1. RICE URGES RETURN TO ROAD MAP…United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Israel on Friday for meetings with top government members. During a meeting with her Israeli counterpart Sylvan Shalom on Thursday evening, Rice urged Jerusalem and the Palestinians to return to the peace Road Map as laid out by the international Quartet: Russia, the United Nations, the European Union and the U.S. She also called on the Palestinian Authority to do far more to stop attacks against Israeli targets, a message she will sharpen when she leaves Jerusalem for Ramallah.
2. HEATED MIDEAST DEBATE AT SECURITY COUNCIL…Israel is using its withdrawal from Gaza as a diversion as it expands settlements in the West Bank and extends its separation wall around Jerusalem – that was the claim made at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday by the Palestinian Authority. Israel managed to muster sufficient support in the council to prevent the Israeli-Palestinian issue from being passed to the U.N. General Assembly for an emergency debate. The U.N.’s top envoy to the region Alvaro de Soto welcomed Israel’s decision to withdraw from Gaza. It is an imperative right now, he said.
3. TML: ARAB NATIONS SET TO URGE FASTER IRAQ WITHDRAWAL…Leaders of Arab nations are likely to increase pressure on Washington in the next few days to speed up the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq, according to The Media Line analysts. The demands for a pullout will come after attacks on at least five leading Arab diplomats serving in Baghdad. Bahrani, Egyptian and Algerian officials have been targeted over the last few weeks. TML analysts say those behind the attacks are sending a clear message to Arab capitals: By being in the country right now, you are playing into the hands of the occupying forces. It is understood that Washington and London are currently seeking strategies for leaving Iraq within a year.