MIDEAST: Israeli Settlers Step Up Attacks on Palestinian Mosques

"There is immense anger as well as a feeling of vulnerability and fear when a place of sanctuary and holiness is subject to indiscriminate violence," says Issa Hussein.

MIDEAST: West Bankers Made Refugees in Their Own Country

Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man’s land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry.

Will Mideast Tug-Of-War Wreck Anti-Nuke Meet?

When the last review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ended inconclusively - after four long weeks of protracted negotiations - the meeting was described as having accomplished "very little" with no substantive agreement.

MIDEAST: Hope Amidst Grim Prospects for Peace

Proximity peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, due to begin shortly after months of delay due to Israel’s continued settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, appear to have little chance of making a breakthrough.

Jerusalem Divided Between Hats and Hearts

There's a Jerusalem saying that the city wears too many hats -- Jewish hats, Muslim hats, Christian hats -- so it's difficult to get at its brain.

Zarqa Lives Up to al-Zarqawi’s Ideals

Infamous as the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the late al-Qaeda leader, Zarqa is dominated by Islamic parties.

Israel, Iran Targeted at Nuke Non-Proliferation Meet

A month-long Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) began Monday with a predictable target: Israel.

Gaza ‘World Cup’ Scores Several Goals

Football is the world's most popular sport, boasting more than an estimated 2 billion fans. And despite its isolation from the world through Israel's four-year- old blockade, the Gaza Strip is no exception. When a football match is on, tea and shisha cafes are packed with people gathered around the TV sets.

Hezbollah Rocket Inventories Worry Israel, U.S.

Recent warnings by the United States that Hezbollah (Party of God) possesses more rockets than most governments has once again placed the party’s arsenal under the spotlight.

When Israel is 64

"Mine forever more, Will you still need me, Will you still feed me, When I'm sixty- four." Israelis weren't explicitly intoning the Beatles when they gathered around their Bar-B-Q get-togethers or followed the live broadcasts of official state ceremonies.

MIDEAST: Egypt, Hamas Complicit in Israel’s Gaza Blockade

A convoy of boats laden with humanitarian goods and accompanied by hundreds of journalists, human rights activists and European parliamentarians, is due to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza at the end of May.

MIDEAST: Settler Sewage Ruins Palestinian Crops, Drinking Water

Residents of this Palestinian village refuse to buy the idea that the flood of raw sewage from the adjacent Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, that destroyed vineyards and contaminated their drinking water, was an accident.

U.S.-MIDEAST: To Peace Plan or Not to Peace Plan, and When?

Reports earlier this month that President Barack Obama may present a comprehensive U.S. peace plan for resolving the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict have spurred a growing public debate over its wisdom and timing.

Goldstone Escapes Solomonic Trial

He is among the most respected international jurists. But in Israel today, and in much of the Jewish world, he is among the most reviled.

MIDEAST: Hunger Strike by Palestinian Prisoners Cuts No Ice

Raed Abu Hammad, 27, was allegedly kicked to death by Israeli prison wardens on Apr. 16. This while Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have been on hunger strike since Apr. 7 to press for better treatment.

U.S. Nuclear Option on Iran Linked to Israeli Attack Threat

The Barack Obama administration's declaration in its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) that it is reserving the right to use nuclear weapons against Iran represents a new element in a strategy of persuading Tehran that an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites is a serious possibility if Iran does not bow to the demand that it cease uranium enrichment.

Israel Winning its War on Goats

Nine-year-old Ismail spends every afternoon herding his family's flock of sheep and goats, a scraggly group of roughly 20 animals. They live in a shanty house district near Tel el Howa in Gaza City, where growth is sparse to non-existent.

MIDEAST: Hamas to Carry Out More Executions

The Hamas authorities in Gaza have vowed to carry out more executions of those on death row despite intense international criticism and condemnation from both Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

MIDEAST: Custodial Death Marred Palestinian Prisoners Day

A young Palestinian man died in Israeli custody as hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of villages and towns across the West Bank and Gaza to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day on Friday, Apr. 16.

Q&A: ‘U.S. Can Stop Israeli Settlements’

Ziad Abuzayyad was Palestinian cabinet minister responsible for Jerusalem affairs and a member of the Palestinian Legislature. During previous rounds of peace talks with Israel he was a leading member of the Palestinian negotiating team

Alleged Weapons Transfer Threatens Mideast Status Quo

This week, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of arming Lebanon's Hezbollah with long-range Scud missiles, possibly altering the current political and military dynamics of the region and affecting U.S. interests.