ISRAEL: A Second Woman PM On Her Way

Just a week after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was charged with forming a new government, it looks as if the new leader of the ruling Kadima party is on the way to cobbling together a new ruling coalition.

MIDEAST: Final Hours Find Newly Conciliatory Olmert

In an interview with a newspaper on the eve of the Jewish holidays, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave a frank assessment of the concessions that Israel would have to give to achieve a lasting peace with its neighbours.

LEBANON: At the Palestinian Camp, Bombing Is a Way of Life

A bomb blast at the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp as this IPS correspondent was visiting, comes as yet another reminder of the precarious peace in these places.

POLITICS: Mideast Peace-Making Quartet Gets Flunking Grade

A new report from several international aid organisations blasts the Quartet, an international group assembled to facilitate the Middle East peace process, for failing to meet their goals in advancing a lasting peace between Israel and Palestinians.

U.S.: Bipartisan Group Urges Deeper Diplomacy with Muslim World

In an implicit indictment of President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" and the hawkish pronouncements by Republican candidate John McCain, a bipartisan group of nearly three dozen U.S. leaders called here Wednesday for Bush's successor to place much greater emphasis on high-level diplomacy - including direct engagement with Iran and Syria - in dealing with the Middle East and the Muslim world.

POLITICS: Neo-cons, Ex-Israeli Diplomats Push Islamophobic Video

A group of hard-line U.S. neo-conservatives and former Israeli diplomats, among others, are behind the mass distribution, ahead of the November U.S. presidential election, of a controversial DVD that critics have denounced as Islamophobic.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Open to U.S. Talks, Denounces Threats

At a press conference following his speech to the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would welcome discussions with the U.S. presidential candidates, but added that "the condition is that our meeting should be open so that all media know what happens."

LEBANON: ‘Incoherent’ Agreement Spells the Way Forward

The Lebanese unity government has finally came to terms with its ministerial declaration after weeks of political haggling. What promises and threats does the incoherent declaration hold for Lebanon in a polarised local and regional context?

MIDEAST: Everyone Loses in the War of Silencing

So much is missing as you walk down the street along the shops of Gaza. Food and medicines kept out by the blockade enforced by Israel; but also newspapers once a part of the street landscape.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Politics on the Road to Nowhere

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks appear to have hit a dead-end, while efforts to bridge the yawning chasm which divides Hamas and Fatah politically and ideologically appear to be going nowhere.

POLITICS: Iranians Hope for Temperate President at the U.N.

When Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends the 63rd session of the General Assembly next week in New York, many Iranian academics and political activists hope he will avoid the kinds of controversial statements that have hurt Iran's international image since he was elected to the office in 2005.

MIDEAST: Children Play with Death and Dispossession

Palestinian children continue to be victims of disproportionate and indiscriminate violence from the both the Israeli occupation and internal Palestinian infighting in the occupied Palestinian territories.

US/MIDEAST: Obama Advisor Stresses Carrots Over Sticks

Dr. Susan Rice, senior foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, says the U.S. would make every effort to avoid resorting to a military attack on Iran under an Obama administration.

MIDEAST: More Than the Film Stands Between Iran and Egypt

Despite several goodwill gestures from Iran, Egypt appears adamant in its refusal to re-establish diplomatic relations - frozen for almost 30 years - with the Persian-speaking Islamic republic. According to opposition figures, Cairo's insistence on keeping Iran at arm's length comes largely as a result of U.S. prompting.

MIDEAST: Teachers Trapped Between Fatah and Hamas

A strike call has trapped thousands of teachers between Fatah unions and a Hamas government.

MIDEAST: Israel Moves to Judaise East Jerusalem

The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise Palestinian East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate.

LEBANON: Belligerence on the Rise Again

Except for the Western looking houses along the horizon on the northern side of the blue line that separates Lebanon from Israel, little seems to separate Lebanon from Israel. Away from the picturesque landscape, however, whether in Israel or Dahiyeh - a Beirut suburb and Hezbollah's headquarters - belligerent talk is on the rise.

ISRAEL: Olmert Has a Last Go at a Legacy

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may have announced that he will resign as soon as his ruling Kadima party has chosen a new leader next month, but that doesn't mean the prime minister has given up hope of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians or the Syrians.

ISRAEL: Where the Slave Trade Heads

Israel continues to be a favourite destination for the trafficking of women for the sex industry, also known as the white slave trade, and for a form of modern day slavery where migrant labourers from developing countries are exploited.

LEBANON: ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’ Looks for Revival

Lebanon was long dubbed the 'Switzerland of the Middle East' for its advanced banking sector. It lost its status 23 years ago at the dawn of the 1975 civil war, which lasted 15 years. The country has since been unable to regain the title, in spite of the brief economic revival witnessed in the 1990s.

MIDEAST: Israel Pushes Ahead with Settlement Expansion

Israel has published tenders for the construction of 1,761 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied east Jerusalem alone, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now.