BRAZIL-IRAN: New Boost to South-South Diplomacy

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial visit to Brazil further underscored the independence of this country's diplomacy, and gave Tehran a chance to defend its points of view on the construction of a lasting peace in the Middle East.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Children Face Daily Settler Attacks Getting to School

Being able to travel to school in relative safety is something children all over the world take for granted. But, for Palestinian children living in the shadow of the ubiquitous and illegal Israeli settlements dotting the West Bank, simply walking to school can be a terrifying experience.

MIDEAST: Threat Rises From Within

Israelis were perturbed when new recruits at a recent passing-out parade at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the remains of Judaism's holiest site, suddenly unfurled banners reading, 'Our Sons Do Not Evacuate Jews'.

U.S.: Obama Returns to Greater Middle East Mess

As Barack Obama arrives home from his weeklong tour of East Asia, he confronts a growing list of ever more urgent problems in the Greater Middle East that he inherited from George W. Bush's "global war on terror".

MIDEAST: U.S. Credibility as Peace Broker Eroding by the Day

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, movement in the standoff between the two sides can be as often backward as it is forward. The past couple of weeks have seen moves from both sides that have garnered the attention of the world, but forward progress remains elusive.

MIDEAST: West Is East, When Israel Decides

Along a wall not about to come down - a hotel no longer a hotel, but an outpost.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Threaten Unilateral Independent State

Following the political deadlock between the Israelis and Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has decided to take the matter directly to the U.N. Security Council.

MIDEAST: U.S. Takes Aim Over Jordan’s Shoulder

In the bleak and seemingly endless desert expanse that unfolds east of Jordan's capital city, Amman, lies a crucial cog in the ambitious regional designs of the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East.

MIDEAST: Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak and Miserable Winter

Tens of thousands of Gazans living in tents and damaged homes face a wet, cold and miserable winter as Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory continues to prevent the importation of building and reconstruction material.

Q&A: No Unilateral Declaration of Palestinian State, Says Erekat

The Palestinian Authority has embarked on a new strategic drive to get renewed international recognition for the borders of the future Palestinian state. Last Thursday it gained backing for this approach from the Arab League.

US-MIDEAST: Baseball Team Urged to Cut Ties with Israeli Group

A coalition of 11 U.S., Israeli and Palestinian groups are calling on the New York Mets baseball team to cancel a fundraiser by the "violent and racist" Israeli Hebron Fund which is scheduled to be held at the Mets' stadium, Citi Field, on Nov. 21.

U.S.: Increasingly Isolated in Key Regions

More than a year after his election, President Barack Obama appears to be dashing hopes both in the Arab world and in Latin America that he would bring major changes in U.S. policy toward their respective regions.

MIDEAST: Gaza Graduates Search for Vitamin W

"We fast a long time," says Gaza graduate Mona Ismail, 23. "Only to break our fast on a piece of onion."

MIDEAST: New Face of Palestine, Now Showing

Other than to movie aficionados, the refurbishing of an old cinema hall is no cause for great excitement.

MIDEAST: The ‘Unknown’ Fight the Illegal

"Make sure your father gets this," the municipal inspector tells a ten-year-old boy at the gate of the concrete house in an alleyway in the Al-Bustan quarter of Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood right under the shadow of the walled Old City.

MIDEAST: Lessons from the Karine A -Deja Vu All Over Again

As Israeli Defence Forces munitions experts sorted through 300 tonnes of weapons found on a German-owned, Cypriot-operated cargo ship flying the Antiguan flag, Israeli politicians were sifting through the various talking points that could be offloaded from the vessel.

MIDEAST: Abbas Produces a Dubious Twist

U.S. and Israeli failure to take either Palestinian rights or Israeli settlement expansion seriously has placed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) in an untenable situation, which could seriously damage peace prospects.

POLITICS: U.N. Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report

A 575-page blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli smear campaign to kill it.

US-SYRIA: Diplomatic Thaw Just Penetrating the Surface

Four months ago, the Barack Obama administration announced that it would appoint an ambassador to Syria, ending a four-year freeze on diplomatic relations between the two countries.

RIGHTS: Palestinian Women Suffer as Israel Violates CEDAW

Palestinian women continue to suffer abuse and denial of basic human rights at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

MIDEAST: Peace Plan May Yet Survive New Twists

U.S. President Obama's Middle East engagement policy reverses the unsuccessful policy of his predecessor, but the U.S. is again committing faux pas aplenty.