Scraping the barrel
Ehud Barak is in desperate need of allies, even among those who resort to the worst forms of anti-Arab racism and theological anti-Semitism, Graham Usher reports from Jerusalem

Closing Sana'a
Mediation efforts by Yemen's president did not end the confrontation between Islamists and intellectuals over a 28-year-old novel considered by extremists as "blasphemous," Nasser Arrabyee reports from Sana'a

In the shadow of death
After more than 20 years of unbearable waiting, Lebanese families whose relatives were kidnapped or went missing during the civil war must confront a new reality, writes Ranwa Yehia in Beirut

Their brother's keeper
The reported release of political prisoners in Syria is not the only reform measure President Bashar Al-Assad took since he was elected last month, Mahmoud Abdel-Wahab writes from Damascus

Turkey's perennial irritant
The Turkish government is pushing for a presidential decree that would allow the dismissal of civil servants suspected of anti-secular activities. It might not be an easy job. Gareth Jenkins reports from Ankara

Drawn and quartered
In Jordan, journalists see the spectre of corporate control as a grave threat to freedom of expression. From Amman Lola Keilani reports