& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

News Analysis

Gaza conflict seen as boost to ME hardliners

AFP, Paris
Israel's military offensive in Gaza plays into the hands of Arab extremists and hardline regimes such as Iran while also killing off hopes for a Palestinian state, experts warn.
Islamist groups in the Arab world have been emboldened by a surge in anti-Israeli sentiment as the death toll from two weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks nears 800, they say.
"What is happening currently strengthens the hand of extreme radicals and risks destabilising moderate governments," said Denis Bauchard. a Middle East specialist from the French Institute of International Relations.
Targeted by Israel, the Palestinian militant group Hamas could well come out of the conflict with an elevated status in Arab public opinion
even if it is weakened militarily, he said.
The fighting in Gaza is a new headache to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who already "faces a difficult social and political situation" domestically, under pressure from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, said Bauchard.
US expert Anthony Cordcsman from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) agreed that the violence in Gaza bolstered the standing of radicals across the Muslim and Arab world.
"The only way to counter this is to arrive at a political resolution," said Cordcsman, in an interview with Le Monde newspaper. "But today prospects for that are not good," he warned.
World powers at the UN Security Council agreed late
Thursday on a resolution calling for an "immediate, durable" ceasefire paving the way to a "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel began its military operation on December 27 to retaliate against rocket attacks by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007.
Backed by Washington, Israel is demanding an end to rocket attacks and the closure of tunnels along the border with Egypt that are used by Hamas militants to smuggle in weapons.
For Antoine Basbous, director of the Paris-based Observatory of Arab Countries, the confrontation will hurt the position of Mahmud Abbas, president of the internationally-recognised Palestinian
authority.
"Hamas wants to be the symbolic face of Palestine and its claims, taking the place of a worn-out Abbas," said Basbous. A win by Hamas is also a gain for what he calls the "Syria-lran-Hezbollahaxis".
But if "Hamas comes out of this episode crushed, Abbas could then come to the rescue as a wise man who does not take exaggerated risk," he added.
The conflict is having regional ramifications, notably in Iran where the regime backs Hamas and its refusal to recognise Israel.
With presidential polls in June, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "is suddenly very popular because of his radical position on this situation," said Laleh Khalili of London's Middle East School of Oriental and
African studies.
"Before this crisis came up, the reformists in Iran were doing very well."
The conflict will also cast a long shadow on Israeli elections set for February 10, with incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzpi Livni locked in a tight battle with Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud.
A Likud victory would be widely seen as reducing the chance of creating a Palestinian state and would likely usher in a retreat from the peace process.
If Hamas tightens its grip on Gaza while Israeli settlers continue to change the facts on the ground in the West Bank, Bauchard wonders "whether there is still room for a Palestinian state that will be more than just an empty shell."