AMMAN – An Israeli plan to release a batch of Palestinian prisoners as a "goodwill gesture" and "confidence-building measure" to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, does not signal the end of detention of thousands of other prisoners, but it could bring the outgoing Israeli government closer to securing the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents foreign journalists in Israel, is taking the Israeli government to court. Israel has refused to allow the foreign media into Gaza to report first hand on the escalating humanitarian crisis there as Israel continues to keep the coastal territory sealed from the outside world for the third consecutive week.

NABLUS, West Bank -- Palestinian businessmen concluded their one-day Palestine Investment Conference "north forum" in the West Bank city of Nablus with a package of seven investment projects with a total value of $510 million.

AMMAN -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has launched an unusual kind of peace campaign, by targeting the Israeli public with paid advertisements in major Hebrew-language newspapers to promote the Arab peace initiative.

Israel is once again trying to teach the Palestinians, especially Hamas, the Islamist group in control of the Gaza Strip, a lesson that it has repeatedly failed to do despite its overpowering military arsenal. One would think that the Israeli establishment, now in a state of disarray thanks to the discredited leadership of the outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, would realize that a new approach is needed if it wants to live side by side in peace with the Palestinians.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised on Monday to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners next month ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The minor escalation of hostilities this past week between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip did manage to make some noise amid the epochal cacophony of the global financial crisis. The headlines in the international media, however, had less to do with the limited border skirmishes, rocket launches, air strikes, and border closures which transpired, than with the fact that the nearly five-month ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and the Jewish state appeared to be unraveling.

AMMAN – The commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the death of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat provides another grim reminder of the sorry state of Palestinian affairs, as their belligerent leaders used the occasion to blame each other, thereby highlighting the rifts and power struggles that are tearing the Palestinians apart.

GAZA CITY, Gaza -- Following intensive negotiations with Hamas, the de facto leadership of Gaza, a group of European parliamentarians has been told by the organization that it will accept a Palestinian state within the internationally recognized 1967 borders as well as offer Israel a long-term ceasefire.

JERUSALEM -- On Nov. 11, Jerusalem residents will go to the polls to elect their next mayor and city council. Similar to other election campaigns anywhere else in the world, pictures of the mayoral candidates are to be seen all over the city… if you walk through its Western, mostly Jewish populated neighborhoods.