Dubai, 8th Dec. 2008 -- By no means can the Middle East region be perceived today as one that is stable, prosperous or more democratic. By no measure could the region be categorised as being more secure. And by all measures, many policies carried out by the current US administration have played a role in bringing about such a state of affairs, a UAE daily paper asked today.

''The recent statement by George W. Bush with regard to US policies in the Middle East should not come as a surprise. Regardless of the numerous failures of American foreign policy in the region, Bush still blindly defends faulty stances, wrote Gulf News in its comment today.

Jerusalem  - An Israeli ministerial committee approved Sunday the release of 230 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice.

All the prisoners to be freed are identified with President Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah movement, an Israeli government statement said, and none were jailed for action in which people were killed.

The full Israeli cabinet decided on the prisoner release on November 30.

Jerusalem  - Violence by Israeli settlers in Hebron against local Palestinians last week and over the weekend was a "pogrom" and had to be stopped, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday.

"I have no other definition for what we saw but a pogrom. We are the sons of a nation which knows what a pogrom is, and I'm saying this after much thought. I have no other way to put it," he was quoted by the Ynet news site as telling his ministers at the start of Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem  - US secretary-of-state designate Hillary Clinton has promised Israeli Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert that she would work for Middle East peace as the next top US diplomat, Olmert's office said Saturday.

Olmert congratulated her on her nomination and the two spoke "at length" about Middle East issues, according to the prime minister's media advisor.

Amman  - The Jordanian government Saturday condemned what it called a series of "aggressions" on Palestinian civilians by Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron, and urged the Israeli authorities to stop such "provocative" acts.

Tel Aviv - Israeli police were on high alert Friday after settlers vowed revenge for the forced evacuation of dozens of radical Jews from a disputed house in the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Jewish settlers in the divided city plastered pamphlets on walls, calling for a "week of revenge" against Thursday's eviction by Israel's security forces, which was carried out violently and left at least 25 police and settlers injured, Israeli media reported.

Hebron's settlers, meanwhile, vowed to continue their method of "wearing out" the Israeli authorities and security forces by returning again and again to a number of buildings in the city from which they have been evacuated in the past.