MIDEAST: Jewish Organisations Call For End to Gaza Bombings

With a fresh outbreak of violence between Israel and Palestine, a battle of a different sort is being waged in Washington between various interests in Mid- East policy circles.

MIDEAST: ‘Civilians Are Paying the Price in Gaza’

International aid groups, including several United Nations agencies, are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza if Israel does not stop its military action there immediately.

MIDEAST: Gaza Becomes a Chessboard for Israeli Leaders

Israel's devastating bombardment of Gaza, and the mounting death toll continue as Operation Cast Lead entered its fourth day Tuesday.

MIDEAST: Israeli Attack Seen as Complicating Obama’s Plans

Israel’s massive three-day aerial assault on Gaza is likely to complicate President-elect Barack Obama’s hopes of aggressively pursuing Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations, and risk inflicting greater damage to Washington’s standing in the Arab world, according to most analysts here.

POLITICS: Security Council Mildly Rebukes Israel’s Gaza Attacks

After an emergency closed-door session Sunday night, the 15-member Security Council issued a politically bland statement expressing "serious concern" over the devastating Israeli air strikes on Gaza and calling for an "immediate halt to all violence."

MIDEAST: Gaza Carnage Sets West Bank Aflame

Anger, shock and revulsion at the continuing carnage in Gaza has ignited spontaneous demonstrations and riots across the West Bank and Israel, sparking concerns of a possible third Palestinian uprising or Intifadah.

MIDEAST: Israeli Attacks Shatter Gaza

At least 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 900 wounded as Israel continues to carry out its severest military attack on Gaza since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Q&A: Israel Bars Credible Observers from Gaza

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay last week lambasted the Israeli government for detaining and expelling a human rights expert, Richard Falk, who was on a U.N.-mandated assignment to probe the human rights situation in the occupied territories.

LEBANON: Christians Step Uneasily Closer to Syria

Christian Lebanese have been long-time foes of the Syrian regime, and their history is tainted with blood, mistrust and assassinations. This month, one of Lebanon's' leading Christian leaders, Gen. Michel Aoun, visited Syria, ending years of dissension between his party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

MIDEAST: Overcoming the Zero-Sum Hurdle

It seems as if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been dissected from every possible angle.

MIDEAST: Death Penalty in Palestinian Territories Alarms Rights Groups

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has sent urgent letters to Palestinian leaders in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, urging them to commute the death sentences of 11 Palestinians currently awaiting execution.

POLITICS: Israel Deeply Wary of 2009 Anti-Racism Meet

At their anti-racism conference in Geneva next April, United Nations member states may find themselves - once again - in a heated dispute over how to properly address the Israel-Palestinian conflict in the context of racism, xenophobia and racial discrimination.

MIDEAST: Sun Sets On An Encircled Town

Qalqilya has been an encircled town since the Israeli West Bank barrier was built around it in 2003. Only one narrow gate guarded by Israeli soldiers allows access.

MIDEAST: Unity – and Peace – Hinge on U.S., Other Outsiders

Eighteen months after Hamas evicted Fatah forces from Gaza, the prospects for restoring Palestinian unity are more elusive than ever, with both factions believing that time is on their side, according to a new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released Wednesday.

MIDEAST: Israelis Continue to Abuse Palestinian Prisoners

Israel released over 200 Palestinians from Israeli jails in a "goodwill gesture" Monday. This followed the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha and was an attempt to boost the waning popularity of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

POLITICS: U.N. Hopes to Jumpstart Quartet Talks

The U.N. Security Council is calling for intense international efforts to conclude diplomatic negotiations aimed at creating a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine.

BOOKS-US: When Neocons Ruled Washington

In the first two pages of his book on the neoconservative movement, historian Stephen Sniegoski tells us that U.S. Mideast policy during the George W. Bush presidency has been "colossally erroneous" and "disastrous to U.S. interests", that the Iraq War is a "blunder of colossal proportions", and that an attack on Iran is a "highly likely" "disaster" unless the country "eschews all elements of the Middle East war policy".

MIDEAST: Truce Beginning to Crack

Ten days of intensive fighting broke out between Israel and the Islamic resistance organisation Hamas last month despite a ceasefire.

POLITICS: Staunch Critic of Israel at U.N. Reports Death Threats

The outspoken president of the General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who recently described Israeli policies in the occupied territories as tantamount to "apartheid", says his life is under threat.

POLITICS: Scant Support for U.S. Naval Forces in the Gulf

A new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org conducted in 21 nations around the world finds widespread opposition to the United States maintaining naval forces based in the Persian Gulf.

SPECIAL SERIES: Is a U.S.-Iran Deal on the Middle East Possible?

Would a negotiated agreement between Iran and the Barack Obama administration be feasible if Obama sent the right signals? The answer one gets from Iranian officials and think tank analysts is, "Yes, but..."