At a recent conference I was repeatedly asked about the prospects for a third Palestinian uprising, or Intifada. The question, although seemingly uncomplicated, is both loaded and important, and cannot be answered in a mere two minutes or less.

Some 100 academics and mental health workers were denied entry to the Gaza Strip to attend an international medical conference, but the conference took place anyway – by video link, with one group gathering in Gaza City and another in Ramallah.

The financial crisis has not skipped over Israel. The country that has been integrating itself in global capitalist markets in the last decades is once again seeing the ugliest side of capitalism, as the stock markets have dropped over a stunning 10 percent since the beginning of the month.

The numbers are grim, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian economy is in one of its most wretched states, and the disaster is mostly, if not entirely human-made, thus reversible.

The international community has failed to fulfill any of the goals it set itself regarding the Middle East peace process and has therefore made little progress in improving the lives and humanitarian situation of Palestinians.

It is unanimously recognized that the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating by the day. The engagement by NATO of over 70, 000 soldiers has offered no solution to the principal problems of terrorism, political instability, and the production and traffic of opium.

Israel is in a tremendous state of instability and uncertainty. Olmert has tendered his resignation, but no one knows whether [Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi] Livni will be able to form a coalition.

Few would argue that the indirect Israel-Syria talks through Turkish mediation, which were first announced 21 May, were a sign of political maturity and readiness for peace.

Ehud Olmert is on his way out, having agreed – under pressure from his coalition partners – to concede the premiership to whoever is chosen by his party to take his place.

For years, Israeli authorities have both barred Palestinian access to rings of land surrounding settlements, and have not acted to eliminate settlers’ piratical closing of lands adjacent to settlements and blocking of Palestinian access to them.

On a hot afternoon during the month of Ramadan, there are few better places to be than resting beneath the shade of an orchard of guava trees, with the scent of fresh ripening fruit wafting around you.

During the last two days of August, the Egyptian authorities permitted approximately 3,300 people to cross the Gazan border at Rafah into Egypt "for humanitarian reasons."

On August 25, 2008 the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation voted unanimously to urge President Medvedev to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The following day Medvedev agreed and signed a decree in which Russia officially recognized the two entities.

When Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at Tblisi, the Georgian president knew that he had no alternative other than to accept the EU peace plan to which Russia had given its support.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are discussing a bilateral peace agreement this weekend.

Violence by settlers perpetrated against Palestinians has been on the rise in recent weeks in Hebron and the surrounding areas, residents and international observers said.

After having successfully engineered the disintegration of former Yugoslavia fostering internecine conflict and instability in the Balkans – giving a modern meaning to the word "Balkanization" – imperialism aided by local chauvinistic outfits is now targeting the Caucasus.

New Abasan village in South Eastern Gaza looks, and feels, almost haunted. Every third or fourth house is a mound of rubble, or else has been partially destroyed, and the village streets are dusty and devoid of life.

To run a full marathon experts suggest that the aspiring athlete requires at least six months of rigorous training, proper gear, a particular diet, regular check-ups, mental focus and preparation, and a variety of gadgets depending on one's budget.

The warrior ethic of the American Imperial elite, embodied in its fullest measure by Zbigniew Brzezinski, has been rejuvenated momentarily by Russia’s attack on Georgia. Reading Brzezinski’s words leaves one choking on their overt hypocrisy or laughing insanely at the obvious absurdity of them.