U.S.: Clinton Stresses “Cooperative Engagement”, “Smart Power”

In the first comprehensive statement of President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy priorities, his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Clinton, said "cooperative engagement" backed up by what she called "smart power" will define Washington's approach to the rest of the world.

MIDEAST: Anger Begins to Knock at the Borders

A number of armed attacks have taken place on Israel's borders with Palestinian territories in the last six days as Arab public anger over the death and destruction wrought on Gaza spills over from massive street demonstrations.

POLITICS: Gaza Killings Trigger Call for War Crimes Probe

With hundreds of civilians, mostly women and children, killed during nearly three weeks of fighting in Gaza, there is a growing demand either for an international tribunal or an international commission to investigate charges of war crimes committed by Israel.

MIDEAST: Ceasefire Moves Fading Away

A week after the unveiling of a Franco-Egyptian ceasefire proposal aimed at stopping the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance faction Hamas and on the face of it Israel, are still discussing the fine print of an agreement.

MIDEAST: Israel in No Mood to Brook Dissent

The war on Gaza is widening. Not so much on the battleground inside Gaza as inside Israeli society. The Israeli army continues the battering of Hamas, but on another front Israelis are firing on their own democracy - and from within the very halls of democracy itself.

U.S.: Bush Foreign Policy Legacy Widely Seen as Disastrous

While in a farewell press conference Monday George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency, particularly his foreign-policy record, will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief on Grim Peace Mission to Middle East

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who admits he is "very frustrated and deeply anguished" about the grave military and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is leaving on a grim peace mission to the Middle East, including visits to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait.

MIDEAST: Israelis Rain 'Phosphorous Bombs' Over Gaza

"There is no doubt that Israel is using phosphorous bombs over Gaza. Israel is flagrantly violating the Fourth Geneva Convention," says Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza.

MIDEAST: Energy Security Guides China’s Approach

China's pro-active stance in finding a settlement to the latest crisis in the Middle East - a trouble spot which does not normally figure on Beijing's list of top foreign policy priorities - suggests heightened attention to energy security for the country's power-hungry economy.

MIDEAST: Some Israelis Cry Out for Peace

Another peace rally Saturday night brought together about a couple of thousand Israelis to demand an immediate end to the ongoing assault in Gaza. The demonstration was held in front of the Hakirya, the central command of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Ministry of Defence in the heart of Tel Aviv.

MIDEAST: Israel at Crossroads Between Ceasefire and Occupation

Into the third week of its war on Gaza, Israeli leaders are convinced they're still calling the shots. But, without a suitable diplomatic exit soon, the military "successes" could quickly begin to unravel, some sobering Israeli voices have cautioned.

MIDEAST: Brothers in Thought, Not in Arms

Egypt's official press has recently alleged an "organisational relationship" between the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) opposition movement and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, currently facing the brunt of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. MB spokesmen, however, say their relationship with Hamas is purely ideological.

MIDEAST: Tehran Opts for "Moral Support" in Gaza War

Although the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli leaders have depicted the ongoing crisis in Gaza as part of a larger struggle against Iran and its "proxies", Tehran's involvement with the Palestinians is rather limited.

MIDEAST: Israel Fighting Also the UN

A United Nations report that Israel ordered civilians into a building and then shelled it marks yet more evidence of widespread targeting of civilians in the Gaza assault.

POLITICS: In Washington, All Roads Lead to Tehran

As the war in Gaza approaches its third week, a chorus of influential voices in the U.S. media has cast the conflict as a proxy war in which the real enemy is not Hamas but Iran.

RIGHTS: Aid Groups Dispute Israeli Claims in Gaza Attacks

As the Israelis try to justify the massive loss of civilian life in Gaza, their arguments and counter-charges continue to be shot down either by the United Nations or by international human rights organisations.

MIDEAST: Mourn the Cat That Died

On the phone from Gaza, Zahrah Salem shares the news she has just seen, that so many at the White House were "deeply saddened" by the death of the cat India Willie. Why, she asks, is nobody at the White House deeply saddened by the death of so many children in Gaza.

MIDEAST: Israel Ignores U.N. Security Council Resolution

International aid organisations, including the U.N. humanitarian agency in Palestine, are calling for the immediate implementation of the Security Council resolution passed late Thursday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

MIDEAST: Gaza, and Israel’s Wars of Forced Regime Change

The war that Israel launched on Gaza Dec. 27 is the seventh war of choice Israel has launched against its neighbours since 1973, the last year in which it fought a war that was forced upon it.

MIDEAST: Israel Rejected Hamas Ceasefire Offer in December

Contrary to Israel's argument that it was forced to launch its air and ground offensive against Gaza in order to stop the firing of rockets into its territory, Hamas proposed in mid-December to return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement, according to a U.S.-based source who has been briefed on the proposal.

MIDEAST: Lebanon War More Than a Shadow

The eerie calm reigning on the green hills of south Lebanon was broken Thursday by the sound of explosions as three Katyusha rockets were launched into Nahariya and Western Galilee areas in Israel.