Crises in the Middle East are seen and interpreted differently depending on whom you ask. For example, Israels perception of and reaction to Hamas and Hezbollah is colored by the historical trauma that the Jewish people suffered over the centuries. Unfolding events there are perceived as part of the struggle against anti-Semitism, which continues to form an integral part of the Israeli contemporary worldview.

Iran is emerging as a key issue in the U.S. 2008 presidential campaign. In his speech to the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee – AIPAC – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama pushed all the right buttons, from keeping Jerusalem united as the capital of Israel, to calling for resurrection of the Jewish-African-American coalition from the 1960s.

The Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany, author of best-selling "The Yacoubian Building" and now "Chicago," is becoming the Charles Dickens of Arab literature. Like Dickens, his novels are rooted in social realism and set agendas for reform.

It is almost anyones guess what U.S. policy in the Middle East will be like under a new American leader next year. Judging by the rhetoric in this amazing primary election campaign, reportedly the costliest in U.S. history and the likes of which has not been seen in past decades – especially among the Democratic Partys surviving candidates, senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama – it may disappointingly be not much different than the disastrous policies of the George W. Bush administration. This is especially true with regards to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, now in its 61st year.

The choice has been whittled down to four candidates in the U.S. presidential race, so their various positions on the outstanding issues of Middle Eastern politics are becoming increasingly important.

Israeli, yet Palestinian:

When Iraq was invaded analysts deplored the lack of cohesion in the official Arab system and bemoaned the inefficacy of the Arab League, which is the strategic arm of this system.

Each Palestinian has a special place in their heart for Rachel Corrie. She symbolized strength, perseverance and self-assuredness.

On Sunday, a quartet of Palestinian musicians will come together for a rehearsal a long way from home. The four are traveling to Turkey, since they are unable to meet in the Palestinian territories: each, while originally Palestinian, holds a diffe

A booklet explaining key terms in Palestinian history from 1948 onward is being distributed among Arab schoolchildren in Israel for the first time.