Seeking reassurance about Washington’s Middle East policy Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in the US for talks with President George W. Bush. Olmert said he would be asking Bush for an overview of American policy now that the balance of power has shifted to the Democrats following last week’s Congressional elections.

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is also topping the agenda at a meeting of Arab League leaders in Cairo. Israel’s killing of 19 people in an artillery strike in Gaza has sent tensions soaring. The army said it was a tragic mistake. The Cairo conference has called for a fresh international conference to end the fighting.

The Arab ministers also pledged to break financial sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, but gave few details as to how that would be accomplished. The sanctions were imposed by the West over the refusal by the Hamas government to recognise Israel.

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