Sleiman urges world to open up to Syria

President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday urged the international community to open up to Syria because of its key role in the region.

"The international community must open up to Syria, following the example set by France, because Syria plays a fundamental role at the regional level," Sleiman said in a statement released by the presidential palace.

He made his remarks at a meeting with an American delegation led by Deputy Assistant to the Undersecretary of State for Near East Affairs David Hale.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to visit Damascus on September 3 and 4 in the wake of the announcement by Syria and Lebanon that they will establish diplomatic relations for the first time.

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Gaza truce teeters after deadly Israeli attack in West Bank draws rocket fire

The truce between Hamas and Israel faced its most severe test yet on Tuesday after the Jewish state assassinated two members of Islamic Jihad in the Occupied West Bank and the group retaliated by launching a pair of rockets from the Gaza Strip.

One of the rockets struck the courtyard of a house in the town of Sderot, causing some damage, and another struck a field, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.He said the rockets were the first to be fired from Gaza since a truce between Israel and the strip's Hamas rulers went into effect on June 19.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad confirmed that its fighters had carried out the attack.

"The rockets are a response to the crimes of the occupation in the West Bank," he said.

The group, which was responsible for many of the attacks launched from Gaza in the months leading up to the cease-fire, did not agree to the truce but had pledged not to violate it if Israel kept its word.

The attack, which caused no casualties, came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another young man in the northern town of Nablus in the Occupied West Bank, which was not included in the truce. Overnight Tuesday a mortar round fired from northern Gaza hit Israel, also causing no damage.

"Any fire from the Gaza Strip is a gross violation of the understanding reached with Egypt," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said, referring to the truce agreement.

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Hamas leader leaves Cairo with no response to Israeli terms

The head of a Hamas delegation left Cairo on Monday without giving a final response to an Egyptian mediated cease-fire proposal as Palestinian President Mahmoud Ab bas voiced hope a truce could be reached in days.

Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) had said that the movement would give its final response to the truce proposal to Egyptian mediators, but later reported that the delegation's head had left Cairo.

Senior Hamas member Mussa Abu Marzuq "returned to Damascus on Monday after a three-day visit," it said.A security official on Egypt's Gazan border said less senior Gaza-based Hamas members in the delegation had not yet returned home.

The delegation met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman,in charge of mediation efforts to break the cycle of violence in the impoverished territory, and heard what Israel had told Egypt about the truce last week, MENA reported.

In the Occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas' spokesman said he hoped Israel and Hamas, which kicked his forces out of Gaza a year ago, would reach a truce within days.

"Abbas today and yesterday had a series of telephone conversations with the Egyptian leadership to support Egypt's efforts for a truce," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

"During the talks, he expressed hope a truce agreement would be reached in the next days," he added.

The head of the Hamas government in Gaza, deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya, said the negotiations were drawing to a close. "We hope there will be a happy outcome for the Palestinian people."

Violence in Gaza is clouding peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians that were revived in November but have made little progress.

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Palestinians protest nearly year-long siege on Gaza Strip

Around 100 Palestinians gathered outside the UN refugee agency's headquarters in Gaza City Tuesday to protest a nearly one-year-old Israeli blockade of the Hamas ruled territory.

The protesters, including a number of women and children, held signs saying "No more blood" and "Lift the siege from us" as they called on Israel and Egypt to reopen border crossings into Gaza.

Israel has sealed the territory off from all but limited supplies of humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power nearly a year ago in what it says is a bid to pressure the Islamist movement to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.

Bassim Naim, who heads the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, called for breaking the blockade and reopening the Rafah crossing to Egypt.

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