EGYPT: Israel Gas Deal Inflames Opposition

Opposition figures and political activists have slammed a new deal to sell Egyptian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Israel at what they say are vastly reduced prices.

MIDEAST: New Blood Invigorates Fatah Leadership

Despite internal divisions, much criticism and against enormous odds, the Fatah movement has emerged from its Sixth Revolutionary Council here with new blood in its leadership and hopes for a fresh agenda.

POLITICS: Saudi Arabia May Not Follow Obama’s Plan

Pro-Israeli lobbyists here won the support of 77 senators (out of 100) for a letter sent to President Barack Obama that urged him to "press Arab leaders" to consider making dramatic, upfront peace overtures to Israel.

RIGHTS-SAUDI ARABIA: Indefinite Detention in the Name of Counterterrorism

Human rights groups have accused Saudi Arabia of unlawfully detaining thousands of people without trial or conviction under its counterterrorism programme since 2003.

MIDEAST: Tensions Rise on Israel’s North

The war of words between Israel and the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah has heated up in the last week, raising fears that another war between Lebanon and Israel is imminent.

MIDEAST: There Just may Have to be a Partner

"We have no partner," has been the mantra of successive Israeli governments, both right-wing and centre, ever since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifadah in September 2000 in wake of the failed Camp David summit. That was the last time Palestinians and Israelis saw each other as potential peace partners.

MIDEAST: Piecing the Injured Back Together

On a Saturday morning in Gaza city, the Artificial Limb and Polio Centre (ALPC) is filled with people waiting to see the director, Dr. Hazem Al-Shawwa.

IRAN: Nuclear Capability After 2013, Says U.S. Intelligence

Iran is unlikely to be able to produce the highly enriched uranium (HEU) necessary for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a U.S. government intelligence estimate made public Thursday.

MIDEAST: Prison Toughens Palestinian Women

In her office at the Bethlehem women's counselling centre, Khawla Al-Azraq recounts her memories from Israeli prison as vividly as if they were yesterday: the routine physical and psychological abuse, the nightly room searches, the hunger strikes and other collective actions in protest against their conditions, and the intense study sessions with her fellow prisoners.

MIDEAST: New Israeli Plan to Warn of Impending Attacks

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is taking new measures to warn Palestinian civilians about impending aerial attacks. This comes in response to questions raised over whether Israel had complied with international laws during its 2006 war in Lebanon and the Gaza offensive earlier this year.

MIDEAST: Peace in Balance as Fatah Fights for Survival

Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), is fighting for its very survival as the movement faces implosion, and attacks from all sides. The issues have come to the fore at the sixth revolutionary council of the party that began in Bethlehem Tuesday.

MIDEAST: Hope Now Advances to Autumn

Much of the world is side-tracked into the summer holiday mood, but the Obama Administration consistently stresses it won't allow its Middle East peacemaking effort to be side-tracked: We'll soon be hitting full stride, is the constant White House message.

MIDEAST: Traumatised Children Struggle to Rise Again

Tens of thousands of children in Gaza are still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Israel's three-week bombing December- January.

EGYPT: Opposition Equated With Terrorists

The Egyptian government is now accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of links to Palestinian resistance groups and of establishing "global networks". Recent months have seen a host of government accusations - which critics say are fabricated - against opposition groups it claims have ties with Hamas, Hizbullah, and the ever-elusive Al-Qaeda.

MIDEAST: And Still They Run These Taxis

Salleh wonders how he will pay for a replacement car part he bought from the tunnels black market.

MIDEAST: ‘Lay Not Thine Hand Upon the Boy’

"And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God" (Genesis 22:12). Not so much in fear of God as in fear of their own conscience, Israeli leaders have given temporary relief to hundreds of children of foreign workers who were facing deportation with their parents.

MIDEAST: Obama Maneuvres Between Jewish Israelis, Jewish Americans

Pres. Barack Obama has repeatedly declared himself a close friend of Israel. But many Israelis inside and outside their country's government have now expressed concern about the lack of closeness, or even just of attention, with which they feel Obama is treating them.

MIDEAST: Israel Prepares for War Over Reports

Six months after Israel's devastating assault on Hamas, its south-western border with Gaza has not been as quiet in a decade - only two rockets in the past six weeks on Israeli towns. Yet, the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza continues to haunt Israel.

Q&A: EU Stepping Closer to Israel, Regardless

Israel enjoys closer relations with the European Union than almost any other foreign country - and work on deepening ties with Israel continues, even as its oppression of the Palestinian people worsens.

EGYPT: Christian-Muslim Tensions Rise

A handful of recent clashes between Muslims and Christians has again raised the spectre of sectarian discord in Egypt. The incidents, though relatively minor, highlight longstanding tensions between the country's Muslim majority and its Christian minority.

MIDEAST: The Old Bibi Is Back

"Reckless", "cavalier", "unscrupulous", "petty politician, not statesman"...these and such epithets applied to Benjamin Netanyahu by friends and foes alike - not that he ended up with many friends - when he was first Israel's Prime Minister back in the late 1990s.