Herald Sun- - British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in Israel on the fourth day of a Middle East tour aimed at reviving a stalled peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.
But it was the Palestinians who appeared to be in more urgent need of peacemaking.

The shooting erupted only hours after the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas reached a cease-fire to end days of bloody fighting.

The coastal territory was buffeted all day by clashes between Hamas and Fatah, which are rival groups battling for control over the Palestinian Government.

Three Palestinians were killed in the violence in Gaza.

Gunmen shot up the Palestinian Foreign Minister's convoy and militants launched mortar shells at Mr Abbas' office in a day-long wave of attacks that killed three and wounded many others.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh accused rival Mr Abbas of inflaming the violent political crisis by calling for early elections.

Mr Haniyeh said his Hamas group would boycott the poll.

Mr Abbas, a moderate from Fatah, called for new elections to resolve the political deadlock that has paralysed the Palestinian Government since the hardline Hamas militant group won January parliamentary elections.

FORMER Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States is losing the war in Iraq and has urged President George W. Bush not to send more troops to Baghdad.

Mr Powell echoed the words of the recent Iraq Study Group report when he said: "If it's grave and deteriorating and we're not winning, we are losing."

Mr Bush is believed to be considering flooding Baghdad with extra troops to free up combat brigades to fight insurgents elsewhere.

In preparation for his decision for a new tack in Iraq, 3500 soldiers from the army's 82nd Airborne Division have been ordered to Kuwait.

Mr Powell, who backed the 2003 invasion, contradicted the Bush Government by declaring Iraq is in a state of civil war, and said the "war on terror" in Iraq had put the US at greater risk than four years ago.

"I think we are a little less safe, in the sense that we don't have the same force structure available for other problems," he said. Mr Powell believed the Iraqi Government and security forces must take over.