ISRAEL: Advantage Netanyahu After Uncertain Poll

Israeli voters went into their polling booths Tuesday uncertain about the government they wanted to lead them over the next four years, only to emerge from their vote even more uncertain about their country's future.

US-MIDEAST: Anti-Hamas Policies Stymie Gaza Recovery

Despite a desperate need to rebuild the Gaza Strip, viewed by many as a key ingredient to reuniting the Palestinian territories and building a two-state peace deal with Israel, it appears that the U.S. and the international community are poised to continue old, politically-charged policies that will impede progress.

ISRAEL: Many Candidates, No Leaders

Along the ironic lines of "Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum", the old Broadway musical about democracy in ancient times, something "funny" happened to Israelis on their way to the polling stations.

MIDEAST: A Truce Too Big to Fail?

The tandem un-negotiated ceasefires that Israel and Hamas announced Jan. 18 across the Gaza-Israel front line remain fragile. Local and international efforts to consolidate the truce have stalled, and officials and analysts around the world warn of a high risk of further escalation.

MIDEAST: Hamas Is Not Going Away

Despite intensive efforts by Israel, the international community and a number of Arab leaders to weaken and destroy Hamas through economic, punitive and military action, the Islamist organisation continues to be a force to reckon with.

MIDEAST: Israel Heads Right

And then there were four.

MIDEAST: Settlement Expansion Cutting Into Peace

A secret government database revealed last week the real extent of settlement construction on the West Bank. In violation of the Road Map to peace agreed with the U.S., Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, it turned out, agreed to the construction of another settlement on the West Bank. Many now question how devoted Israeli leaders really are to the idea of achieving peace.

POLITICS: Israel, Iran, Pakistan World’s Least Popular Nations

Israel, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan are widely seen as exerting the most negative influence on world affairs, according to the latest in a series of annual global surveys by the BBC's World Service on popular perceptions of the world's most powerful or newsworthy nations.

TURKEY: Long Friendship with Israel in Peril

For decades, isolated Israel could count on Turkey as its only Muslim friend, if not ally, in the tumultuous Middle East. After Israel's assault on Gaza, that friendship is in doubt.

EUROPE: Police Cooperation With Israel Challenged

A European Union body has cast strong doubts over efforts to boost police cooperation between the 27-country bloc and Israel.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Sets Bar High in Aftermath of Gaza

When Ban Ki-moon visited Gaza after the destructive bombing of a U.N. compound last month, the usually reticent secretary-general lashed out at the Israelis, accusing them of using "excessive force" and describing the assault as "an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the United Nations".

RIGHTS: ICC Investigating Israel War Crimes Charges

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague announced a preliminary analysis Tuesday into whether Israel committed war crimes during the recent Gaza war, following the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) move to recognise the ICC's authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

MIDEAST: Gaza Reemerging From the Ashes

The United Nations is urgently appealing for 613 million dollars to aid more than a million desperate civilians in the ruins of Gaza, where schools, hospitals, houses, factories and even farmland were obliterated during the three-week assault by Israeli air and ground forces.

MIDEAST: Politically, Hamas May Have Won

Despite declarations of victory by Israel, the military assault on the Gaza Strip failed to achieve its stated aims, many analysts say. The assault, and even its exceptional brutality, may only have vindicated the notion of resistance among the Arab public.

Q&A: Israel May Escape War Crimes Charges

Despite widespread accusations of war crimes by Israel, there is growing scepticism of any Israeli leader being brought before an international tribunal for the killings of civilians and the targeting of schools and medical facilities during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last month.

MIDEAST: So What Was the Assault All About

Just over a week before they go to the polls, Israelis are in a grim mood. The gloom is fed by the leading candidates, all of whom are seeking to outdo one another in sombre assessment of the challenges that lie ahead.

MIDEAST: What an Aid Worker Saw, Then and Now

As fears rise of renewed violence in Gaza, Elena Qleibo, a French-Costa Rican aid worker from Oxfam, gives IPS a first-hand account of surviving Israel's three-week bombardment of Gaza.

MEDIA-US: Gaza Coverage Echoed Govt Support of Israel

U.S. television coverage of the recent three-week conflict in the Gaza Strip failed to tell both sides of the story, according to a number of media analysts.

POLITICS-US: Obama Taking Hands-On Approach to Mideast

During the three weeks of the Israel-Gaza war, then President-elect Barack Obama vowed he would be ready to engage on the Palestinian question "on Day One" of his presidency.

MIDEAST: Mitchell Mission Risks Deja vu

At the start of his Middle East presidential mission, Senator George Mitchell has listened to President Barack Obama's recommendation earlier in the week on Al-Arabiya television that he "should start by listening, because ultimately we cannot tell Israelis and Palestinians what's best for them."

MIDEAST: Peace Recedes as Israeli Settlements Expand

Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank increased sharply in 2008, despite Israel's pledge at the beginning of the year to freeze all construction, according to a new report by an Israeli non-governmental organisation.