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trophe would result. The rebels, believed to be backed by Rwanda, have been fighting Congolese government forces which are backed by U.N. peacekeepers, tasked with protecting civilians.
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Obama dispatches Secretary of State Clinton to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo amid crisis in Gaza
• PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday as the U.S. urgently seeks to contain the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
• Clinton hastily departed for the region from Cambodia, where she had joined Obama for summit meetings with Asian leaders. The White House said she would make three stops, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Palestinian officials in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and Egyptian leaders in Cairo.
• Clinton's trip marks the Obama administration's most forceful engagement in the weeklong conflict that has killed more than 100 Palestinians and three Israelis, with hundreds more wounded. While the U.S. has backed Israel's right to defend itself against rocket fire from Gaza, the Obama administration has warned its ally against pursuing a ground assault that would further escalate the violence and could dramatically increase casualties on both sides.
• Still, Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the U.S. believes "Israel will make its own decisions about the military operations and decisions that it undertakes."
• "At the same time, we believe that Israel, like the United States, like other countries, would prefer to see their interests met diplomatically and peacefully," Rhodes said. "It's in nobody's interest to see an escalation of the military conflict."
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US secretary of state heads to Mideast in bid to end a week of Israeli-Palestinian violence
• GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Efforts to end a week-old convulsion of Israeli-Palestinian violence drew in the world's top diplomats on Tuesday, with President Barack Obama dispatching his secretary of state to the region on an emergency mission and the U.N. chief appealing from Cairo for an immediate cease-fire.
• Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have staked tough, hard-to-bridge posi (Continued on page 27)
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