The US is pushing Abbas into another dead end, observes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank

Refusal by Israel and Egypt to let Western peace activists leave Gaza has given them a new will to protest against the siege, writes Saleh Al-Naami

Israel continues its excavations under Al-Aqsa Mosque despite widespread protest. Oula Farawati in Amman gauges the Jordanian stance

Syria is trying hard to break its isolation and gain friends, and is succeeding, Bassel Oudat writes from Damascus

The Syrian-Israeli peace talks gambit is just that, for now, writes Ramzy Baroud

Resolved for now, recent strife in Tripoli may be an indication of widespread trouble to come, writes Raed Rafei in Beirut

From alarmingly adversarial to calculatedly cool, US Secretary of State Rice's trip to Libya has highlighted the pitfalls and the tremendous opportunities of Americans doing business with Tripoli, writes Gamal Nkrumah

How solid are the good relations with North Africa, ponders Nosreddine Qassem

Is there a US-backed coup in the works or is it just a case of the usual cloak and dagger, asks Saif Nasrawi