JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut a lonely figure while his Islamist Hamas rivals in the Gaza Strip have battled Israel, gaining kudos in the West Bank and de facto Arab recognition.

Hamas leaders received Arab and Turkish foreign ministers in Gaza on Tuesday, following similar trips by Egypt’s prime minister and Tunisia’s foreign minister, as well as one by the emir of Qatar last month before the eruption of a week-old conflict that now seems to be heading into a ceasefire.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has cut a lonely figure while his Islamist Hamas rivals in the Gaza Strip have battled Israel, gaining kudos in the West Bank and de facto Arab recognition.

Hamas leaders received Arab and Turkish foreign ministers in Gaza on Tuesday, following similar trips by Egypt’s prime minister and Tunisia’s foreign minister, as well as one by the emir of Qatar last month before the eruption of a week-old conflict that now seems to be heading into a ceasefire.

LONDON (Reuters) – With protesters baying for his overthrow, Jordan’s King Abdullah might be wondering why his fellow-dynasts in Gulf Arab states are not providing the cash that could calm the trouble.

After days of demonstrations against fuel price rises in provincial towns, Muslim Brotherhood supporters joined crowds in Amman on Friday in a rare focus of anger on the king.

LONDON (Reuters) – With protesters baying for his overthrow, Jordan’s King Abdullah might be wondering why his fellow-dynasts in Gulf Arab states are not providing the cash that could calm the trouble.

After days of demonstrations against fuel price rises in provincial towns, Muslim Brotherhood supporters joined crowds in Amman on Friday in a rare focus of anger on the king.

LONDON (Reuters) – Israel’s assault on Gaza sends more sparks flying into a combustible Middle East, but is unlikely to ignite a wider war or destroy the Jewish state’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.

A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday and Israeli bombs brought the Palestinian death toll to 13 in a worsening military showdown after Israel assassinated a top Hamas military commander the previous day.

RABAT, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Unlike other Arab leaders
challenged on the streets early last year, King Mohammed VI
swiftly reformed Morocco’s constitution, held an election and
let an Islamist party lead the government.

His response smothered popular ferment, drew plaudits from
the West and seemed to set Morocco on a more democratic course,
but 20 months on it is unclear how much power has changed hands.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – North African heavyweight Algeria is worried by the chaos in neighboring Mali, where Islamist militants have seized vast tracts of the country, but believes foreign intervention will only make things worse.

Much is at stake for Algeria, Africa’s biggest country and a wealthy oil and gas exporter that shares a 2,000 km (1,250 mile) border with Mali and sees itself as a major regional power.

LONDON (Reuters) – Signs that President Bashar al-Assad is rapidly losing his grip on Syria alarm his regional allies, Iran and Hezbollah, and worry other neighbors fearful of chaos on their doorsteps.

This week’s sustained battles in the capital Damascus and the explosion that killed Assad’s feared brother-in-law and three other men at the core of his fight for survival have focused attention on the possible consequences of his downfall.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s bark seems worse than its bite.

Ask the Syrians, who shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet on June 22 and got away with it.

Turkish leaders shrilled up their rhetoric. They sent anti-aircraft missiles to the border and repeatedly scrambled F-16 fighters when Syrian helicopters flew too close. Ankara won supportive noises from its NATO allies. But that was it.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, was sworn in on Saturday, propelling his Muslim Brotherhood into power after 84 years of struggle, although the military remains determined to call the shots.

Immediately after taking his oath, Mursi said a civilian and constitutional state had been “born today”.