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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. 

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Middle East on December 15th, 2009
Picture by EPA

It's one of those stories that comes out of nowhere and few actually know what happened.

It began when Al Jazeera reported that a British court had issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister and Gaza war architect Tzipi Livni.

For hours, Israeli and British officials denied the report. Then British and Israeli media got wind of the story and began to report it. By the end of Monday, it was irrefutable. 

Livni had cancelled a speaking engagement at the Jewish National Fund in the UK, but why and when were there still unanswered questions? 

After a British court issued - then withdrew - the arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, the Israeli government, after first denying the reports - suddenly shifted gears, going into damage control and launching a scathing criticism of the British government.

By John Terrett in Americas on November 26th, 2009
Photo by Reuters

Al Jazeera will never stray from its mission of rigorously but fairly questioning policy makers but sometimes you just have to sit back and say well, maybe you have a point that can't be argued with.
 
This happened to me on Wednesday here at the US state department in Washington DC when President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, appeared in the media briefing room.
 
He came to talk about the 10-month Israeli new settlement construction freeze in the West Bank with the exception of kindergartens, synagogues and existing projects. 

By Nour Odeh in Middle East on October 9th, 2009
Photo by Getty Images

Palestinian youth clash with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, one of several hundred roadblocks that have come to symbolize the humiliation and restrictions of Palestinian daily life under Israeli occupation. This checkpoint is one of the gateways to occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinians bearing West Bank ID cards are barred from passing through it unless they have a special permit.

The young men are protesting Israel’s siege of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, where up to 200 worshipers have been holed up for a week. These protestors believe rightwing Israelis plan to storm it. Their fears are fueled by statements from Israeli officials and parliamentarians, who have advocated changing the sensitive status quo and allowing Israeli worshipers into the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third holiest site.

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