POLITICS-US: Evangelicals Rally Their Flocks Behind Israel

Charismatic televangelist John Hagee thinks that the Rev. Pat Robertson's suggestion that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was payback from God for withdrawing from Gaza was "insensitive and unnecessary". But he nevertheless appears to share Robertson's concern that Israel may be giving up too much land to the Palestinians.

MIDEAST: Nowhere to Go for Palestinian Betrayers

Media reports labeled Rashid Abu Shabak the 'collaborator hunter' when he took over the Palestinian Authority's security forces last year. He had arrested more than 100 Palestinians suspected of supplying intelligence to Israel. Many of those caught were illegally jailed, and executed.

MIDEAST: Jostling Begins For New Israeli Government

Fresh after winning the most votes in last week's general election, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party now faces the challenging task of forming a coalition willing to implement policies as far reaching as setting the country's borders to addressing socio-economic problems.

MIDEAST: First Displaced, Then Attacked

Abed Zatari still sports a black bruise on his forehead from an attack he suffered 10 days ago - the kind of account that has become all too common in this West Bank city.

POLITICS: Israel Lobby Dictates U.S. Policy, Study Charges

The pro-Israel lobby in the United States has manipulated Washington's policies in the Middle East to the point where it is the U.S. that does most of the fighting, dying and rebuilding while Israel reaps most of the security benefits, argues a new study by two U.S. scholars.

MIDEAST: Winning Easier Than Governing

The new militant government of the Palestinian people failed to entice opposition parties to join a coalition, a fact many predict will make it hard for Hamas to govern.

MIDEAST: Sharon’s Successor Comes In From the Shadows

After months of flattering opinion polls, the first sign of nerves was beginning to show in the camp of acting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. In the space of a month, his front-running Kadima (Forward) party had lost 15 percent support, and the acting prime minister's popularity had also dived in the polls in the wake of a series of unflattering articles.

MIDEAST: Hamas Followed a Long Road to the Top

Hamas's win in the January elections in the Palestinian territories was not just the result of a national uprising against the former Fatah government's ineffectiveness, but came on the back of a long history of serving a suffering population.

MIDEAST: Life Gets Harder in the ‘Prison’

The overcrowded Gaza Strip has routinely been described as a big prison following the onset of the second Palestinian rising, the Intifadah, six years ago and the virtual closing of crossing points to and from Israel.

MIDEAST: Many Arab Israelis May Not Vote

Many Arab Israelis have said they will not vote in this month's elections, political indifference that some say underscores the community's feelings of marginalisation.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Conflict Only Makes It Worse

The overriding obstacle that Arab women cite in their fight for freedom and equal rights in the Palestinian territories is the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Where Double Standards Can Be Lethal

Female suicide bombers burst onto the scene of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the beginning of 2002. This is when 27-year-old nurse Wafa Idris, a resident of the Amari refugee camp in Ramallah, killed one person and wounded 90 in a Jaffa Street attack in the heart of Jerusalem.

MIDEAST: Iran Shows Its Hand

U.S. State Department fears that Iran aims to control the Palestinian government as it does the Hezbollah in Lebanon, on top of new concerns that Al-Qaeda may have infiltrated Gaza and the West Bank, is multiplying anxieties about the eventual impact this could have on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regional terrorism.

MIDEAST: Rockets Launched Into Uneasy Peace

A surge in attacks since January's Palestinian elections by radical groups using Qassam rockets against Jewish settlements bordering the Gaza Strip has resulted in a stepped-up counter-attack by the Israeli defence forces.

MIDEAST: Israeli Russians Could Swing the Vote

Although Israeli pollsters peg the Kadima Party as the frontrunner in winning next month's elections, it is still uncertain who will secure the coveted Russian vote that always plays a critical role on polling day.

MIDEAST: Hamas Waits for a Russian Hug

Israel has said that Russia's plans next month to meet leaders of the new militant Palestinian government Hamas may legitimise its political status in the eyes of the international community but not diminish its terrorist nature.

POLITICS: Bush Faces Big Choices as Hamas Takes Reins

On the eve of Hamas' takeover of the Palestinian parliament, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush still appears uncertain about how hard a line to take with the movement it has long considered a terrorist organisation.

MIDEAST: ‘Cartoons Bring Welcome Distraction for Arab Govts’

As furore grips the Muslim world over the cartoon illustrations of prophet Mohammed, accusations have surfaced that governments opposed to democracy have their own reasons to show the dark side of the so-called free world.

EGYPT: Boycott Takes Over From Diplomacy

A boycott of Danish goods following publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper has been largely successful, going by market reports.

MIDEAST: Egypt Finds Brotherhood with Hamas

Following the victory of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas in the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections, Cairo is readying itself for new political equations.

MIDEAST: Hamas Win Brings an Uneasy Partnership

Disturbing tremors persist in Palestinian politics following Hamas's landslide win against the Fatah party in parliamentary elections most had expected the incumbent to take narrowly.