MIDEAST: Israel a Winner Again in U.S.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could not have asked or hoped for much more - surprisingly enthusiastic, if still qualified support from U.S. President George Bush for his West Bank withdrawal plan.

POLITICS-US: Right-Wing Israel Lobby Seizes on Olmert Visit

On his maiden visit to the United States as Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert received a first-hand look at the political muscle of the right-wing "Israel Lobby", part of which used the occasion to launch a campaign to deter him from following through on plans to unilaterally evacuate tens of thousands of settlers living in the occupied West Bank.

POLITICS: Iran Proposal to U.S. Offered Peace with Israel

Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and to cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel's 1967 borders, according to the secret Iranian proposal to the United States.

POLITICS-US: Bush Democracy Doctrine, 2003(?)-2006, R.I.P.

Less than 18 months after U.S. President George W. Bush declared in his 2005 Inaugural Address his unequivocal commitment to the "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world", tyrants, particularly in the Islamic world, are taking heart.

MIDEAST: Israel Confronts New Withdrawal Symptoms

When he began contemplating his first visit to the United States as prime minister a few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert must have thought that his plan for a unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank would win him accolades in Washington and would guarantee a successful trip. After all, his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, had been hailed around the world for pulling Israel out of Gaza and evacuating all the Jewish settlements there just nine months ago.

MIDEAST: Bank Tightens the Squeeze

In yet another blow to the internationally-cornered, cash-strapped Hamas-led Palestinian government, a leading Israeli bank announced this week that it is severing ties with Palestinian banks in the wake of the Islamic movement's rise to power. The move, however, could also deal a blow to many small Israeli businesses and the widespread business-to-business cooperation between the two peoples.

MIDDLE EAST: Keep Hamas in Power, Israeli Leader Demands

"We need to warn against any attempt to bring about the collapse of the Hamas government," says former Israeli minister Shlomo Ben-Ami.

EGYPT: Opposition Fights Martial Law Extension

Opposition groups and rights activists condemned a government decision this week to extend the emergency law - already in place for a quarter century - by another two years.

EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM: Palestinian Sees Another Israeli Face

Wissim-al-Haj did not quite know what to expect at a blind breakfast date of sorts as the European Social Forum opened in Athens Thursday morning.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Women Hope to Jumpstart Peace Talks

Palestinian and Israeli women leaders met in New York Wednesday to call upon members of the international community to fulfill their obligations to be proactive third parties in ending the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

MIDEAST: Internal Feuds Develop Among Palestinians

The often unruly Gaza Strip has become a hot zone of Palestinian frustration over the inability of the recently sworn in Hamas government to pay civil servants.

MIDEAST: Unease Grows Over Israeli Restraint

The Israeli government promised restraint in the wake of the bombing of a Tel Aviv falafel snack stand this month that was described as the worst suicide attack in almost two years, and which the Hamas government condoned. But the Israeli promise has not calmed fears of an attack.

EGYPT: Sinai Bombings Could Become a Trend

Bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort town of Dahab earlier this week have again raised the spectre of domestic terrorism, and devastation of the tourism industry.

EGYPT: Attacks Raise Fear of Religious Discord

Seemingly random attacks on Coptic churches in the port city of Alexandria last week followed by violent clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims have again raised the spectre of sectarian conflict.

POLITICS: U.N. Worried About Escalating Mideast Violence

As violence in the occupied territories continued to escalate last week, the Palestinians and Israelis traded accusations during an open debate at the Security Council, where an overwhelming majority of the 191 U.N. member states pointed a finger at Israel for the worsening security and humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

POLITICS: U.N. Secretariat Keeps Distance From Hamas

While those running the affairs of the United Nations seem ready to embrace U.S. and Israeli moves to boycott the Palestinian leadership, independent analysts and observers wonder if such an approach will produce anything but another cycle of violence and bloodshed.

EGYPT: Opposition Parties Tripped Up

With a recent gunfight at an opposition party headquarters and a series of arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members, the state of the Egyptian opposition has seldom been more uncertain.

MIDEAST: New Message Across an Old Divide

Israel's security barrier designed to shut out terrorists cuts through the schoolyard of Anata Secondary School north of Jerusalem. Now the wall looks somewhat different.

POLITICS-US: Iran Showdown Tests Power of “Israel Lobby”

One month after the publication by two of the most influential international relations scholars in the United States of a highly controversial essay on the so-called "Israel Lobby", their thesis that the lobby exercises "unmatched power" in Washington is being tested by rapidly rising tensions with Iran.

MIDEAST: Sometimes There Is Home

Six Israeli soldiers kept watch over Zal Abu Dahuk's home from a distance.

POLITICS-US: Washington Cuts All Aid to Palestinian Authority

One week after the Palestinian Authority (PA) swore in its new Hamas-led government, the United States Friday announced that it will suspend all direct aid to the PA while sharply increasing humanitarian assistance to the people under its control.