BULLETIN No.110

Jerusalem Post The Region: Why bail Hamas out?
For Israel and Hamas, a Case for Accommodation By Robert Malley and Aaron David Miller, While Hamas's and Israel's long-term designs remain at loggerheads, their immediate agendas dovetail.
Ha’aretz – Haniyeh: Plan implicitly accepting Israel important
Ha’aretz – Islamic Jihad said planning to assassinate PA Chairman Abbas
Yedioth Ahronoth Haniyeh: Right of return holy Palestinian prime minister says right of return for Palestinian refugees is 'holy' for Palestinian people; Hamas-led government will make no concessions on issue to international peace brokers, he hints
Debka A Hamas Ideologue Bares His Movement’s Secret Designs and Dilemmas
Column One: America embraces the Hamas fantasy
Hamas 2.0: A view from Ramallah
Yedioth Ahronoth 'Don't respond to Iran taunts' Expert: Israeli leaders serve Iran's interests by responding to Ahmadinejad's provocations

Syrian Kurdish follow-up conference to convene in Brussels
Kurdish Aspect The Baath’s regime of Syria continues Arabization of Kurdish ... Regarding a direct command of Bashar al-Asad issued on 2006/9/5, 244 Palestinian thrown out after destroying the Saddam’ Regime, to be settled in Syria
US Report Accuses Syria of Seeking Nukes
Jerusalem Post 'Syria should leave Lebanon' Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday the UN Security Council's involvement in Syria and Lebanon may impede attempts to reach a better
Ehsan Ahrari AQ Khan’s Syrian Connection
BBC Holiday hotspots Little-known Syrian seaside resort awaits a tourist boom
Syria Rejects UN Draft Resolution on Lebanon
Syria warns UN not to intervene in Damascus' ties with Beirut 02:45
Lebanon's new resolve on Palestinian issue
PLO opens a new office in Beirut Monday ahead of talks targeting armed groups, refugee conditions

New York Times U.N. Finds New Uranium Traces in Iran
Newsweek Our New Pen Pal Bush has been clear on Iran: no one-on-one talks. But with no good military options, and Tehran's putting out feelers, will that change?
Washington Post Thinking Outside the Iran Box By Jim Hoagland
From Iran, With Something Less Than Love By ELAINE SCIOLINO Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush was eerily reminiscent of a letter sent in 1989 by Khomeini to Gorbachev.
Time Should We Talk With Tehran? A missive from Iran stirs a call for direct negotiations over the country's nukes. Here's why the U.S. isn't tempted
Brzezinski Calls for Direct Talks With Iran
ArmsControlWonk Iranian Centrifuge Developments [4]
Asia Times Tehran gets a sanctions reprieve - for now Hard diplomacy by the US predictably failed to get the united front needed to brand Iran a threat to world peace. It remains to be seen whether a softer line of "carrots" will be more successful. It is even questionable whether such terms as "carrots" and "sticks" belong in the vocabulary of diplomats. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
OpenDemocracy Constants and variables in Iran Iranians' traditional attitudes to Arabs and the west are being reinforced by a growing regional confidence, says Hazem Saghieh
Financial Times Editorial A grand bargain still only solution on Iran
Heightened Pressure for a Direct US-Iran Dialogue
New clue to Iran's nuclear aims cited Western diplomats said there were signs that Iran was continuing to pursue uranium-enrichment research in secret.
Washington Post Annan Urges U.S. to Take Part in Talks With Iran
BBC US rejects Annan appeal on Iran The US rejects an appeal by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to talk directly to Iran about its nuclear programme
The EU should abandon the U.S. on Iran By Nicole Stracke The European Union "is at a crossroads" was how the media interpreted the beginning of direct negotiations between the European Union-3 - Britain, France and Germany - and Iran in 2003, so that Tehran would renounce nuclear enrichment.

Christian Science Monitor Patronage charges roil Iraq's bid for unity Squabbling among the dominant Shiite parties is the latest impediment to a unity government.
NRO VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: America’s carrying out of World War II could have been much more criticized by the press than the carrying out of the war in Iraq. “In the Eye of the Beholder”
Iraq's Bosnian Future Tikkun
USA Today Shi'ites May Form Iraq Govt Unilaterally
Business oils wheels ready for Iraq rebuildJeffrey Smith, a fluent Arabic-speaker from his time in the US special forces, says he is probably the only American citizen to live and work with ordinary Iraqis in downtown Baghdad.
Zarqawi Steps Up Civilian Attacks
The ominous backlash of a U.S. pullout from Iraq By Rami G. Khouri Now that the United States and the United Kingdom are talking increasingly about how to get out of Iraq, could we please try to agree on why they went in there in the first place? I do not say this out of spite or to score points.
Iraq’s Press: A Status Report
Party abandons Iraq talks One of the smaller parties in the main Shia alliance in Iraq says it is withdrawing from talks on a new cabinet.

Al Hayat The Dangers of Iraq, Iran and Palestine: Jordan in Anxiety
Iran and Turkey fire salvo over Iraq Asia Times Ankara and Tehran have both taken the fight into Iraqi territory, thereby notifying Washington and Baghdad that an axis is forming against moves toward Kurdish autonomy. The already fractious domestic political scene is further complicated by the new alliance.
Turkey's fate tied to stability in IraqBaltimore Sun,
Erdal Şafak Türkiye, İran ve İsrail
Turkey, the US, Iran and the perils of missed opportunitiesCengiz Candar
The Observer Memo to EU: we call it Islamic terrorism because it is terror inspired by Islam Nick Cohen: The EU can't understand what its enemies are saying, because it won't call them by their right name.
McCain to Send Baker to the Middle East? FrontPage
Sunday Telegraph 10 years on and there are cold wars everywhere Ever since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, pessimists have been asking themselves when the next cold war will begin, and who the new enemy will be. But what if it's cold wars, plural, and enemies, plural, we should be worrying about, asks Niall Ferguson.
NYT Magazine The Perils of Soft Power By JOSEF JOFFE Why America's cultural influence makes enemies, too
Daily TelegraphFreedom's best guarantor is a sovereign parliament The best guarantor of freedom is a sovereign parliament - which is another way of saying that it is up to us all to safeguard our rights. As Disraeli put it: "To the liberalism they profess, I prefer the liberties we enjoy."
DAVID BROOKS From Freedom to Authority
In the political world, we're seeing a conservatism that emphasizes freedom give way to a conservatism that emphasizes authority.
Newsweek Analyzing 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
Is Neoconservativism Dead? Hopes for a strong democracy in Iraq are melting in the desert sun and American neoconservatives refuse to admit the war has been a clear debacle. But their goal of democratizing the Middle East remains an admirable one.
Fareed Zakaria: The RealStory of Pricey Oil Since the mid-1970s the demand for petroleum in Western Europe and Japan has been flat. In the United States it has doubled.
Juan Cole Very Basic Suggested Reading List on Middle East* ...