BAGHDAD, IRAQ - SEPTEMBER 22: Smoke rises from the site of a car bomb explosion on September 22, 2008 in Karrada district in Baghdad, Iraq. The bomb killed at least one and wounded five others. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie /Getty Images)
Published On 16 Dec 200816 Dec 2008
RAFAH, GAZA - AUGUST 30: A Palestinian boy shows his passport as he sits in a bus waiting to cross the border into Egypt, on August, 30, 2008 in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Hundreds of sick Gazans seeking medical care have crossed into Egypt after Hamas and Egyptian authorities temporarily opened the Rafah crossing for the first time in weeks. (Photo By Abid Katib/Getty Images)
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - JULY 19: British Prime Minister Gordon sits in a helicopter wearing a flak jacket after arriving at Baghdad Airport on his way to the Green Zone on July 19, 2008 in Bagdad, Iraq. The surprise visit to the Middle East began with the Prime Minister holding talks with Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki and military leaders in Baghdad today. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
cairo parliament on fire [ap]
RAFAH - EGYPT CROSSING, GAZA STRIP - JULY 01: Palestinians try to pass a child over the gate of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt on July 1, 2008 in the southern Gaza Strip. Egypt opened the border crossing with Rafah on Tuesday for three days for the limited passage of people such as Palestinians stranded in Egypt and Gazans seeking medical treatment abroad. (Photo By Abid Katib/Getty Images)
BEIRUT, LEBANON - JULY 18: Hezbollah militants carry one of the coffins of the eight militants killed in the 2006 war as the Hezbollah community gathers to pay their respect during the funeral procession July 18, 2008 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. An agreement between Israel and Lebanon allowed Israel to receive the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who have now been buried. Four freed Hezbollah fighters were captured in the 2006 war which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon. The five prisoners released were the last remaining Lebanese in the Israeli jails. Samir Kantar was the most controversial prisoner released after being jailed for 29 years, from a sentence of five life terms for a 1979 triple murder. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
ARAB JABAR, IRAQ - FEBRUARY 29: A soldier with the 2nd Brigade of the 5th Iraqi Division of the Iraqi Army lights brush on fire to deprive insurgents cover February 29, 2008 in a village which was recently said to be purged of insurgents in Arab Jabar, Iraq. The area of Arab Jabar is the focus of an ongoing joint Iraqi Army and American Army operation directed at a number of rural villages in Diyala Province. Diyala Province was until recently was said to be the geographical headquarters of al Queada in Iraq, where they reportedly threatened citizens and used the strategically located area as a base for operations. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - MAY 20: Iraqi boys swim in a pond caused by an explosion from recent fighting on May 20, 2008 in the Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi security forces have moved into Sadr city Shiite district, which is regarded as the main stronghold of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army militia. Earlier this month, al-Sadr bloc in parliament reached an agreement with Iraq’s ruling Shiite alliance to end the fighting between al-Mahdi army militia and Iraqi foces in Sadr city. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie /Getty Images)
JERUSALEM - JULY 23: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama departs pays his respects after laying a wreath in the Hall Of Remembrance during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, which commemorates the six million Jewish Holocaust victims killed by the Nazis during World War II on July 23, 2008 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
qatar museum [aje]
RAFAH, GAZA STRIP - NOVEMBER 15: A masked Palestinian man holds onto a cow as Palestinians continue to smuggle supplies and animals through tunnels between Rafah, southern Gaza Strip and Egypt as the Gaza crossings remain closed on November 15, 2008 in Rafah, Southern Gaza Strip, Gaza. Israel has tightened the blockade in recent weeks as a response to continued rocket fire by Palestinian militants and assertions on both sides that ceasefire agreements have been violated. Muslims are preparing for Eid al-Adha, celebrated at the end of pilgrimage of the Hajj, purchasing cattle to be slaughtered in commeration of Abraham''s willingness to sacrifice his son for God. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims perform the Tawaf ritual around the Kaaba at Mecca''s Grand Mosque on December 4, 2008 as Muslims from all over the world are flocking to Mecca to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The Kaaba (C), covered with a black drape, is Islam''s holiest site. It stands in the centre of the Grand Mosque and contains the holy Black Stone which is believed to be the only piece remaining from an altar built by Abraham. AFP PHOTO/KHALED DESOUKI
