Picture shows (center l-r) Iraqi Deputy Premier Barham Saleh, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh praying with other cabinet members in Baghdad in remembrance of the victims of Halabja on March 16.

Iraq’s vice-president on Saturday called the return of his boycotting political bloc to the Shiite-led Cabinet a priority, saying the government needs to reconcile quickly to “save Iraq.“
Tariq Al-Hashemi’s comments were the latest to signal readiness by the main Sunni bloc, the National Accordance Front, to rejoin the government after an absence of nearly nine months, AP reported.
Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki also said Friday that he expected to present a new Cabinet list “within a few days“--a step that would be a boost to his government and seen by Washington as a significant step forward.
But while the two sides have said they were prepared to join forces for more than a week, internal power struggles within the National Accordance Front have delayed a formal announcement, according to an official familiar with the negotiations.
Al-Hashemi and other leaders apparently have been swayed by Maliki’s crackdown against Shiite fighters that began late last month and focused on the Mahdi Army of anti-US cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.
“The priority today should be given to re-establishing a national government with a clear political program and to deal with the basic issues regarding services,“ Al-Hashemi said.
“This country needs patriotic stances by parties, one of which is to re-establish a national government as soon as possible so that this new government can take quick important steps in order to save Iraq,“ he added.
Al-Maliki has struggled with so many of the Cabinet posts vacant to keep together the disparate factions of his government and reconcile Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni politicians.

Maliki Sets Conditions
Maliki stipulated four conditions to stop his government’s military onslaught against Mahdi Army, in an interview with Al-Arabiya television aired Saturday.
“We have four demands, not more, that all those carrying arms --not just the Mahdi Army -- should adhere to,“ Maliki told the Dubai-based news channel.
“Handing in all heavy and medium weapons, and not interfering in the work of governmental departments,“ Maliki said spelling out his first two conditions, in excerpts of the interview.
“Never interfere in the tasks of the police and army, so that police and army would operate everywhere--in Sadr City, Basra and Mosul--without any objections,“ he added.
Maliki also said that the militias must turn over all those wanted by security forces, and finally, they should provide a list of names of those involved in violent actions.

US Cluster Bombs
In another development, a missile fired from a US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) killed two people in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Saturday, the American military said in a statement.
An Iraqi member of parliament, meanwhile, revealed that the US forces have used forbidden weapons against Iraqi civilians in the Sadr City.
DPA quoted Leqa Yasin, a Sadrist lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament, as saying that technical and medical examination on the bodies of the victims and wounded of the recent clashes show that US occupation forces have used cluster bombs against civilians in Sadr City.
Since March 25, the densely populated slum area has come under frequent attacks by US aircraft and artillery, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding many more.
In related news, at least 10 people were killed in clashes between Sadr City fighters and US and Iraqi forces, Iraqi officials said.
Another 44 people were hurt in the violence, which broke out on Saturday and continued past dawn on Sunday, officials from the defense and interior ministries said. A medical official said that eight people, including a woman, died amid night-time clashes.

The Arab League warned of an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe“ in the Gaza Strip after the United Nations was forced to suspend aid deliveries because of Israeli restrictions, AFP reported on Saturday.
The 22-member body expressed its “grave concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was forced to stop delivering aid,“ Hisham Yussef, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa’s chief of staff, said in a statement.
“These circumstances, as well as the Israeli armed forces’ continued military action against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, will lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe for which the Israeli government will have to bear responsibility,“ Yussef said.
He said the Israeli blockade on Gaza, as well as military operations and the halting of fuel supplies to the impoverished territory, is “unacceptable and silence over the issue cannot continue.“ Yussef urged international bodies including the United Nations and the European Union to “exert pressure on Israel to accept its responsibility in applying international law.“ Humanitarian agencies say Gaza, one of the world’s most densely populated territories with 1.5 million people living on a narrow sliver of land, is on the brink of disaster.

Automatic gunfire broke Saturday out at a ceremony marking the defeat of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, forcing dignitaries including Afghanistan’s president to take cover. A lawmaker was wounded and another died.
President Hamid Karzai, all Cabinet members and foreign diplomats were safe, a statement from the presidential palace said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had deployed four militants with suicide vests and guns to target the president, AP reported. Security forces whisked Karzai away from the scene and hundreds fled as shots rang out. Hundreds of people fled in chaos as shots rang out. Firing appeared to come from ruined houses about few hundred meters from where the VIPs were seated. A live TV broadcast of the ceremony on a parade avenue in Kabul was quickly cut. Witnesses could also hear heavy weapon fire. An Associated Press reporter saw President Karzai escorted from scene, surrounded by bodyguards and leaving in one of four black Land Cruisers.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad (r) shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Al-Shaab Palace in Damascus on April 26.

Israel’s ambassador in Ankara raised the possibility on Sunday of renewing long frozen peace negotiations with Syria under Turkish mediation.
“The first step could be handled through low-level officials and, if it works and if there are results, one can expect that it will continue at a much higher level,“ AFP quoted Gaby Levy as saying.
“They understand that only a power like the United States or a bloc like the European Union has the economic capacity to help this kind of process, but they think they can contribute because of their special status“, Levy said.
“What we now need is to find common ground through the Turkish mediator,“ Assad said, adding that any negotiations with Israel would be conducted via Ankara.
Ahead of his talks with Assad, Erdogan voiced new optimism.
“God willing, our proactive peace diplomacy will contribute to expected developments between Syria and Israel,“ he said.
Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Syria has consistently demanded the return of the whole of the Golan right down to the shores of the Sea of Galilee--Israel’s main water source--as its price for peace.

Erdogan, Assad Eye Peace Push
Meanwhile in Damascus, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad yesterday, amid efforts by his government to facilitate peace negotiations between Syria and Israel.
Assad and Erdogan examined “ways of activating the peace process“ and “agreed to pursue the coordination between the two countries,“ the state-run Sana news agency reported.
The Syrian president also “paid tribute to Ankara’s efforts“ and stressed that “Syria is ready to pursue its cooperation with Turkey in order to guarantee the security and stability of the region,“ Sana said.
Sana quoted Erdogan as saying he was “deeply satisfied by the positive and fruitful talks“ he had with Assad and underscored “the importance of Syria’s role in reaching political solutions“ in the Middle East.
Earlier this week Assad revealed that Turkey has been mediating between Syria and Israel since last year and had recently passed a message from the Jewish state expressing a readiness to swap the Golan Heights for peace.

Abbas Supports Turkish Mediation
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies.
Abbas said that a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would not harm Palestinian negotiations with Israel. He spoke to reporters at a press conference Sunday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, AP reported.

Thousands of Turkish soldiers fought Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists on Sunday in two large operations, military sources said.
Two soldiers were killed in Bingol, southeast Turkey, in an operation involving 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers. Further south in the provinces of Sirnak and Hakkari, which border Iraq, at least 15,000 soldiers were fighting the PKK, Reuters said.
Turkey has stepped up operations against PKK inside Turkey and since the end of a February land offensive against guerrillas based in northern Iraq has launched a series of air strikes against PKK targets in the neighboring country.
Sunday’s deaths add to a toll of eight security personnel killed in the southeast in the last week alone, according to information from the General Staff.
On Friday night and early Saturday Turkey’s armed forces launched their second air operation on northern Iraq in a week, the biggest round of air strikes this year, according to military sources.
In February, the army conducted an eight-day land offensive into northern Iraq, which prompted concern in Washington about further regional instability and was watched closely on financial markets.
Ankara blames the PKK for 40,000 deaths since 1984 when the group took up arms to try to establish an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey. Like the United States and the European Union, it considers the group a terrorist organization.

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