Islamic nation must be proud of leaders such as you." Zarqawi was killed on Wednesday by a U.S. air raid on his hideout north of Baghdad.

The leader of al-Qaeda, Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, had declared Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq. Al -Qaeda in Iraq vowed on Sunday to carry out large-scale attacks, but did not name a successor. Last week, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said the kingdom had defeated a violent campaign by al-Qaeda militants aimed at toppling the U.S.-allied monarchy and expelling Westerners, from the kingdom -- the birthplace of Islam. Officials say about 144 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, and 120 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al-Qaeda suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

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   IRAN-NUCLEAR Ð June 13, 2006 Ð 7:30 a.m.
   Iran Says Proposals from World Powers Contain Positive Elements, also
Problems Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Sunday there were problems as well as positive points in an incentive package put forward by six world powers to persuade Tehran to stop atomic fuel work. "These proposals contain some positive points. At the same time there are problems and ambiguous points," said Larijani, speaking through an Arabic translator after alks at the Arab League in Cairo. The West suspects Iran's atomic research aims to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it is purely for civilian use. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said earlier on Sunday Iran believed some of the points in the offer "should not exist". He also said some of the points were acceptable, while others were ambiguous. But Larijani, a more senior figure, had previously only referred to ambiguities in the offer. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted nuclear matters to the Supreme National Security Council and appointed Larijani as chief negotiator.

Larijani also said no deadline had been set for Iran to accept the package, which was agreed by the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China. "It was said that Iran was given a limited time period to agree ... This is incorrect," Larijani said. "We have always said that we welcome negotiations without any precondition," he added. Larijani also met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday to discuss the nuclear program. Iran has long been striving to persuade Arab states that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Egypt and Iran have not had diplomatic relations for 25 years and high-level contacts are rare, usually limited to international meetings. Egypt, which is a close U.S. ally, says Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear technology but not nuclear arms. "The strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is that Iran would always be with the Islamic and Arab states. As for the Iranian nuclear project, it does not contain any danger to Islamic states or to non-Islamic states or to Arab (states)," he said. "We are not looking for the atomic bomb," he said. "This Iranian project helps the Arab and Islamic states and will be a helpful factor for them," he said, adding that League Secretary- General Amr Moussa had told him Arab states should take steps towards harnessing peaceful nuclear technology.

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   MIDDLE EAST-EU Ð June 13, 2006 Ð 7:30 a.m.
   Israel Seeks Strong Stand against Hamas-led Govt. from EU; Olmert Talks with
Blair Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flew to London on Sunday for talks aimed at seeking a strong European stand against the Hamas-led Palestinian government and Iran's nuclear program. In talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday and later this week with French President Jacques Chirac, Olmert will also lobby for support for his West Bank redeployment plan. The proposal to emove dozens of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank while annexing others in the absence of peace talks has won U.S. praise but faces political hurdles at home and the misgivings of moderate Arabs. As top European Union powers, Britain and France have played supporting roles in navigating a beleaguered "road map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace. Along with Germany, they have also led Western bids to curb Iran's atomic ambitions through talks. Yet many Israelis see the Europeans as less reliable Middle East powerbrokers than their U.S. ally, a view bolstered by reports of anti-Semitism among Europe's growing Muslim minority.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the European Union is seen as "the weak link, but Olmert has the advantage of coming with a plan under which he is willing to give up territory." "I will present my realignment plan as I have presented it on every one of my visits abroad," Olmert told reporters before taking off for London, on his first trip as prime minister to Britain and France. Olmert has argued that the plan is warranted since Hamas Islamists sworn to the Jewish state's destruction defeated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' more moderate Fatah faction in January elections. Hamas has so far resisted calls to change. Yet the Europeans share Arab fears that the "realignment" could deprive Palestinians of a viable state alongside Israel. Though it closed ranks with Washington in imposing an aid embargo on the Hamas government, the European Union wants an alternative payment mechanism for Palestinian civil servants. "Ours is not a love-love relationship," a British diplomat said when asked about Israel, adding there would be "hard talking" with Olmert about his proposed unilateral policies.

Gaza Violence, Iran Fears
Olmert was a champion of last year's Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. But fighting with Palestinian militants from the coastal territory has continued unabated, undermining Israeli support for a sweeping redeployment in the strategic West Bank. Hamas announced at the weekend it was abandoning a 16-month-old truce in response to the killing of seven Palestinian beachgoers on a day of Israeli shelling on Gaza. "Realignment" went conspicuously unmentioned in speeches made by Olmert during visits earlier this month to Israel's two Arab peace partners, Egypt and Jordan. Instead, he spoke of negotiating with Abbas in hope of softening Hamas's stance. Olmert has also stressed the need to reign in arch-foe Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at producing a bomb despite Tehran's insistence it is for energy.

Israel, assumed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal, considers Iran a threat to its existence. Olmert has endorsed Western efforts to negotiate a compromise with Tehran but refuses to rule out Israeli military action as a last resort. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel's elimination and Holocaust denials have had special resonance in Europe, site of the Nazi genocide against Jews in World War Two. The Israeli official said that France, confronted with urban disturbances by predominantly Muslim immigrant youth, no longer saw anti-Semitism as primarily a response to Israeli policy. "Europe finally understands that you can't get rid of a problem by blaming it on Israel," the official said.

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