Al-Ayyam (West Bank): Abbas asked Olmert to calm matters in Gaza – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a previously unannounced summit yesterday, urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert against a military operation in the Gaza Strip, warning it would have disastrous repercussions. Abbas asked Olmert to respond to Egyptian mediation efforts for a truce, but the latter made no commitment and said he would study the request.
Al-Rayah (Qatar): Carter: We must involve Hamas in the peace process to guarantee Israel's security – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter defended his intention to meet Hamas leaders, despite sharp criticism for doing so by the State Department and Israel. Carter, reportedly to meet with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria, said that involving Hamas in the peace process was "very important," adding he was not acting as an official U.S. negotiator.
An-Nahar (Lebanon): Growing Arab push over Lebanon before April 22 – Contacts are intensifying between Arab players since the Egyptian-Saudi summit in Sharm el-Sheikh focusing on the Lebanese crisis and resolving it before April 22, the date set for electing the president. Meanwhile, on the thirty-third anniversary of the start of the civil war, the voice of civil society in Lebanon was louder that the voice of politicians, amid calls for national unity and ending political differences to avert another war.
Az-Zaman (London; Iraq): Army cleanses 1,300 Sadr loyalists – The Iraqi Interior Ministry said yesterday that 1,300 soldiers were fired for refusing to fight al-Mahdi Army, led by Moqtada Sadr, during an offensive against militias that began in Basra and spread across the country. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the security forces will continue to fight the militias in Sadr city until the Mahdi stronghold "is completely cleansed of armed men."
Al-Hayat (London): Tehran says Sheraz explosion an accident – The Iranian Interior Ministry said the explosion at a mosque in Sheraz, in which 10 people were killed and 160 others injured, was an accident and not an attack. No details were revealed on the blast, but officials said initial investigations ruled out a bomb or terrorist attack was the cause.