US tries to reassure Gulf allies shaken by various (AFP)

ABU DHABI (AFP) – Washington's level military officer and its Chief Middle East diplomat touring Gulf this week to reassure allies in oil-rich Nations, as bloody uprisings rock region.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week as part of a trip, which was planned well before uprisings.

Members of the entourage is said he can also stop in Bahrain--home of the US fifth fleet--which has been gripped by a popular uprising challenging the rule of Sunni dynasty in power over 200 years.

The top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East Jeffrey Feltman has also embarked on a tour of oil-rich Arab Gulf States on Tuesday and is expected to visit Bahrain and.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Feltman said would also pay a visit to Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and UEA to press for political and economic reform, says there was a "critical need to address" such calls for change.

Mullen has said his trip aimed to "reassure, discuss and understand what is going on" and have called for a peaceful solution to the confrontation between opposition groups and Governments in the Arab world.

"This a time of enormous change this needs to be solved peacefully without violence and leaders have to step forward in terms of," he said.

Mullen praised the decision by the Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman Ben Hamad Al Khalifah to start conversations with the demonstrators to say "it had facilitated a number of leaders (he spoke to during his tour) in easing tensions."

US President Barack Obama Chief Military Adviser has also met with counterparts in the region to provide support from Washington, which also have military bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Seven people have been killed in Bahrain since rebellion was triggered on February 14 in the small Sunni-Shiite majority ruled the Kingdom with.

Turmoil has intensified fears that Shiite Iran's regime will take advantage of crisis

But Mullen said he did not see Tehran's hand behind Manamas protests.

"I still believe, Iran, is a country which continues to incite instability in the region, take advantage of every opportunity ... (but) from my perspective, there has been a principal focus of what happened in Egypt, or what happened in Bahrain or any of these other countries, ' he says.

Around annual U.S. troops are stationed in Bahrain to protect the Gulf maritime oil routes supplying us operations in Afghanistan.

Manama and Washington are bound by a 1991 defense Pact, which lays down the bilateral consultations in case of security threats against Bahrain, Middle East expert Kenneth Katzman said in a conference report.

"What could be at stake here is an ability to have forces in the Gulf to reassure our allies ... that they will be protected from Iran," said David Aaron, a senior researcher at the think tank RAND Corporation AFP.

Saudi Arabia, annoyed by "interference" from Washington during Egyptian rebellion against Hosni Mubarak, remains at the heart of American strategy in the region.

Outbreaks of unrest, Riyadh has offered the unwavering support for Bahrain, feared protests could destabilise its oil-rich Eastern provinces agitate Shiite Communities live there, a potential boon for Iran.

"Bahrain is a proxy battlefield in the broader geopolitical struggle between Saudi Arabia, the United States and Iran," says U.S. firm Stratfor, which specializes in intelligence.

Europe, Middle East, a beautiful back change, fear, chaos (AP)

BERLIN – revolutions of the candidate countries through the Middle East have inspired millions of Europeans who remembers the awe felt when Communist regimes crumbled across the former Soviet bloc. But together with voltage come questions, fear and doubt — as the flames shoot on the continent's rebellion very doorstep.

Europe has long seen itself as a champion of democracy, and its ideals tested with real-life consequences of democratic changes sweeping a region that provides a large part of its immigrant population, which has become ever more increases in recent years.

Many fear a flood of hard-hitting European coasts, a concern made urgent crush thousands of Tunisians who turned up in Italy after the North African country overthrew its autocrat, and sign to Libya — long a gateway of illegal emigration to Europe — is on the verge of implosion.

Questions concerning the availability of the dolls also the spirit of rebellion also can take root among the European-based Arabs, which often accuse their host countries racism and blame the colonial past of many of their problems.

"All these problems, which led to revolutions in the Arab world is also daily life in France and is more and more unbearable," wrote Yacine Djaziri, if Bondy Blog Chronicles life in immigrant-heavy Paris suburbs, which exploded in riots in 2005, recently.

"How do we fix it? Do we set the us on fire? Be resigned? Get angry? Rebellion? "

Balanced with fears are call for hope and solidarity: some European officials on Monday proposed a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, drawing a explicitly parallel to the continent's U.S.-funded reconstruction after the second WORLD WAR, which bears witness to the extent of the drama that played out across the Mediterranean.

But Europeans ask: who is to pay, when they are swallowed up in a debt crisis that threatens to darken the future of an entire generation? "Germany pumps enough money in the foreign countries already," said Marcel Mueller, 27, who work in the service industry.

Germans can imagine the burden which they can take to help finance a Marshall Plan for the Arab world: 20 years after reunification, they still charged an additional "solidarity tax" to subsidize the reconstruction in the former Communist Eastern — is estimated at some euro1.3 billion ($ 1.78 billion).

European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt estimated Tuesday, in order to support a transition to democracy in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the region, it would have to borrow euro6 billion (8.2 billion USD) over the next three years.

Pictures of might alleviate of migrants, mainly from Tunisia, washing on the small Sicilian fishing village Lampedusa struck many as advance notice of mass-scale flight to the European Union. Explosion of rebellion in Libya — this time, be discouraged by a bloody crackdown — has worsened fears of a migration crisis.

' It is an issue that concerns us all, because the situation drove many to arrive, "said Alberto Brizzi, a waiter uniforms at a Rome trattoria. "People take off thinking they can find something better than in their country. But it is not so. "

As Tunisians flooded realindkomsterne Lampedusa earlier this month, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of anti-immigrant Northern League fear that terrorists and al-Qaida supporters could have come among what he described as a "biblical exodus" of migrants.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has urged the leaders to recognize the "unique opportunity right now to promote democracy, human rights and civil liberties in our neighborhood."

But Europe has been struggling for years with its most high profile project to promote partnership with a neighbouring Muslim nation: EU membership negotiations with Turkey, widely seen as a model for how Islam and democracy can flourish together, all, but has fallen from each other — is in no small measure due to hostility from Germany and France.

The promise of EU membership was a key factor in Turkey implements the democratic, judicial and economic reforms have transformed the nation to a budding power. Now, with Europe a distant dream, still it is forging closer ties with Iran, Russia and other often in conflict with the West.

A recent survey of Germany's ARD public broadcaster showed 43 percent of those polled said they are concerned about the upheaval in the Middle East, compared with 41 percent, said they feel optimistic, according to the study of 1,000 Germans. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1 to 3.4.1 percentage points.

The top fears was instability and chaos with 47 percent listing it is a concern, followed by 25 percent, which concerned a flood of immigrants-hitting Europe's coasts and 21 percent who fear Islamists will take power.

Last week the EU pledged euro258 million ($ 347 million) in aid to Tunisia from now until 2013. In Brussels promised Monday, EU Foreign Ministers support for "people of the southern Mediterranean countries and their legitimate hopes and expectations for democratic change, social justice and economic development."

The call for an ambitious reconstruction program, however, comes at a time when EU countries already smarting from having to bail out both Greece and Ireland from the brink of bankruptcy. Lengthy tug-of-war over these rescues shows how difficult it will be to achieve any meaningful level for the Middle East.

Experts say the European view democratic change in the Middle East far more carefully than the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, naming the threat from Islamic fundamentalism as the continent's "great concern."

"New leaders could take power whose policies would not be positive to the objectives of the EUROPEAN UNION and NATO," said Tomas Karasek, an analyst with the Association for International Affairs in Prague. "This is a major threat."

Other Europeans say world must include a historic opportunity in the Middle East — regardless of the risks.

"We should make it clear that we are on the same page as the democracy movement," Danish lawmaker Naser Khader said.

"We should not allow ourselves to be threatened by reports of refugee flows. It is in our interest to North Africa, the Arab world will be democratic. "

Iran ships pass through the Suez, Israel says provocation (Reuters)

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters)-two Iranian naval ships passed through Egypt's Suez Canal in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, heading for Syria, says a source at the Canal Authority, a Move Israel condemned as a "provocation".

Iran seems to test the State of affairs in the Middle East after the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak case. A long-standing peace agreement with Egypt is crucial for Isræls regional security.

Washington said the surveillance ships ' movement.

Ships entered the Canal kl. 11.45 (10: 45 p.m. EST Monday) Tuesday and transferred to the Mediterranean 3-d. 19.30 (8: 30 a.m. EST), Suez Canal Authority source told Reuters. "Their return is expected to be on March 3," says the source.

Suez Canal cuts through Egypt and allows transit can pass from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa without having to go around the southern tip of Africa.

The channel's northern mouth, Port Said, is about 100 km (60 km) from Israel, but the ships route would take them in the Mediterranean along the Gaza and the isrælske coast. Vessels, the first Iranian naval ships to enter the channel since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, is a frigate and a supply ship.

Israel is concerned about political upheaval in Egypt and other Arab States aligned with its allies, the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously said he would take a "serious view" of the passage of Iranian warships.

Isrælske Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Isræls channel 2 tv Tuesday: "it is an Iranian provocation. When you look at the Middle East, no matter how Iranians are weighed up, the situation is not good. "

He added: "it probably does not bode well, but these two ships is not an immediate threat to us".

Isrælske media has quoted unnamed officials say the Navy as Iranian vessels would be tracked, but not confronted.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: "We have a United States for a long time supported freedom of navigation, so the decision to allow them to transit the Canal is a decision between Iran and Egypt."

"Of course, we have concern about Iran's behavior in the region, we will be watching carefully," he said.

"GLOBAL ARROGANCE"

Iran's second in command of the army, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency Tuesday for saying that Israel was "surprised" by the presence of Iranian naval vessels in the channel.

Using a concept which Iran refers to the United States, he added: "the global arrogance must know that the Islamic Republic of Iran's army is fully prepared to defend its objectives.

"The world should know that the presence of Iranian warships in Suez has taken place ... deep through the guidance of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and our young and brave study personnel's self-confidence."

A recently completed Isrælie war game, only then Exit Egypt's Mubarak, the Presidency concluded that would increase the military preparations but try to avoid confrontation unless it sees a greater threat from Iran.

Separately, Israel announced Tuesday that its arrow II missile shield had aced his latest live trial, shooting a target missile from a u.s. military base on the California coast.

Isrælie defence official Arieh Herzog said the test selected the upgrade "to contend with new and additional threats" in the Middle East.

"Arrow can intercept all weapons array against it in the region, including those who may come from Iran," Herzog told journalists.

Egypt's ruling military Council, is facing his first diplomatic headache since taking power on February 11, approved the Iranian vessels passing through the channel, a crucial global trade route and major source of income for the Egyptian authorities.

The decision was difficult for Egypt's interim Government. Cairo is an ally of the United States, while its relations with Iran have been strained in more than three decades.

Analysts say Iran sees itself enjoys upheaval in the entire Middle East. Hjemstavnsfordrivelse and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the United States is likely to embolden Tehran, and reduce the chances of the concessions on its nuclear program. Iran denies it intends to build nuclear weapons.

Palestinian house inside the cage in Jewish settlement (AP)

 al-West Bank – Ghirayib family life in foreign manifestations of Isræls 43-year-old occupation of West Bank: a Palestinian house inside a metal cage inside an isræls settlement.

10 family members, four of them children, can only achieve this House through a 40-yard (m) time connecting them to the Arab village of Beit Ijza longer down a hill. Time passes through a road used by the isrælske Army jeeps and is lined on both sides with a 24-foot-high (8-meter) heavy metal fences.

The same fence rings simple one-story house, to distinguish it from the surrounding settlement houses. Some of these homes are so close that the family can hear shouted insults at a nearby Jewish neighbor.

While all Ghirayibs the situation is unusual, to say the Palestinians it reflects the pressure put on their society of Israel's more than 120 West Bank settlements.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to hold peace talks with Israel, while settlement construction continues. The latest round of negotiations collapsed to the settlement issue in September, only three weeks after the start.

Some 500,000 Isrælies live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied territories claimed Palestinians for a future State.

This week directed the Palestinians their anger against the United States after the vetoed a resolution before the UNITED NATIONS Security Council condemns the settlements as "illegal."

United States said it opposes settlements, but that peace negotiations is the only way to solve such problems. The Council's 14 other members voted for the measure.

"The Americans have chosen to be alone in interfering with the internationally supported Palestinian efforts," said Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Ahead of the vote, Fayyad visited home page with the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Navi for, who commented: "This is an inhuman life they have".

El Sadat al-Ghirayib, 30, said his father built the House in 1978 of about 27 acres family land, where he planted fruit trees. Isræls army confiscated soon as part of the land, he said.

Settlement of Givon HaHadasha was founded in the early 1980s. Al-Ghirayib said the army confiscated several Earth as settlement spread. Today is the home of some 1,100 Jewish settlers, some of their home not more than two dozen steps from home al-Ghirayib. Only a handful of trees remain.

The army built in 2005, a section of its West Bank separation barrier near the settlement. Israel says the barrier keeps out the invaders. Palestinians say it steals land by cutting deep into the West Bank in some places.

The home was the only one in the village of approximately 700 people in the settlement side of the barrier.

Al-Ghirayib, who works in a local metal shop, said he and his family attempted to stop the construction crews and the army detained them. When they were released, the cage was in place, he said. Security cameras on heavy metal gate at the end on the inner side of time monitor all that come and go.

He said army officers have recently threatened to close the gate, says village children come to cast stones at the settlement.

"They have cameras. If they see kids throw stones, they may shoot them, "said the father, 74-year-old, Sabri. "I had to guard the entrance?"

The isrælske army does not comment on whether the country was confiscated, how the fence was built, or if there are plans to close the gate.

It said in a statement, the Supreme Court shall examine the question of isrælske of the family land, and that the army had "invested" tens of thousands of dollars in order to ensure your family can leave home without coordinating with the army.

Neighbours is very close. A recent afternoon walked Gary Bar Dov, 15, who live in a third-floor apartment with views of the Parliament, while the children inside caught the fence and monitored.

' It is very strange to live in this way, ' he said. "It is strange, but you get used to it".

PM calls on Arab reform not repression (AFP)

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – David Cameron has said that "reform--not repression" holds the key to stability in the Arab world, as protests throughout the region overshadowed his trade visits in Kuwait.

The day after, he became the first foreign leader to visit Cairo since February 11 fall of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, said Cameron Tuesday, the Arab incursions, gave the region a "precious moment of opportunity" for reform.

"For decades, some have argued that the stability required extremely control regimes, and to the reform and openness would bring that stability in danger," the Prime Minister said in a speech to Kuwait's Parliament.

But this was a "false choice", he argued. "As recent events have confirmed that deny people their fundamental rights does not preserve stability, rather vice versa."

Cameron said the most robust society occupied central building blocks such as democratic government accountability, freedom to communicate and the freedom to learn and work.

"In short, reform--not oppression--is the only way to maintain stability," he said.

Cameron was accompanied by 36 business leaders on his visit to the Gulf to what had long been planned as a trade trip. A stop in Cairo was added at the last minute after Mubarak case.

From premier agreed with Kuwait on Tuesday to double two-way trade and investment, which currently stands at $ 3.2 billion by 2015.

But the inclusion of defence companies, Thales, BAE Systems and QinetiQ in his delegation asked critics at home to question if the United Kingdom should be trying to sell arms in a region where Governments cracking on the protests.

"The defence-related industry is of vital importance to the United Kingdom but many people will be surprised that the Prime Minister this week of all weeks may consider strengthening arms sales to Middle East," Anonymous Jones, defence spokesman for Labour opposition party, told the newspaper the guardian.

Denis MacShane, former Labour Foreign Office minister, told the paper: "It shows the insensitivity and crassness of a high order of the Prime Minister to take weapons salesmen with him on his Middle East trip".

But Cameron rejected criticism, noting that his visit to Kuwait was timed to coincide with events marking the 20th anniversary of the Gulf war, triggered by the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's invasion of the country.

"I seem to remember we spent a lot of work and life in the armed forces and helps defend Kuwait," Cameron told reporters traveling with him.

"So the idea that the United Kingdom should not have defence relations with some of these countries, I do not understand. It is quite true that we do, "insisted from premier.

In Cairo met Cameron field marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's de facto leader, just 10 days after Mubarak faced an unprecedented popular uprising.

Cameron, in front of Kuwait's National Assembly, also extend its condemnation of the "appalling" punishment on the person protesters Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi security forces.

"Violence is not the answer to the people's legitimate aspirations. Do not use force to resolve complaints, only Multiply them, "he said.

The British Prime Minister said the reform could also play its part in this VAT Islamic extremism, says people often turned to violence, when they were denied a voice or employment.

Protests since January as the leaders of Egypt have overthrow and Tunisia were driven by ideology, but of "an expression of the wish of a new generation of hungry for political and economic freedoms."

Cameron stressed that the reform was "a key part of the antidote of the extremism that threaten the security of us all."

Saudi says can cover the raw is missing (AP)

CAIRO – Saudi Arabia oil Minister says oil powerhouse has plenty of spare capacity to make up for any supply disruption.

Tuesday's comments by Ali Naimi came as Libya unrest sent oil markets is surging for another day.

The official Saudi News Agency quoted Naimi to say that the Saudis production capacity of 12.5 million barrels a day can help "compensate for any lack of international deliveries." Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of petroleum exporting countries, currently produces around 8 million barrels a day.

Was the U.S. benchmark crude futures contract more than $ 7 per barrel to almost $ 94 on electronic commerce in the New York Mercantile Exchange while the London-based Brent benchmark was above $ 106 per barrel.

Thirteen Gazans hit by isrælske fire (AFP)

GAZA city, Palestinian territories (AFP) – a isrælie tank wounded eleven Palestinians, two critically, when it opened fire on a group of militant to the East of Gaza City on Wednesday, an emergency services spokesman said.

"Eleven Palestinians were injured in the tank shell in an area east of Gaza City. Two of them are in critical condition, "told Adham Abu Selmiya of Hamas-Run rescue service AFP, said they had taken to the city's Shifa hospital.

Three of the injured were militant from Al day of Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, a statement from the group said.

"Three of our fighters were injured while fired two mortar-shells against isrælske tanks operating in (Gaza) edge," said the statement.

The isrælske army said troops opened fire after coming under attack.

"This morning an Israel Army force was employed with a regular patrol along the border between Gaza when an explosive device was been detonated near the force and a mortar shell fired at it," said a military spokeswoman.

"The strength spotted more terrorists and opened fire on them, identify a hit," she said, adding that the militant had placed 12 bombs along the border fence in the last two months.

After the event, All day of Quds Brigade said it fired three mortars in Israel, targeting Kibbutz Nahal Oz, East of Gaza City. The military confirmed mortars had fallen in the region, without causing damage.

Israel public radio said one of mortars hit a football field.

In a separate incident was another two moderate Palestinians wounded by gunfire isrælske by the collecting gravel North of the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border, he said.