ISRAEL-LEBANON: U.N. Treads Cautiously in Probe of Border Firefight

Three weeks after a fatal exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon along the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has yet to make recommendations on easing tension at the border.

MIDEAST: Stitching Together a Living, Somehow

Just off Omar Al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza City's main thoroughfare, in a narrow, sandy alley way is a little second-hand clothing shop. In the dimly lit store, with only intermittent electricity for some hours a day at best, sits a single battered and aging sewing machine.

New Book Assembles Eyewitness Accounts from Mavi Marmara

A growing number of activists is contradicting the claims of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) regarding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla debacle in May, including a large faction of both Israeli and U.S. Jews.

MIDEAST: Barriers Rise Between Ramadan Gatherings

For seven years Majda Abdul Qader Sheikh, 38, has not been allowed to visit the home of her parents, just a few hundred metres from her house.

MIDEAST: Uprooted Villagers Hold Fast During Ramadan

On the eve of the start of Ramadan last week, Israeli police demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert. It was the third time within two weeks that the village had been razed.

MIDEAST: Towards ‘Deja vu All Over Again’

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Sometimes, the nonsensical quote of the legendary New York Yankees baseball catcher Yogi Berra has a real message. It can pointedly be applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on peace with the Palestinians.

Arab-Israeli Orchestra Spreads Message of Peace in Latin America

"The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has proved that music can break down barriers previously considered insurmountable," its Argentine-Israeli conductor, Daniel Barenboim, told IPS on a visit to Ecuador.

MIDEAST: God Grant Us a Permit to Pray

For Muhammad el-Baradiyeh, 38, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a blessing.

Food Cartels Feast on Ramadan Profits

Opportunistic food traders have been blamed for soaring food prices across the Middle East that have added a financial burden on families observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli Generals and Intel Officials Oppose Attack on Iran

Pro-Israeli journalist Jeffrey Goldberg's article in "The Atlantic" magazine was evidently aimed at showing why the Barack Obama administration should worry that it risks an attack by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in the coming months unless it takes a much more menacing line toward Iran's nuclear programme.

White House Questions Suspension of Military Aid to Lebanon

Several powerful members of Congress have worked to suspend U.S. military aid to Lebanon's military after a deadly skirmish on the Lebanese-Israeli border last week which left two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and one Israeli officer dead.

U.N. Chief May Be Heading for Showdown with Israel

When the Israeli government gave its blessings to a U.N. panel of inquiry probing the military attack on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May, there was widespread speculation that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon may have struck a backdoor deal over its mandate.

MIDEAST: Homeless Take On Israeli Forces

A bruising battle of will is taking place between Israeli security forces and Palestinians recently made homeless after two Palestinian villages were razed and hundreds left homeless.

MIDEAST: Injured Workers Man Battered Services

Outside the battered Civil Defence station in northern Gaza's Jabalia region, Mohammed Zidan, a seven-year veteran of fire-fighting and rescue services, stands on crutches in front of battered Civil Defence vehicles.

ISRAEL: Kibbutz Returns With Moneyed Communism

It was an idea that became an institution, and that became the moving spirit behind the creation of the State of Israel. These were people who wanted to change the world. Now, they're content to live a life of carefree irrelevance. That's the Kibbutz today.

MIDEAST: On the Freedom Flight From Gaza, For a While

I tasted freedom for the first time in three years. After being stuck in Gaza since 2007 I travelled to Malaysia for a holiday. It was like visiting another planet. Being treated like a human being and being able to experience what many young people around the world take for granted, was a miracle.

Dictators Guard Their Death Switch

Abolition movements are gaining momentum in North Africa, but authoritarian regimes appear reluctant to remove capital punishment from the penal code.

Iran Benefits from Arab Disillusion with Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Thursday.

MIDEAST: Hamas Slowly Islamising Gaza

Gazans are caught between a rock and a hard place. While Israel continues to apply a crippling siege on the coastal territory, Gaza's Hamas government is cracking down on civil and political liberties in what appears to be a campaign to slowly Islamise Gaza.

Despite Iraq Withdrawal, Greater Mideast Not Looking Good

While President Barack Obama Monday touted the continuing U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq as a key marker in the success of his regional policies, the latest news from the Greater Middle East, as well as a new public opinion survey, is far less encouraging.

U.N. Names Panel to Probe Israeli Killings on Gaza-Bound Ship

Despite initial misgivings, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received the tacit approval of the Israeli government to establish an international panel to probe the widely-condemned killings of nine Turkish civilians onboard a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May.