Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, UN chief discuss region's affairs

Gaza quiet efforts active in Cairo, Arab League exerts int'l efforts on Israel's settlement issue

Siniora: Govt. to inevitably see light

Efforts underway to form Lebanese government, Lebanese army comes under fresh attack in north

Bush stresses rejection of Iran's nuke steps, Sarkozy justifies invitation of Assad to Paris

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at his palace in Riyadh United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his accompanying delegation.

At the outset of the audience, the monarch welcomed the U.N. Secretary General, wishing him and his delegation a good stay in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The King praised the efforts being exerted by the United Nations to achieve peace and security all over the world.

For his part, the U.N. Secretary General expressed his happiness over visiting the Kingdom and meeting with the King, valuing the support provided by the Kingdom for the United Nations activities and relief aid for the stricken areas in the world especially what it recently provided for the World Food Program.

They also reviewed the developments of events at regional and international arenas particularly the developments of the Palestinian cause, the peace process in the region, the situations in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia, and United Nations efforts in finding solutions to end conflicts and tensions in the region.

The audience was attended by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

King Abdullah also received at his palace the leader of Socialist Progressive Party of Lebanon and Member of House of Representatives Waleed Jumblatt accompanied by Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Al-Aridi.

During the audience, the current situations in Lebanon were reviewed. The audience was attended by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Secretary General of National Security Council and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Dr. Abdulaziz Mohieddin Khoja.

The Arab League Council at the level of the permanent representatives concluded their emergency meeting to discuss the Israel's settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territories especially the occupied Alquds city.

At the end of their meeting, the council decided to ask the Arab Group at the United Nations in New York to urgently coordinate with the Organization of Islamic Conference and Non-Alignment Movement countries to study the draft resolution presented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and prepare for presenting it to the Security Council or the General Assembly to look into the issue of settlements and its dangerous developments and its negative affect on the chances of reaching peace in the Middle East.

The council entrusted Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa to hold contacts with the European Union (EU) to stop any steps to conclude an agreement with Israel that would grant the latter a special position inside the EU institutions despite its violations of human rights laws.

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Negotiations Department, warned against Israel's planned massive attack on the Gaza Strip, adding "this would torpedo the peace process and push the region into a spiral of violence and chaos.

Erekat, in statements during a meeting with a delegation from the European Parliament, said that the international community has done all that it could do to give a hand to Egyptian efforts to sustain a comprehensive mutual quiet in the Gaza Strip and also bring Israel to respect its pledges, particularly as far as settlement activities are concerned.

An Israeli defense official headed to Cairo on Thursday following a decision to pursue Egyptian-mediated efforts to reach a truce in Gaza while at the same time preparing a possible military onslaught.

Amos Gilad, a top aide of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, had talks with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, who has been mediating between Israel and Palestinian militant factions, officials said.

"We must assess the possibilities of reaching a calm," Barak told journalists on Thursday. "Our duty is to ensure security around the Gaza Strip and we shall do so.

"Our military is strong and we are ready. As soon as the order is given, we will act," he added, stressing that Israel must first "try to reach the same results without turning to the armed forces."

Hamas, the Islamist movement which seized power in Gaza one year ago, has ridiculed Israel for claiming it wants a truce while at the same time gearing up for a military offensive.

The Maariv daily said that following its meeting on Wednesday, Israel's security cabinet gave truce efforts another two weeks.

If Palestinian militants do not stop firing rockets and mortar rounds at southern Israel during that period, the military will be given the green light to launch a ground operation deep inside the Gaza Strip, the paper said.

But if militants do hold their fire, Israel would then ease the blockade it imposed after the June 15, 2007 Hamas takeover, when the Islamists ousted forces loyal to secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Israel would then allow more humanitarian equipment and supply trucks to enter Gaza, army radio said.

The authorities would also allow the reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the only one that bypasses Israel, but only if a captured Israeli soldier is released, the radio said.

Officials made Israel's agreement to a truce conditional on progress in efforts to free Corporal Gilad Shalit, 21, who was seized by Hamas militants in a cross-border raid two years ago.

Hamas has in the past insisted that talks on a prisoner exchange should be separate from truce negotiations. Israeli military intelligence fears Hamas would step up its attacks until a ceasefire takes effect, in a bid to show it is entering the agreement from a position of strength, Maariv said.

For months Egypt has tried to get both sides to hold their fire, but the bloodshed has continued in and around the impoverished and densely populated Gaza Strip. On Thursday a gunman was killed in a clash with Israeli forces in northern Gaza -- the eighth Palestinian killed in Gaza so far this week.

At least 500 people, nearly all Palestinians and the majority of them Gaza militants, have now been killed since peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian leadership resumed last November, according to an AFP count.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo Saturday evening to hear from the Egyptian side about Israel's response to a Cairo-mediated ceasefire in the Gaza Strip now under Hamas rule.

The Hamas delegation reached Cairo via the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, said the Egyptian new agency MENA.

According to MENA, Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is scheduled to hold talks with the four-member Hamas delegation led by senior leaders Khalil al-Haya and Jamal Abu Hashem.

Earlier, another Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo from Damascus, Syria for the same purpose.

Egypt has been acting as a mediator between Israel and Gaza militant groups to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel wants Gaza militants to stop rockets attacks on southern Israel in exchange for opening the closed Gaza border crossings. It also insisted that any truce with Gaza militant groups should include the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli corporal who was captured by three Hamas-led militant groups two years ago.

However, Gaza-based Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, has insisted that his movement rejects the Israeli conditions to include Shalit in the truce talks as they are two separated issues.

After Hamas movement took control of the Gaza Strip in June last year, Israel imposed a tightened blockade on Gaza, closed down all the border crossings and branded the coastal enclave a "hostile entity."

For his part, Ismail Haniyeh said there has to be measures on the ground to launch a Palestinian dialogue, including the cessation of media incitement and release of all political prisoners, stressing that there was no single political prisoner inside his "government" jails in the Gaza Strip.

Addressing a rally of professional syndicates in the strip, Haniyeh said "our problem is not with the PLO. There has to be a direct dialogue with Fatah Movement in the fashion of dialogue among Lebanese rivals," noting "first of all there should be an agreement on the principles of this dialogue before talking about any details."

The leaders of the European Union and the United States of America called on Israel and the Palestinians to implement their Roadmap obligations in full. In their 2008 EU – U.S. Summit Declaration on June 11, 2008, the participants welcomed the recent steps forward toward Peace in the Middle East and would pursue complementary efforts to support the Parties’ efforts to reach a political agreement by the end of 2008, as foreseen at the Annapolis Conference.

'We are determined to support the subsequent implementation of that agreement, and call again on Israel and the Palestinians to implement their Roadmap obligations in full,' according to declaration.

The EU and the U.S. are doing important work in the area of Palestinian capacity-building to pave the way for a future democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.

The leaders underlined the importance of continued broad and constructive involvement by Arab partners and commend the Arab League’s Peace Initiative and its goal of promoting a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

They called on donors, especially those in the region to follow through on and, if possible increase their pledges and deliver assistance to the Palestinian National Authority PNA.

The EU and the US have threatened Iran with further sanctions unless it verifiably suspends nuclear enrichment.

The measures were announced after US President George W Bush held talks in Slovenia, during what is expected to be his last official tour of Europe. The "additional measures" would include "steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot... support proliferation and terrorism", said a joint statement.

Bush said a nuclear-armed Iran would be "incredibly dangerous" to peace. "They can either face isolation or they can have a better relationship with all of us if they verifiably suspend their nuclear enrichment program," he said.

"They've ignored the [International Atomic Energy Agency] in the past and therefore they can't be trusted with enrichment."

The US president was speaking during a joint news conference with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso after the leaders' summit at Brdo Castle.

Bush has now arrived in the German capital, Berlin, and is later due to travel to Italy, France, the Vatican and the UK.

The 5,000-word statement urged Tehran not to continue defying a demand from the UN Security Council to stop the enrichment of uranium as part of its nuclear program.

"We will fully and effectively implement" the existing UN sanctions "and we are ready to supplement those sanctions with additional measures," said the statement. "We will continue to work together... to take steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism."

The UN Security Council has approved three rounds of sanctions against Iran. These include asset restrictions and travel bans on Iranian individuals and companies said to be involved in nuclear work. The sanctions also ban the sale to Iran of so-called dual-use items, which can have either a military or civilian purpose.

Barclays Bank, based in the UK, has already responded to such pressure and ended all dealings with Iran's Saderat Bank and Bank Melli, which are on the US list of Specially Designated Nationals.

All US businesses trading with anyone on the SDN list must block their accounts immediately and end any business involvement. Tehran meanwhile has told Iranian banks to transfer assets and investments from European banks to Iran's central bank.

Observers say the move is not only to escape economic sanctions, but also part of a wider government plan to create a huge pan-Iranian bank run on Islamic principles. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will go to Iran on Sunday with a "refreshed" offer of economic and political incentives.

"Now's the time for there to be strong diplomacy," said Bush during the joint press conference.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday Israel's settlement building was harming peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

After meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- who called settlements "the highest hurdle" to a deal with Israel -- Rice said an agreement on creating a Palestinian state could be reached this year but that all sides had to work harder.

Making her sixth visit to the region this year to try to push the two sides closer to a deal, Rice suggested she might deepen her own involvement and proposed she hold more three-way meetings with the two top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

Disputes over settlements and a corruption scandal that could topple Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have undercut a U.S. push for a deal before President George W. Bush steps down in January, Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials say.

A spokesman for the Jerusalem municipality said on Sunday that a regional planning board had authorized building at least 2,550 new homes by 2020 in the occupied West Bank in areas that Israel considers part of Jerusalem. That figure includes 1,300 planned units announced over the weekend.

"The actions and the announcements that are taking place are indeed having a negative effect on the atmosphere for the negotiation -- and that is not what we want," she told a news conference with Abbas, pointing to Israeli settlement activity.

Speaking later to American reporters, Rice said it was important to restore confidence that Israel was not trying to "dictate or prejudge" borders, which the United States believes should be determined in negotiations between the two parties.

Asked if she expected Israel to take action to rein in settlement activity, Rice said: "I don't expect, frankly, any blinding breakthroughs." She later told reporters she had seen no signs of an Israeli change of heart on settlements.

Israel says its settlement projects are consistent with long-standing policies that do not contradict the peace efforts. Palestinians fear the enclaves will deny them a viable state.

"It's clear to everyone that the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem will remain part of Israel in any possible final status agreement," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. Israel considers all of Jerusalem -- including the eastern part of the city it captured in a 1967 war and annexed in a move that did not gain international recognition -- to be its "eternal and indivisible" capital.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they aim to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel has repeatedly announced plans to build more homes in Jewish settlements it intends to keep in any peace deal, violating its commitments to halt all settlement activity under a 2003 U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. The road map also calls on the Palestinians to crack down on militants.

In a string of meetings, Rice held talks with Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as well as with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

She also had a three-way session with the top negotiators, Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei, and proposed holding more to try to reach the end-of-the-year goal, which is now widely viewed as unrealistic.

"We have a lot of work to do between now and then if we're going to get it done. So I expect an intensification of our efforts," she said. "It's June. I expect that people are going to work harder and harder."

Rice said she planned to discuss road map compliance at trilateral talks on Monday morning with Barak and Fayyad.

In the Gaza Strip, the Islamist Hamas group that controls the territory said "nothing good could come from Rice's visit." Hamas, which seized the area from Abbas's Fatah faction in fighting a year ago, opposes his peace talks with Israel.

On the other hand, Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Friday voiced regrets over the failure of Lebanese politicians to agree on the makeup of a new government, more than two weeks since the naming of a prime minister.

"We are surprised, and we regret and express our reproach because a government still has not been formed," Moussa said after arriving in Beirut on a private visit.

Forming a cabinet "is an inseparable part of the Doha accord and a pillar of Lebanon's stability," he said, referring to a deal worked out last month under Qatari mediation that brought Lebanon's feuding political factions back from the brink of civil war.

"We hope the Lebanese will succeed in forming a government quickly," he later said after a meeting with President Michel Sleiman, the former army commander who was elected on May 25 under the terms of the Doha agreement.

Sleiman had been a consensus candidate accepted by both the Western-backed parliamentary majority and the Iranian- and Syria-backed opposition, but their failure to agree on the makeup of a national unity government and a new electoral law blocked his election for six months.

On May 28, Sleiman named caretaker prime minister Fuoad Siniora to form the new government. Siniora has so far failed because of disagreement over who should head the defense, interior, finance and foreign relations portfolios.

The constitution sets no deadlines for forming a government, once someone has been tasked with doing so, nor does it provide a mechanism for withdrawing that mandate from an unsuccessful prime minister-designate.

Moussa said he was in Lebanon on a private visit to attend the wedding of a daughter of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, but he plans to meet with senior figures in the country.

For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Fouad Siniora said on Friday that the formation of a new government was inevitable despite what he described as relatively minor difficulties.

"Things are moving in the right direction. Whenever we are faced with an obstacle, we are working on eliminating it ... We faced a minor obstacle, but we managed to overcome it ... There is no need for tension," he said, without explaining what the obstacle was.

Speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail, Siniora said he was still waiting for the opposition's answer on his proposals for the next government.

Siniora, who contacted Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday, defended the idea of considering the portfolios of interior and defense as part of the president's quota in the new cabinet.

Siniora reportedly proposed two formulas on how to distribute portfolios in the new cabinet, but news reports on Friday said the opposition had its reservations on both.

According to published media reports, one formula gives the opposition finance, public works, education, displaced, tourism, environment, youth and sports, and culture, while the other gives the opposition foreign affairs, energy, justice, economy, industry, agriculture, social affairs, and health.

The first option is headed by the Finance Ministry, which is requested by Aoun, while the second option is headed by the Foreign Ministry, demanded by his ally, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Choosing one of the two formulas will leave one of the two leaders dissatisfied. News reports on Friday said the opposition was insisting on getting two out of the four sovereign portfolios - finance, foreign affairs, interior, and defense - while both of Siniora's formulas give only one such portfolio to the opposition.

Yielding to the opposition's demands would leave the parliamentary majority with no sovereign portfolios if President Michel Sleiman gets the security-related interior and defense portfolios.

However, Arab diplomatic sources were quoted Friday by As-Safir newspaper as saying that the Justice Ministry should be added to the sovereign portfolios in a bid to facilitate a fair distribution of ministries.

Given the opposition's insistence on getting two sovereign ministries, adding the Justice Ministry to the sovereign portfolios would allow the parliamentary majority to get the two remaining portfolios if only the Interior Ministry went to the president. News reports on Friday also said the opposition had reservations about keeping Defense Minister Elias Murr in his post.

The reports said that the opposition was not willing to regard Murr as a neutral figure and believed that keeping him in the post was equivalent to giving the parliamentary majority an additional minister.

According to an agreement signed in Doha on May 21, Lebanon's new cabinet will include 16 ministers for the parliamentary majority, 11 for the opposition, and three for the president.

The Arab League chief told reporters that he did not believe Arab intervention was necessary to facilitate the formation of the new government.

"Since day one, we refused to interfere in the details related to the formation of the new cabinet, such as the distribution of portfolios and the names of the prospective ministers," he said.

Also on Friday, opposition MP Nabil Nicolas told ANB television that Siniora should step down if a new government is not formed within a week. "If Siniora is incapable of parliamentary consultations should take place and a new premier should be named," Nicolas said.

US President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday jointly urged Syria to break with Iran and bluntly warned that they would not let Tehran obtain nuclear weapons.

"Iran getting a nuclear bomb is unacceptable, that's clear. It's an unacceptable threat for the stability of the world," Sarkozy said, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Bush at a press conference after talks in Paris.

"A nuclear-armed Iran is incredibly destabilizing," Bush said hours after Tehran rejected new world demands to halt uranium enrichment in return economic and diplomatic rewards. "It would be a major blow to world peace."

As part of a sometimes defiant show of transatlantic unity -- at times strained by Iran, Afghanistan, climate change and other disputes -- Bush and Sarkozy played down differences over France's newly warm outreach to Syria.

The US president had a blunt message for Damascus: "Stop fooling around with the Iranians and stop harboring terrorists" and warn Tehran "that the West is serious" about curtailing the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

Sarkozy, who has invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend France's national "Bastille Day" celebrations next month, underlined that Damascus must guarantee neighbor Lebanon's independence.

The French president said he wanted "that Syria break as much as possible with Iran in its quest to develop a nuclear weapon" in order to pursue improved diplomatic relations with Paris.

The US president said efforts to rally Europe to his hard line on Iran -- chiefly new sanctions in the face of such a rejection -- had "dominated" his week-long Europe trip, his last one before leaving in office in January.

"I am disappointed that the leaders rejected this generous offer out of hand. It is an indication to the Iranian people that their leadership is willing to isolate them further," Bush said.

A tough sanctions regime is "the only solution for convincing the Iranians" that they need to bow to international demands, said Sarkozy.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Saturday presented a new offer to Iran on ending the six-year standoff over its nuclear drive but Tehran once again rejected the proposal's key demand to halt nuclear enrichment.

"Iran's stance is clear. The precondition of a halt and suspension of nuclear activities cannot be brought up," Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said in Tehran.

Bush said that western demands that Iran -- which says its program has peaceful aims -- freeze nuclear enrichment were "just and fair" and portraying the United States and Europe as united in confronting Tehran.

That drew no argument from Sarkozy, who said Europe was prepared to help Iran with a civilian nuclear program but stressed that "for a nuclear weapons program, the response will be sanctions and a united international community."

Bush, who called his host "Nicolas," also expressed confidence that Baghdad and Washington would successfully reach a deal on the rules for US forces in Iraq after the UN mandate for the occupation ends late this year.

"If I were a betting man -- we'll reach an agreement with the Iraqis," he said, after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned the talks had stalled over Baghdad's worries about its sovereignty.

"Of course, we're there at their invitation. It's a sovereign nation and therefore we're working hard with the elected government of Iraq," said Bush. "We're going to work hard to accommodate their desires. It's their country."

The US president denied that the accord would tie his successor's hands on troop levels or that it would establish permanent US bases. The White House has previously said that 60-year-old US facilities in Japan are not "permanent."

The US president was also to visit an American cemetery and memorial for World War I and World War II combatants before touring the fort at Mont Valerien, west of Paris, where more than 1,000 French resistance fighters were executed by German troops.