MIDEAST DEVELOPMENTS

> The nuclear threat from Iran and the unmet goal of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord by year-end topped a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, both of whom will leave office early in 2009. After a session with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said, “The prime minister reiterated his commitment to try to reach understandings with the Palestinians” and “expressed his firm belief that … the incoming U.S. administration and next Israeli government must continue the historic process.”

> Desperate Gazans crowded into banks Monday, seeking to withdraw money amid a worsening currency shortage caused by Israeli sanctions designed to ratchet up pressure on the ruling Hamas militant group. Israel has not permitted currency shipments into Gaza since October, and bank officials warned that tens of thousands of civil servants won’t be able to cash their paychecks next month.

> Israel allowed 30 trucks of food and medicine into Gaza on Monday, and it allowed diesel fuel to reach Gaza’s power plant. But European Union officials said it was just enough oil to keep the plant running for a day, and aid officials said the food and medicine deliveries would have little impact on dire shortages of basic goods, as Israel and Egypt continue to restrict movement through Gaza’s border crossings.

> Iranian state radio said an alleged espionage network with links to Israel’s Mossad spy agency has been dismantled. The chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the recently discovered network was trying to collect information on Iran’s nuclear program, the Guards’ military operations, and military and security officials. He said equipment was confiscated, but he didn’t specify who belonged to the network or whether arrests were made.