MIDEAST: Israeli Navy Storms Humanitarian Flotilla

Israeli naval commandos shot dead at least 16 people and wounded over 30 on Monday morning, as they attacked an unarmed humanitarian and civilian flotilla - in international waters - trying to bring desperately needed aid to Gaza. The death toll was expected to rise.

Difficult Times Call for Dangerous Jobs

Life can be hard working in these tunnels, and it is always at risk. But many have no choice but to work in them, particularly since mid-2007, when Israel and Egypt, with the help of the international community, imposed a siege of staggering severity on the 1.5 million humans in the Gaza Strip.

And Not a Drop to Drink for Palestinians

A new desalination facility has come up here on Israel's Mediterranean seashore, to soothe Israel's chronic fresh water shortage. An elaborate network of pipes beneath the beach reaches westward far into the sea. Eastward, it links up with the national water system.

RIGHTS: ‘G20 Must Lead on Justice’

Amnesty International is calling on the G20 to lead the world out of a crisis in justice, after the band of major industrialised and emerging nations has led a fair bit of the world out of economic recession, to some extent.

MIDEAST: Hamas’ Turn to Demolish Palestinian Homes

On Sunday approximately 150 Palestinians from 20 families were driven out of their homes in Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip, by heavily armed police and soldiers who menaced them with clubs.

ISRAEL: Settlement Policy Wrong – European Jews

Prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Europe have begun denouncing the Israeli policy of allowing settlements to come up on Palestinian territories as "morally and politically wrong.’’

MIDEAST: US Funds Apartheid Roads on West Bank

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping Israel to construct an apartheid road infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian West Bank by financing nearly a quarter of the segregated road system primarily for the benefit of Israeli settlers.

MIDEAST: May Is About Memories

This is the month for Palestinians to remember their Nakba, or "catastrophe", in which more than 700,000 women, men and children were pushed off their land and rendered homeless refugees by the Zionist attacks before, during and after the founding of Israel in 1948.

MIDEAST: Where Commemorations Are Split

In Israel and Palestine memory is a split matter, depending on which side of the map you come from. Especially this May, as Israeli and Palestinian leaders restart negotiating a border acceptable to their peoples.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Economic Boycott Hits Israeli Settlers

Israeli settlers are beginning to feel the bite of an economic boycott campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements dotting the occupied West Bank.

Bank Cornered over Financing Israeli Settlements

New evidence has been uncovered to show that Dexia, a major Belgian-French bank, is still financing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories despite official assurances that such loans have ceased.

MIDEAST: These Virtual Connections Are for Real

"I've learned most of what I know about photo editing and graphic design via the Internet," says Emad, 27-year-old film-maker and editor. In Gaza, this sort of thing has become usual in a different way.

ISRAEL: The Only Democracy in the Middle East?

Noam Chomsky, a fierce espouser of left-wing causes, is widely admired in countries which parade themselves as "democracies". Apparently, the admiration does not extend to Israel.

MIDEAST: Dreaming With Their Feet

Ahmed Ismail, 23, is leading a dance out of troubled times in Gaza. Breakdancing is his way to help the youth of Gaza begin dreaming and having fun again.

MIDEAST: Chomsky – Latest Jewish Thinker Savaged by Israel

When internationally renowned linguist, philosopher and political analyst Noam Chomsky was barred from entering the West Bank, he joined a chorus of Jewish intellectuals savaged by the Israeli government for outspoken criticism.

MIDEAST: Israel, Iran Talking War to Ward Off War?

Suddenly, the Middle East is awash with talk of war this summer. Or, is the talk of war merely meant to keep war at bay?

MIDEAST: New Solution for the Old City?

As the 43rd anniversary of the "reunification" of Jerusalem is observed this week in Israel, marking Israel's annexation of the eastern portion of the city, a new initiative that calls for a sustainable and unified solution for the historic city is generating a buzz in Washington.

Shielded by U.S. Umbrella, Israel Joins Rich Man’s Club

With tongue firmly entrenched in his cheek, an Arab diplomat recounts an Israeli cabinet meeting interrupted by an aide rushing in with the latest statistics on the state of the economy.

MIDEAST: Divided We Celebrate

"What kind of celebration is this," said Bat-El, 22, engulfed in a sea of blue- and-white Israeli flags in a huge procession marking Israel's self-celebrated Jerusalem Day, the anniversary by the Hebrew calendar of Israel's conquest of East Jerusalem 43 years ago during the 1967 Arab-Israel war.

MIDEAST: Children Fight Off Israel With Music

"Why are you rushing? Isn't it nicer like this?" Mohammed Omer, oud teacher (an oud is similar to a lute) at the Gaza Music School, asks his student. Omer takes the oud and demonstrates, playing the song slowly, gracefully, with the ornamentations that are key to Arab music.

MIDEAST: Is Israel Sliding Towards a Police State?

Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months imprisonment for allegedly refusing to perform community service in West Jerusalem.