POLITICS: Rights Group Calls for Israel/Hamas Arms Embargo

A prominent international human rights organisation has called for an arms embargo against both Israel and Hamas after finding evidence that both sides used foreign-supplied arms to commit war crimes during the recent conflict in Gaza.

Q&A: 'Hamas Won't Give In To Blackmail' *

At the eleventh hour, just as a permanent ceasefire painfully mediated by the Egyptians after weeks of intensive shuttle diplomacy was about to take effect, Israel suddenly changed its preconditions for a settlement with Hamas.

EGYPT: Israel Ditches the Go-Between

Senior Egyptian officials have indicated that the new demands raised by Israel for ceasefire could affect the peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas being brokered by Egypt.

POLITICS-US: Christian Zionist’s Crusade Bears Fruit

During a recent appearance on the Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" programme, Mike Evans accused former President Jimmy Carter of everything from helping overthrow the Shah of Iran to causing the Russians to invade Afghanistan and provoking the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

MIDEAST: Border Politics Slows Aid to Gaza

Egyptian authorities are continuing to prevent humanitarian aid from crossing the border into the Gaza Strip, according to local sources.

MIDEAST: Human Rights Defenders Under Siege

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama must take a leadership position in championing human rights in the Middle East and North Africa by using U.S. economic and trade leverage and confronting the growing global threat of authoritarianism being promoted by Arab regimes, advocates say.

MIDEAST: 'EU Paying for Gaza Blockade'

European Union aid has been given to an Israeli oil company which has reduced the supply of fuel to Gaza as part of an economic blockade internationally recognised as illegal, Brussels officials have admitted.

MIDEAST: Peace Talks on Hold Amid Dual Power Struggles

Negotiations for the political endgame of the recent Gaza war have proven much more difficult than - presumably - the Israeli cabinet imagined last December, when it took the final decision to start the war.

US-ISRAEL: Storm Clouds Ahead?

After eight years of the closest possible relations, the United States and Israel may be headed for a period of increasing strain, particularly given the likelihood that whatever Israeli government emerges from last week's election will be more hawkish than its predecessor.

MIDEAST: Little Hope From New US Mediation

Egyptians seem at best only cautiously optimistic over the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as U.S. envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is mandated chiefly with settling the Arab-Israeli dispute.

MIDEAST: Hamas Offered a Bullet to Bite

Israel's outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert is risking a crisis of confidence with Egypt by insisting that a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas precede any Egyptian-mediated ceasefire arrangement to end the Gaza war.

MIDEAST: Israel Braces for Wave of Lawsuits

Israel is bracing for a wave of lawsuits accusing the Jewish state of substantial human rights violations during its 22-day military assault on Gaza which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and nearly 5,000 wounded, more than half of them civilian.

US-SYRIA: Signs of a Thaw, But Differences Run Deep

This week, two high-level U.S. Congressional delegations are setting out for Syria to meet with President Bashar Al Assad. The trips are seen as a precursor for engagement with Syria, but the extent of possible diplomatic deal-making is still in question.

MIDEAST: Hamas Pushed to the Wall Over Ceasefire

Israel is toughening its negotiating stance with Hamas as the two try to hammer out a permanent ceasefire agreement.

MIDEAST: Waiting to See Who Blinks First

An indiscreet whisper following a hastily scribbled note around the Israeli cabinet table exposed the deepening political stand-off in the wake of last week's inconclusive elections.

MIDEAST: Egypt’s Star Rising in Regional Politics

Back in mid-December, many Middle Easterners were daring to hope that, with the imminent end of George Bush's presidency, their own deeply U.S.-influenced region might see a new day of peacemaking and inclusiveness in place of the recent years of war, confrontation, discrimination and distrust.

MIDEAST: News Coverage Throws Up Arab Rifts

Coverage of Israel's recent war on the Gaza Strip by regional news stations has reflected longstanding political divisions within the Arab world. Qatar-based Al- Jazeera's reporting drew a particularly angry response from Egypt.

U.S.: Rightward Shift in Israeli Polls Creates New Headaches

The strong showing by right-wing parties in Israel's elections is likely to create new obstacles to U.S. President Barack Obama's hopes for achieving a swift and substantial progress, if not a breakthrough, in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to most experts here.

ISRAEL: Call Livni or Netanyahu? Go With Peres

Who wins a tie? That was U.S. President Barack Obama's dilemma Wednesday on whom to congratulate as the winner of Israel's general election.

MIDEAST: Extremism Dominates Israeli Polls

"The peace process is based on three false basic assumptions," said Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Israel's extreme right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, which will dictate the formation and political course of the next Israeli government.

ISRAEL: Wary Netanyahu in Driving Seat

Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni clung precariously to a narrow lead over her right-wing rival Benjamin Netanyahu as vote counting neared conclusion from Israel's Tuesday general election. Both would-be prime ministers continue to claim victory: "I won," read the headline of the country's biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronot, alongside the photos of the two.