Hamas

In her first visit to the Middle East as the United State's chief diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finds herself in the same position as her recent predecessors. She is defending Israel's right to protect itself against Hamas-launched rocket attacks and offering financial aid to Palestinians under the condition that it won't fall into the "wrong hands," a reference to the Islamic militants in control of the bomb-ravaged Gaza Strip. The intended beneficiary of America's $900 million reconstruction pledge is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who needs to make inroads in the Hamas-governed strip to shift the balance of power among Palestinians in his favor - and perhaps toward a resumption of peace talks.

Iraqi provincial elections see 50 percent turnout BAGHDAD: Just more than half of Iraq's 15 million registered voters cast ballots in weekend provincial elections, with turnout as low as 40 percent in at least one province, but Iraqi and international officials insisted yesterday that they were satisfied with the participation. U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker characterized the turnout as "large," and Iraq's top election official called it the most important election to take place since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein.

The United States' new Mideast envoy, George J. Mitchell, arrives in the region with a presidential imperative to listen and a sense of d?j? vu. This is not new territory for the former Maine senator. The geopolitical landscape hasn't changed much from when Mr. Mitchell last reported on the situation for former President George W. Bush in 2001. The polarizing personalities of Israel's Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are gone from the scene, but the underlying issues of the conflict - terrorism, settlements, Jerusalem's future - remain obstacles to a negotiated resolution and two secure states coexisting in peace.

Push Israel to accept Arab peace initiative The article "Hamas acts to reassert control in Gaza" (Jan. 20) buried critically important information in the text that should have been in the headline: It reported that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had warned Israel that a peace offer from 22 Arab countries that recognizes Israel's right to exist within its 1967 borders "will not always remain on the table." The initiative promises normalized diplomatic and economic relations with Israel in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza along the borders that existed before 1967.

It's no coincidence that Israeli troops halted their devastating strikes on the Gaza Strip and began withdrawing from the Palestinian enclave the weekend before Barack Obama's inaugural festivities. Politics took precedence over military goals in deference to America's 44th president. But the underlying causes of Israel's three-week-old war against Hamas militants remain. They are at the center of the region's problems and Israel's fight for its future. Helping resolve this decades-old conflict falls now to President Obama.

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip - Uniformed police officers returned to the streets of Gaza yesterday with machine guns in hand as Hamas sought to reassert control over the battered enclave. "Hamas emerged from this battle with its head held high," said Hamad Ruqb, a Hamas official in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. "Every Israeli attack only increases our support." As Israeli tanks and soldiers continued their withdrawal, residents began to assess the damage. In addition to a death toll of more than 1,300, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated infrastructure and economic losses at almost $2 billion, with 14 percent of the buildings in Gaza destroyed.

Jerusalem - Declaring Hamas "badly beaten," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a unilateral halt to Israel's punishing offensive in the Gaza Strip starting yesterday. But he said Israeli forces will stay in the Palestinian territory for now, and Hamas threatened to keep fighting until they leave. Israel's decision, which took effect at 2 a.m., could bring relief to the battered coastal enclave after 22 days of airstrikes and a thundering ground offensive that killed more than 1,200 people and reduced entire residential city blocks to rubble.

On a day of action on military and diplomatic fronts, Israeli soldiers drove deep into Gaza City yesterday, killed two top Hamas leaders and incurred withering international criticism for shelling a United Nations compound full of provisions for refugees. Despite the assault, Hamas fighters managed to fire at least 26 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel. A rocket seriously wounded a woman and a 7-year-old boy in Beersheva, about 26 miles from Gaza, and injured three others. But there were also signs that a cease-fire deal was within reach.