The only three Arab parties represented in the Israeli parliament vowed yesterday to fight a decision by the Central Elections Committee to bar them from running in next month's general election. In an unprecedented move signaling a further breakdown in Jewish-Arab...
Wednesday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded
At least six Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. Also, Iraq formally turned over to the U.N. a document ratifying a ban against chemical weapons. In Mosul, a suicide bomber killed two people...
Clinton Stresses ‘Cooperative Engagement,’ ‘Smart Power’
In the first comprehensive statement of President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy priorities, his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Clinton, said "cooperative engagement" backed up by what she called "smart power" will define Washington's approach to...
Cease-Fire Hopes Fading Away
CAIRO - A week after the unveiling of a Franco-Egyptian cease-fire proposal aimed at stopping the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian resistance faction Hamas and, on the face of it, Israel are still discussing the fine print of an agreement. "Details of the...
Gaza Killings Trigger Call for War Crimes Probe
With hundreds of civilians, mostly women and children, killed during nearly three weeks of fighting in Gaza, there is a growing demand either for an international tribunal or an international commission to investigate charges of war crimes committed by Israel. But...
Anger Begins to Knock at Israel’s Borders
RAMALLAH - A number of armed attacks have taken place on Israel's borders with Palestinian territories in the last six days as Arab public anger over the death and destruction wrought on Gaza spills over from massive street demonstrations. Israeli security officials...
Olmert’s Claims Revive Israel Lobby Controversy
The U.S. State Department fiercely denied claims made by Ehud Olmert about his influence over President George W. Bush, in an incident that has stirred up old debates about the role of the Israeli government and the so-called "Israel lobby" in formulating...
Richard Perle: Still Crazy After All These Years
Now that the greatest strategic disaster in American military history is an accomplished fact, its architects are distancing themselves from their handiwork. For the past year or two, we have been treated to the spectacle of what might be called neoconservative panic...
Fate of Guantánamo Detainees Still Murky
Human rights groups are hailing reports that President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. But they are urging him to provide details on when...
Bush Foreign Policy Legacy Widely Seen as Disastrous
While in a farewell press conference Monday George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency, particularly his foreign-policy record, will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good. Already last spring, nearly two...


