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.

AMMAN – Leaders across the Middle East congratulated Barack Obama on his historic election victory as the 44th president of the United States, as many anticipated that his administration would usher in a fresh new policy and approach that would bring peace to a region plunged into great turbulence during the past eight years of the George W. Bush presidency.

CAIRO – U.S. President George W. Bush is making a last ditch effort toward forging a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice scheduled a Nov. 9 meeting in Egypt between members of the Middle East Peace Quartet. Washington had hoped to reinvigorate a Mideast peace process before leaving office in January, but time has almost run out.

HEBRON, West Bank -- The Palestinian Authority recently uncovered a massive underground tunnel belonging to Hamas in the southern West Bank city of Hebron as the Islamic movement attempts to expand its power struggle from Gaza to the territory controlled by the pro-Western and moderate PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

PARIS -- A quiet move is afoot in Europe to persuade the next American president to give Colin Powell, the distinguished U.S. soldier-statesman, the difficult task of reviving the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.