MIDEAST: ‘It’s the Occupation, Stupid’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself embattled on several fronts as he tries - hitherto unsuccessfully - to ward off the enormous international pressure on Israel unleashed by the Goldstone report for its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza earlier this year.

Q&A: ‘Ignore Jerusalem, At Everyone’s Peril’

A new spate of demolitions of Palestinian homes by the Israeli authorities near Jerusalem's walled Old City, plus resuscitated plans for a new major Jewish settlement building project on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, threaten to spark fresh tension between Israelis and Palestinians.

MIDEAST: Israel in No Mood to Brook Dissent

The war on Gaza is widening. Not so much on the battleground inside Gaza as inside Israeli society. The Israeli army continues the battering of Hamas, but on another front Israelis are firing on their own democracy - and from within the very halls of democracy itself.

MIDEAST: Israel at Crossroads Between Ceasefire and Occupation

Into the third week of its war on Gaza, Israeli leaders are convinced they're still calling the shots. But, without a suitable diplomatic exit soon, the military "successes" could quickly begin to unravel, some sobering Israeli voices have cautioned.

MIDEAST: Israel Ponders End to Offensive

"Unlike the Qana tragedy in 1996 which brought about an immediate end to the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon, Tuesday night's Israeli shelling of the Fakhura UNWRA school will not bring about an abrupt cessation of the Israeli military campaign," says analyst Chemi Shalev in the Wednesday morning edition of Israel Today. "But it will definitely accelerate the diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire."

MIDEAST: In a Battle for Legitimacy

A confident Israel launched the second half of its war against Hamas in Gaza self-assured that it has already secured two central components of the war: the reaffirmation of its right to self-defence, and the legitimacy of its military action. The latter, Israel reckons, derives directly from the modesty, not necessarily of the scope of the operation (the most extensive against Palestinians in 40 years), but of its declared war goals.