Israeli government

By Nour Odeh in Middle East on September 14th, 2010
Picture from AFP

The view is as ironic as the reality. Standing on the edge of a house under construction in Bethlehem, I can see the Church of Nativity, Israel’s separation Wall surrounding Bethlehem, the city’s traffic, and the ever-expanding Israeli settlement Har Homa – while covering Palestinian-Israeli direct talks underway in Egypt.

Palestinians know the settlement as Jabal Abu Ghneim; Israel says it’s part of greater Occupied East Jerusalem. Palaestinians also know this illegal settlement of 30,000 residents was built in the height of the Oslo peace process on their private property.

By Nisreen El-Shamayleh in Middle East on September 2nd, 2010
Photo from AFP

Hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers of the illegal communities in the occupied West Bank cannot wait for September 26, 2010 to come. They will start building again as soon as the 10-month construction freeze expires. Some have started already.

The settlers did not need a pretext ... whether or not some of them were casualties in the last two attacks by Hamas during the so-called political process in Washington. They were preparing to build anyway come the end of September.

They have said that a failure on the part of the Israeli government to issue construction permits will be understood as an extension of the freeze, and that that will have serious internal political implications. And it will. Netanyahu is the master of walking a political tightrope at home ... but for how long?

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on August 3rd, 2010
Lebanese soldiers look across the border. (Photo: AFP)

At least three Lebanese soldiers and one Israeli soldier have been killed during a skirmish along the border between the two countries.

We'll be live-blogging the latest developments from both Israel and Lebanon throughout the day. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

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9:00pm: That's all for the live-blogging this evening! But we'll obviously continue to follow this story on the main Al Jazeera Web site in the hours and days to come.

8:15pm: A few other odds and ends we missed earlier today.

First, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, echoed what we've heard from other Israeli officials (including foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman).

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on July 8th, 2010
AFP photo

The good news: "Netanyahu to give peace process a 'robust push". The bad news, any rational person privy to the ideology and makeup of the Israeli government knows this is not serious.

And yet, after their meeting, Barack Obama, the US president, has publically supported his Israeli interlocutor, saying he believed Binyamin Netanyahu would take "risks for peace" and praised the Israeli prime minister for easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Obama also called for "direct talks" between Israelis and Palestinians irrespective of the continued illegal settlements.

All of which begs two questions: How does a defunct and discredited diplomatic process continue to masquerade as a success despite its utter failure? And why do the US and its Western allies continue to finance and pamper it when it creates more instability and conflict than peace and progress?

The short answer is bullshit.

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Middle East on June 4th, 2010
Photo by AFP

For weeks the Israeli government has bombarded journalists with statements, press releases and videos - all professing that Gaza is not suffering a humanitarian crisis, there is no shortage of goods entering the Strip and even mocking the suffering of people in Gaza by recommending restaurants to visit in the coastal territory.

It also went so far as to claim those on board the Freedom Flotilla had links to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on June 1st, 2010
The Mavi Marmara nearing Ashdod Monday night. (Photo: AFP)

We'll once again be keeping tabs on the latest reaction to Israel's deadly attack on a flotilla of activists carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Yesterday's live coverage is here.

The death toll has been revised down to 10, according to the Israeli army, which also says seven Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attack. Those numbers have been impossible to confirm independently, because the Israeli army has restricted access to the ships, which have been towed to Ashdod port. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

If you have comments.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on May 31st, 2010
Protesters in Istanbul wave Palestinian flags after the raid (Photo: AFP)

Early Monday morning, Israel attacked a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip; up to 10 people were killed in the pre-dawn raid, according to organisers and media sources.

We'll be live-blogging the aftermath of this incident throughout the day; keep checking back for international reaction, news from our correspondents on the ground, photos and video. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

Tags: Ahmet Davutoglu, Algeria, Ali al-Shami, AM CDT, Amman, Amr El-Kahky, Amr Moussa, Angela Merkel, Arab League, Arab socialist party, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Australia, Avigdor Lieberman, Avital Leibovich, Ayman Mohyeldin, Baghdad, Ban Ki-Moon, Barack Obama, Beijing, Belgium, Bill Burton, Binyamin Netanyahu, Cairo, Canada, Catherine Ashton, Chicago, China, Congress, Egypt, Ehud Barak, European Parliament, European Union, Facebook, Fatah, Filippo Grandi, Gabi Ashkenazi, Gaza, George Washington University, Germany, Greece, Greek government, Greta Berlin, Guido Westerwelle, Ha'aretz, Haifa, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, IDF, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Israeli army, Israeli consulate, Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Israeli embassy in Amman, Israeli government, Israeli military, Israeli navy, Israeli police, Istanbul, James Jones, Jerusalem, Jerzy Buzek, Jordan, Kamel Khatib, Kampala, Kuwait, Lebanon, London, Mahmoud Abu Attar, Malaysia, Malcolm Smart, Marc Lynch, Mohammad Dahlan, Moqtada al-Sadr, Nabil al-Sharif, Nablus, navy, New York, Norway, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Paris, Physicians for Human Rights, Raed Salah, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Robert Serry, Ron Ben Yishai, Saad Hariri, Saeb Erekat, Salam Fayyad, Serbia, South Africa, Stephen Harper, Sweden, Tel Aviv, The Los Angeles Times, Turkey, Turkish consulate in Istanbul, Twitter, Uganda, Umm, Umm al-Fahm, UN security council, United Kingdom, United Nations, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, United Nations Security Council, United States, Washington, White House, William Hague, Yang Tao
By John Terrett in Americas on March 14th, 2010
beitar.jpg
 
“I think the message was received” 
 
That's the Senior Adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, keeping up the pressure on the Israeli government after it punctured Vice-President Joe Biden’s peace mission to the Middle East last week by announcing hundreds of new Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. 
 
On nationwide TV in the US on Sunday morning Axelrod didn't mince his words on NBC's "Meet The Press:"
 
By Nour Odeh in Middle East on February 18th, 2010

By Clayton Swisher in Middle East on January 30th, 2010
Photo from AFP

Israeli Mossad is already a strong suspect in the recent killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the United Arab Emirates. The charter member of the al-Qassam Brigades was electrocuted and strangled in his Dubai hotel room, and God knows what happened to him in between. 

Al-Mabhouh's murder evokes a certain sense of deja vu.  Anyone who has read the brilliant work "Kill Khalid:  The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas" would know exactly what I'm talking about. 

It chronicles how a Mossad hit team posing as Canadian tourists set out on the streets of Amman, Jordan in 1997 to eliminate the Hamas political leader. 

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