MIDEAST: Egyptian Kinship with Fatah Hampers Mediation

Following renewed fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has stepped up calls for dialogue and reconciliation. But critics say Cairo's partiality to Fatah - which is backed, like the Egyptian regime itself, by the U.S. - prevents it from mediating fairly in the crisis.

MIDEAST: A Civil War in the Making

Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter's takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the "treasonous faction" within Fatah - which worked with U.S. military intelligence in last year's failed bid to destroy the resistance group - of instigating the violence.

ISRAEL: Mr. Security versus Mrs. Clean

Members of Kadima face a vexing choice ahead of the ruling party's leadership primary next month: Do they support Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, who may have the best chance of cobbling together a new governing coalition, or do they back Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni because polls show that Kadima under her leadership would significantly outperform a Mofaz-led Kadima in a general election?

MIDEAST: Palestinians Lose a Voice

In the death of poet Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine has lost a voice.

Q&A: Hezbollah’s Triumph Is Blowback for Israeli Policy

Since the Israel-Lebanon 34-day war two years ago, and particularly after the Doha accord in May which restored Hezbollah to the Lebanese government and essentially gave it the veto power it demanded, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been the most popular figure anywhere in the Arab world.

MIDEAST: Gaza and West Bank in Muddied Separation

Over a hundred Fatah fighters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement fled to the West Bank from Gaza last week, fearing for their lives at the hands of Hamas, the Islamic movement which took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after it routed Fatah forces.

MIDEAST: Little Hope of Peace After Olmert

With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent resignation announcement, the self-proclaimed Jewish state is headed for new leadership. Egyptian commentators, though, entertain few hopes that Olmert's successor - whoever he or she may be - will temper Israel's hard-line approach to the peace process.

GEORGIA: Israeli Arms Sales Raise New Concerns

With the eruption of fighting between Russia and Georgia, Israel has found itself in an awkward position as a result of its arms sales to Georgia, caught between its friendly relations with Georgia and its fear that the continued sale of weaponry will spark Russian retribution in the form of increased arms sales to Iran and Syria.

MIDEAST: On HIV and AIDS, the Good News from Palestine

Palestinians from all ranks of society have pulled together to tackle the issue of AIDS, despite the increasing factional violence and chaos in the Palestinian territories.

LEBANON: Maronites Bring Home a Political Message

Bkerke towers atop the northern Lebanese city of Jounieh, a white mansion that serves as the refuge of the Maronite patriarch. The century-old construction seems to shine amid the shrubbery, contrasting against the pristine blue sky. Its story is as ancient as Lebanon's, and reflective of its diverse past.

MIDEAST: Israelis Getting Away With Violence

Only six percent of probes into offences allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers and settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yield indictments, a new report says.

LEBANON: Cracks Widen Under the Patchwork

The assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri Feb. 14 2005 generated a popular outcry in Lebanon, which led to the massive protest in Martyrs' Square a month later on Mar. 14. The demonstration against Syrian occupation, which was accused in the killing, marked a turning point in Lebanese politics and the birth of the March 14 movement.

POLITICS-US: No Traction in the Middle East

More than five years after invading Iraq as a first step towards "transforming" the Middle East, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush seems to have lost its footing - let alone its unquestioned domination - throughout the region.

RIGHTS-US: ‘When You Have To Leave America To Be Free’

Nearly three years after the U.S. government failed to convict Palestinian activist and former college professor Sami Al-Arian of any charges in one of the most high-profile terrorism trials following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he continues to be held in federal prison - where, if convicted in an upcoming trial on criminal contempt charges, he faces the prospect of remaining for decades.

Q&A: 'Israel In a Weak Parallel with Apartheid'

In Israel's control of Palestinian movement, Dennis Davis sees a "stark" parallel with the old, apartheid South Africa of which he was an outspoken critic. But Davis, a Justice of the High Court in Cape Town and a prominent member of the South African Jewish community, strongly rejects those who "run from that into an immediate conclusion" that Israel is an apartheid state.

ISRAEL: Exit Olmert, At Last

The announcement Wednesday evening by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he will resign as soon as his ruling Kadima party has chosen a new leader in mid-September did not shock Israel's political establishment, but it did crystallise the political timetable: Israel will either have a new prime minister by early November or Israelis will be back at the polls for a general election in the first few months of next year.

MIDEAST: Arabs Despair of U.S. Even More

For decades, the U.S. has jealously guarded its role of sole arbiter of the Arab-Israeli dispute. In light of recent shows of support for Israel by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, however, many Arabs fear that Zionist influence on the U.S. body politic - across the political spectrum - has made the notion of 'U.S. even-handedness' a contradiction in terms.

POLITICS-US: Neocon Flap Highlights Jewish Divide

A mushrooming media controversy pitting neoconservatives against a prominent Jewish-American political commentator could mark a new stage in the growing battle over who speaks for the U.S. Jewish community on foreign policy issues, particularly regarding the Middle East.

MIDEAST: Israeli Transcends Borders With a Virtual Bridge

Israelis are barred from travelling to the West Bank and Palestinians from entering Israel without a permit, but that has not deterred Zvi Schreiber, an Israeli living in Jerusalem, from creating a high-tech start-up company that does all its programming in the West Bank town Ramallah and its business development and marketing in the Israeli town Modi'in.

MIDEAST: Israeli Transcends Borders With a Virtual Bridge

Israelis are barred from travelling to the West Bank and Palestinians from entering Israel without a permit, but that has not deterred Zvi Schreiber, an Israeli living in Jerusalem, from creating a high-tech start-up company that does all its programming in the West Bank town Ramallah and its business development and marketing in the Israeli town Modi'in.

Q&A: ‘Hamas Curbing Groups Firing Rockets’

Sharing a border with both Israel and the Gaza Strip, Egypt has historically played a major role in Israeli-Palestinian affairs. Egyptian involvement in the longstanding conflict has deepened since June of last year, when resistance group Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip - having won legislative elections a year earlier - from the U.S.-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.