EGYPT: Regime Cracks Down on Independent Press

Several prominent independent and opposition journalists received prison sentences this month for libelling senior figures of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), including President Hosni Mubarak and his influential son, Gamal. Some critics say that the move represents an attempt to quash discussion about the so-called "inheritance" of the presidency, which many close observers believe is imminent.

US-MIDEAST: Bush Peace Confab a Swan Dive or Belly Flop?

This past summer, President George W. Bush extended a hand where he never has before, calling for a Middle East conference to find a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. This time, says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her boss expects results.

MIDEAST-US: The Long Propaganda War

The George W. Bush administration is badly losing the so-called "war of ideas" in the Middle East, a group of foreign policy experts suggested here Wednesday, by failing to grasp that persuasion is just as important as the more heavy-handed tactics of its "war on terror".

THEATRE-US: Palestinian Martyrs and Traitors

In a new play by a Palestinian-American woman, two characters say in unison: "Oppression is like a coin maker. You put in human beings, press the right buttons and watch them get squeezed, shrunk, flattened till they take the slim shape of a two-faced coin, one side is a martyr, the other a traitor. All the possibilities of a life get reduced to those paltry two."

BOOKS-US: Outing the “Israel Lobby”

When John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt published their controversial essay "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books in March 2006, their work elicited the kind of response of which most academics only dream.

MIDEAST: Hamas Flag Goes Up in Lebanon Camps

There is a new look to the entrance of the Palestinian refugee camp Baddawi in northern Lebanon. Hanging above the armed man who guards the entrance are posters of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the slain spiritual leader of Hamas, and other fighters from the Palestinian guerrilla group. Nearby, a huge Hamas banner covers the side of a house, and down the road Hamas flags flutter in the wind.

MIDEAST: Not Even the Desert Is Home Any More

Israeli police and security forces invaded the small Bedouin village of Taweel abu Jabral in the Negev desert last week, backed by bulldozers and dump trucks. Residents and human rights organisations reported that several homes were demolished as Israeli forces confiscated property and left families homeless in temperatures that soared above 40 degrees centigrade.

RIGHTS: Call to Halt EU Trade with Israel

Trade between the European Union and Israel should be halted in protest at human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, a United Nations conference has heard.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Poorer Than Ever

Poverty in the Palestinian territories has reached "unprecedented levels" because they have been held under an "economic siege" for almost seven years, a United Nations body has found.

POLITICS: Israel Warned US Not to Invade Iraq after 9/11

Israeli officials warned the George W. Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilising to the region and urged the United States to instead target Iran as the primary enemy, according to former administration official Lawrence Wilkerson.

MIDEAST: Bush Peace Plan Met with Scepticism

Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush called for an international summit aimed at reaching a final settlement of the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But while most Arab capitals welcomed the proposal, unofficial reactions to Bush's newfound zeal to revive the Middle East "peace process" have been less sanguine.

MIDEAST: Not Another International Force

Since the Gaza Strip was taken over by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas in June, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has twice appealed for the deployment of an "international force" to the troubled territory. But with international contingents already deployed in hotspots from Lebanon to Afghanistan, some observers see the trend as a challenge to principles of national sovereignty.

MIDEAST: Preparing for War, Talking Peace

Israeli officials have used almost every public platform over the last week to declare that Israel has no war-like intentions toward Syria. Officials in Damascus have made similar soothing proclamations, insisting they have no belligerent intentions toward Jerusalem. And, recently, senior officials from two Arab states passed on messages to Israel that Syria is not planning an attack in the coming months.

LEBANON: Israel Strengthens Its Enemy

It has been especially difficult for Ali Nasrallah to tend to his garden this time of year. Nasrallah, a 40-year-old construction worker from Taybeh in southern Lebanon, lost his mother, father, brother and sister during last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel.

MIDEAST: When the Occupation Gets Really Filthy

In the orange glow of another sunset, Awad Abu Swai, 36, stands underneath a towering fig tree, a sample of its fruit in his hand. He peels back the bright green skin to expose crimson jelly and seeds inside

MIDEAST: Bush Could Have Given Fatah That Kiss of Death

Ever since the takeover of Gaza two months ago by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, Washington and its allies have steadfastly supported the rival Fatah movement headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. But public support for Fatah, which has come to be seen by many as a stooge of Washington and Tel Aviv, has dropped off markedly.

MIDEAST: U.S. Arms Create New Divisions

Last month, Washington approved massive military-aid packages and arms sales to its Arab allies, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and a number of smaller Gulf States. But while U.S. officials say the deals aim to bolster the "forces of moderation" in the region, some local commentators see the move as an unnecessary - and dangerous - provocation.

MIDEAST: Settlers Anchoring In

Israeli forces began Wednesday to bulldoze hundreds of trees on land owned by a Catholic convent near the city of Beit Jala near Bethlehem. This section of forest is being razed, according to Israeli plans, to complete a section of the separation wall, which continues to carve the West Bank into pieces.

MIDEAST: Pan-Arab Peace Overture Faces Uphill Battle

Despite the fractured state of the Palestinian national cause between resistance faction Hamas and the U.S.-backed Fatah movement, Washington's Arab allies continue to promote the so-called "Arab Initiative" in hopes of restarting the long-moribund peace process.

MIDEAST: ‘Quiet Transfer’ Pushes Palestinians Out

Arab residents of East Jerusalem are finding themselves increasingly under threat of what one Israeli human rights organisation calls "quiet transfer."

LEBANON: &#39Army Torturing Palestinian Refugees&#39

Palestinians displaced by the fighting at the northern Lebanese refugee camp Nahr al-Bared have accused the Lebanese Army of torturing and abusing civilians.