A 575-page blistering report by Justice Richard Goldstone detailing war crimes in Gaza last December is refusing to die despite an aggressive Israeli smear campaign to kill it.
Realizing that even a compliant and over-compromising Palestinian leader has his limits, both the Israelis and the U.S. have gone into damage control in a bid to woo Abbas back and persuade him to reconsider his decision.
Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies.
The 47-member Human Rights Council (HRC) approved a resolution last week endorsing war crimes charges against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The United States and Israel began this week more than two weeks of tests to simulate missile attacks on the only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons.
Away from the media spotlight that focuses on the widening chasm between Israelis and Palestinians, a group of Israeli humanists is quietly working to break down barriers with their Palestinian neighbors.
A veteran Army officer who has served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the counterinsurgency strategy urged by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is likely to strengthen the Afghan insurgency.
A Musaharati, dawn awakener, strikes his drum to wake observant Muslims for their overnight 'sahur', last meal, before the day's fast in Sidon's Old City in south Lebanon just before dawn August 26, 2009. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
