EGYPT: State Security Blunts ‘Day of Anger’

Egyptians expressed their discontent Monday with rising prices and political stagnation in a national 'day of anger' organised by online activists. Although smaller in scope than a nationwide strike on this date last year, opposition figures say the demonstrations across the country made their point.

MIDEAST: It Will Take the World to Save These Homes

Orthodox Israeli settlers, backed by soldiers and police, attacked Palestinian residents of the Sa'diyya neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem Sunday evening, four days after the settler group invaded the home of the Jabir family and extra-judicially evicted them.

MIDEAST: Lost in the Buffer Zone

"They're always shooting at us. Every day they shoot at us," says Alaa Samour (19), pulling aside his shirt to show a scar on his shoulder. Samour said he was shot on Dec. 28 last year by Israeli soldiers positioned along the border fence near New Abassan village, east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.

EUROPE: Made in Israeli Settlements, But Never Mind

European Union officials are seeking evidence to support claims that fruit and vegetables from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are being exported under false pretence.

MIDEAST: Obama’s Lieberman Problem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was sworn in Tuesday - just one day later his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, set off a firestorm by saying he judged Israel was no longer bound by agreements reached at the late-2007 peace conference convened by the U.S. in Annapolis, Maryland.

MIDEAST: Big Powers Moving In on Gaza

Nine NATO member states agreed last month to utilise naval, intelligence and diplomatic resources to combat the alleged flow of arms into the Gaza Strip. Some Egyptian commentators see the move as a surreptitious means of cementing foreign control over the region.

MIDEAST: All Unclear Over Israeli Policy

How genuine is Israel's new leadership about peace when the Prime Minister says that he will go a long way towards striving for a settlement with the Palestinians, but purposefully omits to endorse an independent Palestinian state; and, when his foreign minister warns, "If you want peace, prepare for war", a blunt statement on which the prime minister stays studiously silent?

POLITICS: In Reversal, U.S. to Engage With Human Rights Council

The Barack Obama administration’s decision this week to seek a seat on the world’s top human rights body has affirmed the hopes of many activist groups that the United States will take a far more multilateral approach to diplomacy than in the past.

US-ISRAEL: Visa for Top Netanyahu Aide In Question

The first official test of wills between the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and the new Likud-led government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could well be waged over the issuance, or restoration, of a simple entry visa.

Q&A: "If I Were Chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council"

Appointed two months ago by the Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis Blair to chair the National Intelligence Council (NIC), the body charged with producing analyses on key issues on behalf of all 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community, ret. Amb. Charles "Chas" Freeman withdrew his name in mid-March after a sustained campaign against the appointment by right-wing leaders of the so-called "Israel Lobby" concerned about his past criticism of Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbours, and particularly its treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

MIDEAST: Israeli Military Cloaks Abuses

The Israeli army's Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel's recent war on Hamas in Gaza.

POLITICS: Arab-Latam Bid for a Diverse World

The Moors invaded and conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula in 711AD. By the time they were driven out of Granada in 1492, the Arabs had left an indelible racial and cultural imprint. Both the Spanish and Portuguese languages have a marked Arabic influence.

EGYPT: Camp David Accord Unacceptable to Many

Egyptian and Israeli officials celebrated the anniversary of the Camp David peace agreement last week. The agreement normalised relations between the two former adversaries 30 years earlier on Mar. 26. Opposition leaders, however, are calling for a suspension of the treaty, which they say fails to serve Egyptian interests.

MIDEAST: All Change, and Nothing Changes

In the Middle East this week it's all change. In fact, it's all diplomatic stasis. Neither Monday's Arab League summit in Doha nor Tuesday's induction of a new Israeli government in Jerusalem is likely to break or even ease the conflict deadlock that grips the region.

MIDEAST: Building New Bridges to Latin America

In the shadows of a critical Arab summit in Doha this week, a parallel Arab- South American heads of state meeting is expected to seal key political and economic cooperation agreements between the two regions.

MIDEAST: Path to Peace Needs New Realism on All Sides

With Benjamin Netanyahu now close to announcing his government line-up in Israel, the issue of whether and how to include Hamas in Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking is moving to the top of the Middle East agenda.

US: Freezing Out Hamas No Longer Viable, Say Policy Heavyweights

A new report from a New York-based think tank and delivered to U.S. President Barack Obama by a signatory who is also a current adviser recommends that Washington forcefully reinsert itself into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, calling for "a more pragmatic approach to Hamas."

RIGHTS: U.S. Condemned for Boycott of Racism Conference

Amid calls for Washington to increase its engagement with the international community, U.S.-based rights groups and civil libertarians are denouncing the Barack Obama’s administration’s boycott of a global conference against racism next month.

Q&A: Sacked for Writing Against the Egypt Regime

For years, Abdelhalim Kandil has been one of Egypt's most high-profile opposition journalists, known for writing hard-hitting articles critical of the ruling regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

MIDEAST: To be an Arab, and an Israeli

The cluster of blue-and-white Stars of David - Israel's national flag - had seen better days. In the wake of unseasonably heavy rain, they looked limp, anything but proud - in direct contrast to the mark their bearers hoped to make.

MIDEAST: U.S. Jews Open to Palestinian Unity Govt

Contrary to the views of the likely incoming right-wing government of Israel, most U.S. Jews favour peace negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that would include Hamas, according to a new poll released here Tuesday by the year-old, pro-peace Jewish lobby group, J Street.