JERUSALEM -- In a recent report, Peace Now (an Israeli NGO) revealed that since U.S. President George W. Bush convened the Annapolis peace talks last October, the number of Israeli construction tenders issued in East Jerusalem has increased by a factor of 38 compared to the previous year.

A series of meetings between United States and Syrian diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, at the United Nations last week are stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward engaging Damascus.

Terrorism in Syria is indeed rare, but in just the last 10 days the country has experienced a number of unexplained explosions associated with terrorist activities. The government in Damascus remains tight-lipped as ever, though statements made by Syrian President Bashar Assad allude to the origins of those attacks emanating from Salafist groups based in northern Lebanon.

CAIRO -- Egypts most outspoken journalist Ibrahim Eissa stands to see the inside of a government prison after he lost an appeal in a controversial case over his coverage of rumors in September 2007 that President Hosni Mubaraks health was deteriorating.

In his Little Green Book, published in the 1970s, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi wrote that, "Mans freedom is lacking if somebody else controls what he needs." Now, 39 years after he seized power from King Idris of Libya on Sept. 1, 1969, he is poised to put this precept into practice.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been elected the leader of the ruling Kadima party, beating her opponent, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, by a mere 2 percent.

I was asked recently to explain why Israel was "ghettoizing" the Palestinians by constructing a security barrier in areas that have served as transit points for terrorists entering the country. The questioner noted that, as a Jew, I should be more sensitive to the concept of a ghetto, and its dehumanizing effects on human beings. I responded that the security barrier was neither built for reasons of discrimination nor motivated by racism, but as a deterrent to protect the lives of Israelis from Palestinian suicide bombers; and in fact it has, to a great extent, accomplished its purpose.

JERUSALEM -- It would appear that either a serious miscommunication, a half-truth or some individual or government body is being extremely economical with the truth in regard to peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, thereby further diminishing hope for a resolution to the protracted conflict.

BEIRUT -- In this week marking the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attack on the United States, three noteworthy events related to the U.S. and the Middle East caught my eye: Al-Qaidas number two man Ayman Zawahiri released a new videotape; Republican Party vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin started her foreign policy education by meeting with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), an extremist organization that puts Israeli interests above American interests; and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting and dealing with the heads of state of Tunisia, Libya and Algeria, three of the most authoritarian figures in the world, not just in the Middle East.

Last months five-day war in Georgia, a tiny neighbor of Russia and Turkey, rekindled memories of the beautiful American ballad, "Georgia on My Mind," which was written in 1930 and became a famous hit only in 1960 when the popular blind American singer, Ray Charles, introduced it nationwide.