The best news from Israel right now is that the ceasefire with Hamas is holding. This may be disquieting to the far right. It is an article of faith for the right that it is impossible to cut a deal with Hamas. But that is precisely what Israel did when, seeing no alternative, it agreed to the ceasefire. Hamas has demonstrated that it can end the violence when it wants to and that it can enforce peace and quiet.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is trying desperately to salvage what remains of his tattered reputation in a last ditch bid to achieve some success on the Palestinian-Israeli front before he steps down as premier in the next couple of weeks.

Claudio Graziano, commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon recently stated that Israel is violating the tenets of U.N. Resolution 1701 by flying over Lebanon, refusing to help remove unexploded cluster bombs fired during the Second Lebanon War during July-August of 2006, and failing to withdraw from Lebanons Ghajar village.

AMMAN -- As the prospects of securing a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal before the end of the year become more remote, Washington is now pushing instead for a continuation of the U.S.-brokered negotiations revived at Annapolis nine months ago, if only to avoid a complete collapse of a process that the top U.S. diplomat insists is making progress.

AMMAN -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began on Monday what has become a routine visit to Israel and the West Bank as the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush races against time to try to clinch a peace deal in fewer than 150 days; but despite an Israeli "goodwill" gesture in releasing 198 Palestinian prisoners, there were no new signs that deal was near.

One of the first puzzles that new students of philosophy at Oxford University were posed by their tutors was to say what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? The answer, of course, is that the words are wrong. The definitions make no sense. If something is irresistible, then it can move any object. If something is immoveable, then the force can be resisted. But there appears to be a growing prospect of such a contradictory experiment being carried out over the skies of the Middle East in the five dangerous months that remain of the U.S. administration of George W. Bush.

It all depends on whether one is an optimist or a pessimist to argue if there will be, as promised, an "outline" for a fair conclusion to the slow-moving peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in six months time. For a start, the belated talks have been plagued by the presence of three weak leaders at the helms in Palestine, Israel and the United States, all approaching their last days in office.

MOSCOW -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not participate in the mid-September primaries of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset after the 2006 elections, when it won 29 of the 120 seats.

I published several articles urging readers to suspend emotional attachment to, or even interest in, peace language and promises from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and U.S. President George W. Bush administration representatives.

JERUSALEM -- Following a third round of questioning of Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, amid fresh allegations that he supposedly defrauded several charities and state institutions to pay for the same trips abroad and to fund family vacations, the Israeli police and Justice Ministry released a joint statement saying they are widening a corruption investigation against the Israeli premier.