MIDEAST: Not Quite a Political Ceasefire Between Hamas and Fatah

Reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah is looking increasingly problematic as the two groups exchange serious accusations of treason, torture and extra-judicial killings.

POLITICS: Gaza Tensions Shadow U.N. Holocaust Ceremony

The president of the United Nations General Assembly was a last-minute no-show at the U.N.'s annual ceremony commemorating the Holocaust, following an intense lobbying campaign by pro-Israel organisations to have him removed from the programme.

MIDEAST: Obama’s Quick Start Raises Hopes

A series of unexpectedly swift moves to begin addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict taken by Barack Obama in the week since he was sworn in as the U.S. president is being hailed by many regional specialists here who were deeply frustrated by George W. Bush's relative indifference and virtually unconditional support for Israel.

MIDEAST: A Tale of Two Summits

Despite declarations of Arab unity at a recent economic summit, Egyptian commentators say that fundamental differences between rival Arab camps - especially over the issue of Palestine - are far from over.

Q&A: ‘Gaza Will Take Years to Recover’

Gaza will need years to recover from the devastating Israeli assault, says Katharina Ritz, head of mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Israel's 22-day assault left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead, and decimated much of the coastal territory's infrastructure.

MIDEAST: Unconventional Warfare on the Rise

Violent conflict is hardly new to the Middle East, but increasingly it is taking the form of unconventional warfare.

MIDEAST: Ceasefire Broken From Day One

At 7.30 am Jan. 22, five days after Israeli authorities declared a 'ceasefire' following their 22-day air, land and sea bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Israeli gunboats renewed shelling off the Gaza city coast, injuring at least six, including four children.

POLITICS: Muslim World Hails End of a Despised Symbol

While the decision of President Barack Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and end the practice of interrogation techniques that violate international law, made front page news throughout the United States, press reaction in the Middle East was far less extensive - but generally favourable.

MIDEAST: U.S. Engagement May Not Bring Change

The new U.S. President was as good as his word. Within 48 hours of taking the helm, Barack Obama declared it "will be the policy of my Administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians as well as Israel and its Arab neighbours."

MIDEAST: Unexploded Bombs Hold More Deaths

At first the 44 children that live in the Zani family home in Beit Hanoun were wary of the unexploded F-16 rocket whose tail has protruded menacingly from their garden since it landed in the first week of the Israeli assault on Gaza. Now, they have grown used to it - playing excitedly near it and even building fires next to it, a relative says.

MIDEAST: Egypt ‘Not Bound’ by Anti-Smuggling Pact

The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last week ostensibly aimed at combating arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty.

ISRAEL: Arab Parties Back in Contest

A sharp polarisation between Israeli Arab parties and the rest is expected to mark the upcoming elections Feb. 10.

Q&A: "U.S. and Iran Share an Equal Monopoly on Violence"

"Obama is going to have continuous pressure from Israel to attack Iran and, in some way, their nuclear facilities, and this is going to be tied up with Gaza and Lebanon," according to Robert Baer, a former top Central Intelligence Agency operative and the author of "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower."

POLITICS-US: Gaza War Lends Urgency to Obama’s Mideast Agenda

On Thursday, his second full day in office, Pres. Barack Obama took some bold steps that could have wide and positive repercussions in the Middle East.

U.S.: Obama Picks Israel-Arab, Afghanistan-Pakistan Negotiators

In his first major diplomatic moves since his inauguration, U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday named two accomplished negotiators, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and Amb. Richard Holbrooke, as special envoys to deal with the Israel-Arab conflict and "the deteriorating situation" in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively.

POLITICS: Hamas Fights on Uneven Battlefield

In the 1967 movie classic the "Battle of Algiers", which recreated Algeria's war of independence against France, a handcuffed and shackled insurgent leader, Ben M'Hidi, is brought before a group of highly-partisan French journalists for intense interrogation.

MIDEAST: Cornering of Civilians Unprecedented, Says UN Official

Israel's refusal to allow civilians any exit route from Gaza as its defence forces rained bombs down on schools and houses appears unprecedented in modern warfare, a United Nations investigator has said.

Q&A: "A Lot of the Gaza Story Is Being Left Out"

The war of words continues in Gaza, in spite of the ceasefire. Nancy Snow, propaganda expert, talks to IPS about information spin strategies and whether we, the public, have learnt any lessons from Iraq.

MIDEAST: Alarm Spreads Over Use of Lethal New Weapons

Eighteen-year-old Mona Al-Ashkar says she did not immediately know the first explosion at the United Nations (UN) school in Beit Lahiya had blown her left leg off. There was smoke, then chaos, then the pain and disbelief set in once she realised it was gone - completely severed by the weapon that hit her.

MIDEAST: Move On From Conventional Wisdom

In his inauguration address Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama made no direct reference to Israel's three-week campaign in Gaza; nor did he mention the urgency of addressing the old bugbear of international relations - how successfully to forge a Palestinian-Israel peace.

MIDEAST: Too Many Pieces to Pick Up

A pillow, a belt, a child's school bag and pages of a torn copy of the Quran lie in the wreckage of the Al-Da'aa family home in Zeitoun, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. Twenty-four members of the family were killed when an F-16 fighter jet dropped a bomb on their house. Nine bodies still lie under what is now just a massive pancake of concrete, metal wires and death.