MIDEAST: Voices of Gloom Get Louder

Three Israeli soldiers, automatic rifles slung across their shoulders, are questioning a group of Palestinian builders. The top floors being added to the concrete house that lies right alongside Israel's security wall which divides off occupied East Jerusalem from Palestinian territory on the eastern side of the wall have evidently aroused some concern.

MIDEAST: A Diplomat Visits, and Listens

The U.S. consulate on Agron Street is something alien in the carefully calibrated diplomatic world of Arab-Israeli politics.

MIDEAST: Riots May Point to Third Palestinian Uprising

Palestinian politicians and Israeli political analysts are warning of a third Palestinian Intifadah following serious rioting in East Jerusalem last Sunday.

MIDEAST: Jerusalem Palestinians Defining Their Own Future

Almost a year ago a barely noticed event took place in Sawarha, a Palestinian neighbourhood in the Israeli-occupied part of the city.

MIDEAST: More Palestinian Children Getting Jailed

Eight children between the ages of 10 and 17 were arrested and detained by Israeli soldiers during military raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in the northern West Bank cities Nablus and Qalqilia.

MIDEAST: Widows and Children Begin to Beg

There are few parks and green spaces in Gaza, and those that exist are crowded with people hungry for nature. Day and night, people of all ages flock to the Joondi, or the park of the Unknown Soldier, in central Gaza City.

ENVIRONMENT: Cairo Sinking in Garbage

Garbage collectors in Cairo's Giza district have resumed work, but it could take weeks to clear the 25,000 tons of garbage that accumulated during their month-long strike, and longer still to solve the underlying problems.

MIDEAST: Textbooks Become a Dream

A chronic shortage of school supplies, and severely overcrowded classrooms are crippling Gaza's educational system as tens of thousands of children begin a new school year.

MIDEAST: Gaza’s Water Supply Near Collapse

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that Gaza's access to safe supply of drinking water could cease at any time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says outbreaks of disease could be triggered as a consequence.

MIDEAST: Israel Struggles to Wriggle Out of the Dock

The Goldstone Commission has delivered an unremittingly scathing report on Israel's 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza last December and January.

RIGHTS: Govt Enforcing Ramadan Fast

Hundreds of Egyptians are reported to have been arrested for eating, drinking or smoking in public during daylight hours as part of a police campaign against people caught breaking the Ramadan fast.

MIDEAST: Unrest Brewing Beneath Gaza Calm

The mile-long stretch that divides Israel's Erez border crossing into northern Gaza from the Hamas police border post is eerily quiet. But the mountains of rubble, twisted metal and craters which remain following Israel's intensive bombing campaign in January serve as a stark reminder that war between the two bitter enemies is still a possibility.

MIDEAST: To Rap Is to Resist

In a backstreet open-air café in Gaza late at night, Khaled Harara from the Black Unit Band starts to talk about rap.

MIDEAST: Israel Taking Sharp Measures Over Iran

Questions about Iran's nuclear thrust are tumbling out, echoing around the world in several directions.

MIDEAST: Business Seeks Ways Past Political Impasse

Business between the Palestinian Authority and Israel is growing despite the political impasse over Israel's refusal to cease illegal settlement building in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian West Bank.

MIDEAST: Stolen Room Offers a Split View

In the early morning sunlight, the smoky window of the plush new apartment reflects back a golden tinge from the Dome of the Rock that stands at the heart of Islam's third holiest shrine.

MIDEAST: Israelis Target Medical Teams

Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Nayif's mother broke down as she spoke to IPS. Nayif died after being shot three times in the chest by Israeli soldiers Monday night.

ISRAEL: Madonna Applauded for her Silence

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-il, Hitler, the Holocaust, ecological disasters, poverty in Africa, wars around the world, Obama and Martin Luther King: the appropriate images were all there, an overwhelming backdrop on the huge stage for the Queen of Pop's rendition of her song, 'Get Stupid' in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park.

MIDEAST: Israelis Destroy Boats, and Lives

Until Monday, Omar and Khaled Al-Habil were the owners of a 20m fishing trawler staffed by five or six fishermen at a time, but employing around 18 in cycles. But that morning the vessel came under heavy Israeli navy machine-gun fire, and then shelling. The trawler caught fire.

MIDEAST: Olmert’s Peace Plan May Go Down With Him

The State of Israel against the former leader of the State of Israel - for the first time, a former prime minister will soon be in the defendant's chair in a criminal court.

MIDEAST: East Jerusalem Shuts Out Thousands of Prayers

The future of East Jerusalem and of Palestinian access to it has again been brought under the spotlight.