Jerusalem

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up her Middle East shuttle diplomacy tour yesterday, leaving Israeli officials seemingly reassured and Palestinians searching for a silver lining. Rice, who flew to London to meet with Jordan's King Abdullah II, essentially shot down the primary Palestinian demands after days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in advance of a proposed Annapolis peace conference this fall. "Condoleezza Rice made it clear that she in fact agrees with most of Jerusalem's demands," said an editorial yesterday in the Hebrew daily Maariv.

JERUSALEM -- After prodding the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table for the first time in nearly seven years, the Bush administration now confronts a stalemate that threatens to undermine the latest peace initiative and further diminish American influence in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas put negotiators to work last week with instructions to make progress in advance of a U.S.-sponsored peace conference tentatively set for next month in Annapolis.

JERUSALEM -- A Hamas official in Gaza said yesterday that his organization was holding unofficial talks with representatives from the rival Fatah movement, as tension between the factions continued to simmer. Fatah officials deny that any such dialogue is taking place. An adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed Palestinian prime minister of Hamas, said that the talks had been authorized by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, but that so far they had not led to any breakthrough.

Jerusalem -- With two army helicopters escorting his motorcade, Ehud Olmert ventured into the West Bank yesterday to discuss the most divisive issues of a possible peace settlement, the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to Palestinian territory in seven years. "I am delighted to see you," Olmert said, embracing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas inside a heavily guarded hotel in the city of Jericho. The Israeli leader said he had come to discuss "fundamental issues" in the decades-old conflict, "hoping that this will lead us soon into negotiations about the creation of a Palestinian state."

JERUSALEM -- The emergency Palestinian government led by Salam Fayyad stepped down yesterday to be replaced by a caretaker Palestinian government led by - Salam Fayyad. The new government is exactly like the old one, with a few more ministers. But it will have an indefinite mandate as long as the current Palestinian parliament is unable to form a quorum. The move was required because the emergency Cabinet, named by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, after he fired the government led by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas, could legally last for only 30 days unless the parliament ratified it. But when Abbas called a session of the parliament, Hamas boycotted it, preventing a quorum.

I first met Daniel Pearl 10 years ago, in a very different world. It was different in part because it was Tehran, where women were covered from head to toe and men could be seen on the streets wearing turbans and robes. Secret police asked us questions in hotel rooms, and dissidents were reluctant to speak to us. But it was also different because, unlike today, things actually seemed to be getting better - not just in Iran but all over the region. We had both arrived - Danny from London, I from Jerusalem - to cover the May 1997 presidential election in which reformer Mohammad Khatami came from behind to beat the supposed shoo-in candidate of the ruling clerics.

JERUSALEM -- For nearly four months in solitary confinement, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston felt "buried alive" but buoyed by international support he knew was out there by listening to his network's radio broadcasts. In his first lengthy remarks after being freed by Palestinian kidnappers in the Gaza Strip, Johnston said yesterday that coverage of vigils and expressions of worldwide encouragement helped him fight despair and stay focused as days of captivity turned into weeks and months.

JERUSALEM -- It's hard to imagine anyone culling humor from recent events in the Middle East: Hamas gunmen took over the Gaza Strip during a week of bloody fighting against their Fatah rivals; Palestinian militants fired rockets into southern Israel; Israeli aircraft pounded targets in the Gaza Strip; and in Tel Aviv, thousands of peace activists protested the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. But that hasn't kept a group of comedians - three Jews and one Arab - from taking to the stage and trying to get Israelis and Palestinians to poke fun at themselves and their intractable conflict.

JERUSALEM -- Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister ousted by voters six years ago, recaptured leadership of the Labor Party yesterday. Barak's victory, by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent over lawmaker Ami Ayalon in a party runoff, represents a remarkable political rebirth for the ambitious and strong-willed leader who lost in 2001 to the hawkish Ariel Sharon. "Today begins the journey toward restoration," Barak told supporters early today during a brief victory speech at party headquarters in Tel Aviv.

JERUSALEM -- With prospects for peace talks with the Palestinians looking dim, the talk of this town is whether Israel should start talks with the Syrian regime. Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported recently that Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz was off to Washington to seek America's blessing for a secret channel to explore peace talks with Damascus. The Bush administration, which wants to isolate Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been cool to this idea. After talks with Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Mofaz backtracked, saying Israel wanted to give greater priority to peace with the Palestinians.