MIDEAST: EU Boosts Israel Ties, Ignores Illegal Settlements

Diplomats representing the European Union (EU) have drawn up a new plan for strengthening their relations with Israel despite the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

MIDEAST: ‘Day of Rage’ Engulfs Palestine

On Tuesday tens of hundreds of Palestinians of all political persuasions took to the streets, alleys and sidewalks as widespread rioting and protests spread across East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and into Israel proper.

MIDEAST: Israel-U.S. Tensions Continue to Percolate

Despite assurances by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday that the United States and Israel share a "close, unshakeable bond", the week-old crisis between the two allies continued to percolate here Tuesday.

MIDEAST: Israeli Raids Target Children

Three thousand heavily armed Israeli security service forces locked down large parts of the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday, as battalions of police fired rounds of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinian protesters in the occupied eastern part of the city. Nearly 40 Palestinians were wounded and treated at nearby hospitals, as 25 were arrested during intense clashes.

MIDEAST: U.S.-Israeli Tensions Escalating Quickly

The crisis touched off by last week's announcement of Israel's plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in Arab East Jerusalem during a high-profile visit by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden appears to be escalating rapidly.

MIDEAST: An Unlikely Collision Takes Place

In the middle of last week, it seemed that the old cliché about the light at the end of the dark Middle East tunnel was being confirmed: the U.S. had successfully cajoled both Israel and the Palestinian Authority into beginning to talk again.

CULTURE: Poor Patronage Killing Arab Cinema

Arab cinema, which had a promising presence at international film festivals during the 1990s, may now be going through a declining phase for lack of patronage.

MIDEAST: Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare

Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50.

US-ISRAEL: Tiff or Tipping Point?

"Condemn" is not a word that rolls trippingly off the tongue of a U.S. politician addressing anything having to do with actions, however objectionable, by Israel.

EGYPT: Population Growth Overtakes Literacy Rise

Literacy programmes are teaching millions of Egyptians to read, but are struggling to keep up with the country's high population growth.

MIDEAST: Building Settlements, Not Peace

"The best laid-schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" (Scottish for 'going wrong').

MIDEAST: Iran, Israel Spoiling for a Fight?

Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.

RIGHTS: Middle East Women Ahead But Not Home

Male leaders fail to break the Mideast impasse. Enter women from Israel and the Palestinian territories working together. And... it would have been nice to say they succeeded where the men failed.

MIDEAST: Israeli Left Emerges From Coma Amid Atrocities

Amid the wave of violence that swept through the occupied Palestinian West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over the last few days, there are signs that the Israeli left may be emerging from its collective coma.

Q&A: ‘Israeli Siege Causing De-development of Gaza’

For the first time since September 2006, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, has been granted permission to travel outside Gaza.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Preparing for Statehood Anyhow

Was it Yasser Arafat's biggest political error? A decade ago, the deadline for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as envisaged in the 1993 Oslo peace accords thrust itself into the fruitless Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

US-TURKEY: Armenian Genocide Vote Threatens Ties at Key Moment

Thursday's vote by a Congressional committee condemning the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as "genocide" is almost certain to complicate U.S. ties with Turkey, a long-time strategic ally and increasingly influential player in the Middle East and central and southwest Asia.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Homes on ‘David’s Garden’ Spared for Now

Outside the Bedouin-style protest tent in the heart of this Palestinian neighbourhood, the anger is palpable, but controlled.

MIDEAST: Occupation Turns Palestinian Women Into Breadwinners

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, with its ubiquitous closures, checkpoints, military raids and arrests, has decimated the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and Gaza.

MIDEAST: Piano Sounds Good in Gaza Too

At 14, Nour plays the piano, and she knows the facts around her. That the average age for marriage is 18, likely to a man found by parents, her place would be within that home, and a woman has on average 6.5 children.

MIDEAST: Picking Pebbles to Live Somehow

They come by the hundreds every day to sand dunes and rubble sites to sift for pebbles, stones and sand that can be used in making concrete blocks. They lean into trash bins across the Strip, and wade through piles of rubbish scavenging for plastics, metals, and any bits worth reselling.