Though a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was thought to be the beginning, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon is seeking "written assurance" from the US that it be the end of Palestinian demands, reports Khaled Amayreh from the West Bank

Sudanese peace talks flounder over the legal status of the capital Khartoum, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Abdul-Aziz Bouteflika is Algeria's president for five more years. Amira Howeidy assesses the impact of the country's elections

The fate of the Arab League summit remains undetermined

What explains the off-handed reaction of Arab governments to the Iraqi turmoil thus far? Dina Ezzat looks for an answer

After a week of heavy fighting between US-led coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents, a fragile ceasefire still holds. Ramsey Al-Rikabi reports from Baghdad

Long-highlighted by critics, the parochialism of America's vision for Iraq is unravelling on the ground. The US seems hapless and without a plan. It had better find one, writes Ahmed Abdel-Halim

Thousands of Iraqis from the besieged town of Falluja have entered Baghdad in the last week. Graham Usher spoke to one of them

Until now the US has played one Iraqi community off against the other, but in the longer term this policy is unsustainable. Civil war won't help anyone, not even Washington, writes Abdallah El-Ashaal

Insurgents and foreign occupiers are using violence in Iraq to further their own ends. The true victims are Iraqis, writes Ibrahim Nawwar

In the first of a series of articles exploring the regional fallout of the war on Iraq one year on, Omayma Abdel-Latif reports from Damascus on how Syria is coping