Palestinians attend a rally marking the ÒNakbaÓ (Catastrophe) Day in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 15.

Some 2,000 people have demonstrated in Jordan’s capital Amman to protest the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel.
The protesters in Amman on Friday were carrying Palestinian flags and
portraits of Arab leaders. They were chanted anti-Israeli slogans, AP reported.
In other news, Palestinians protested across the occupied territories on Thursday on the 60th anniversary of the “catastrophe“ of the illegitimate birth of Israel and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The commemoration of the Nakba, or “catastrophe“--the day the Israeli regime expelled about 760,000 Palestinians from their own lands--came as US President George Bush marked the creation of Israel with a reckless address to the Israeli parliament, AFP reported.
Bush said in his Knesset speech that the US was proud to be the “closest ally and best friend in the world“ of a nation that was a “homeland for the chosen people“ and had “worked tirelessly for peace and...fought valiantly for freedom.“
Bush’s speech was notable for only one reference to Palestinian aspirations for a state. He did not allude to the current negotiations between the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on the outlines of two-state solution that he himself helped to kick-start at the so-called peace conference in Annapolis.
Nor did Bush make even an oblique reference to the fact that he was delivering his speech on the day that Palestinians annually commemorate the “Nakba“ in the 1948 war when the Israeli regime grabbed control of 78 percent of mandatory Palestine.
Israeli troops fired into the air to break up a rally at the border between Gaza and Israel while sirens sounded across Ramallah as thousands joined a protest demanding the “right of return“ for some 4.5 million UN registered refugees in camps across the Middle East.


Dark Balloons for Israel
Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and released 21,915 black balloons--one for each day since Israel’s creation--to darken the skies over Beit-ul-Moqaddas ahead of Bush’s speech.
“On this good and beloved land live two peoples. One celebrates its independence and the other grieves in the commemoration of its Nakba,“ Abbas said in a televised speech.
“Israel’s security is linked to our independence and our security, and the continuation of the occupation and the persistence of the Nakba will not bring security to anyone.“
About 3,000 people gathered in the heart of the northern West Bank city of Nablus holding keys--real and symbolic--to abandoned houses in what is now Israel and burning a US flag to protest Bush’s visit.
For Palestinians the fate of the refugees lies at the core of the decades-old Middle East conflict and has bedeviled past peace efforts as Israel has refused to allow any to return.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, supporters of the Islamic movement of Hamas marched to the Erez crossing with Israel to protest what they derided as the “new Nakba“-- a crippling months-old blockade of the territory.

Intensifying Attacks
Israel has decided to intensify its military operations against Gaza, after the Bush’s visit to the occupied territories, an official says.
“The military forces plan to escalate operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after US President George W. Bush leaves Israel on Friday“, the ’Jerusalem Post’ quoted senior Israeli officials as saying.

Peace Deal Unlikely
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said in remarks published on Thursday that peace deal between Israelis and the Palestinians before the end of the year is unlikely.
“The Palestinian scenario is becoming more complicated every day despite seven months passing since the Annapolis conference,“ Abul Gheit said was quoted as saying in the state-owned ’Al-Ahram’ newspaper.

Turkey’s Parliament approves labor reforms aimed at creating jobs that includes a reduction in employers’ social security premiums.
The reform cuts employers’ social security premiums by 5 percentage points and includes incentives for hiring women and people under 30, who suffer higher-than-average unemployment.
The legislation follows the approval last month of a long-delayed social security reform. The pro-business Justice and Development Party’s government hopes its second major piece of economic reform this year will also stimulate the slowing growth of Turkey’s economy, Presstv reported.
Amid global financial turmoil and high interest rates at home, Ankara has cut this year’s economic growth forecast to 4.5 percent, compared to an initial target of 5.5 percent and an average rate of 6.8 percent for the last five years.
Unemployment is a particular weak spot in the Turkish economy, standing at 11.6 percent between January and March, according to official data released on Thursday. Unemployment among the young stood at 21.2 percent.
Employers have welcomed the move, though they have called for even greater incentives.

Whether swathed in Islamic veils or dressed in western suits, Kuwaiti women are campaigning hard to win parliamentary seats in Saturday’s election, Reuters reported.
They failed to take any at the last vote in 2006 and once again face an uphill struggle attracting voters in a conservative and male-dominated Persian Gulf Arab state.
“There are a lot of challenges but there is also a positive wave... voters think why not try women? We tried men for years,“ said Rola Dashti, one of 27 women running against 246 men.
A western-educated economist in her 40s, Dashti ran in 2006 and received the highest number of votes among the female candidates. She believes the experience was constructive for women, as was the appointment of women to the cabinet.
Kuwait’s 50-member National Assembly passed a law in 2005 granting women the right to vote and run for office for the first time since its creation in 1962.

File photo shows US soldiers patrolling the Khidr farmlands in Iskandariyah, near Sadr City, on April 25.

President Bush’s Iraq war funding request collapsed in the US House of Representatives on Thursday as antiwar Democrats and Republicans unhappy about added domestic funding combined to kill--for now--$163 billion to support US troops overseas.
The unlikely coalition formed when Republicans expected to provide the winning margin for the Iraq and Afghanistan funding instead sat out the vote in protest.
The GOP revolt was a response to Democratic strong-arm tactics in advancing the must-pass measure, as well as their efforts to add money for the unemployed and an expansion of GI education benefits.
The defeat of the Iraq funding measure came on a 149-141 tally.
Nearly two-thirds of the House’s Democrats voted against continuing to fund the war as 132 Republicans sat out the vote in protest.
Democrats then forced through a nonbinding plan seeking an exit from Iraq by December of next year. The 227-196 vote on the measure broke mostly along party lines.
Thirty-two Republicans joined Democrats on a 256-166 vote to sharply boost education benefits for Iraq-Afghanistan veterans under the GI Bill Ñ despite an accompanying tax surcharge on the wealthy and small businesses Ñ and voted to provide a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits.
In the House, each side accused the other of using the must-pass troop funding bill for political advantage.
“With today’s vote, the Republicans have shown that they are confused and are in disarray,“ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “House Republicans refused to pay for a war they support, and by voting against the GI bill, they refused to support our veterans when they come home.“
House action on the bill was the first act in a complicated legislative dance that promises to spill over into June, when the Pentagon will have to send out warnings of possible furloughs to civilian employees and contract workers.
Democrats engineered the three-vote minute to allow anti-war liberals to vote against funding the Iraq war.
The war spending portion would have provided $163 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year, slightly less than Bush’s request.
The House measure also includes money for foreign aid and military construction projects, as well as flood protection around New Orleans and a variety of smaller items.
Bush has threatened to veto any bill that ties his hands on Iraq. The House measure would require Bush to begin pulling out troops from Iraq within 30 days once the bill becomes law, with a nonbinding goal of a complete withdrawal of combat troops within 18 months.

More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as Qatar opened one of the Persian Gulf’s first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.
The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in an Arab state is another sign of Qatar’s efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 summer Olympic Games.
It’s also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfaith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel, AP reported.
In March, the Saudi king made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews--the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.
The moves, however, come amid rising tensions in the region and with peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians stalled. Many also believe there is a growing gap of understanding between the Muslim Arab world and the West.
Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the anti-Islam film by a Dutch filmmaker.