A humanitarian crisis will accompany any large-scale Turkish military operations aimed at pursuing Turkish-Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on 17 October.

The news from Congress this week is grim. Democrats, who previously endorsed a resolution condemning the Ottoman Empire for the Armenian genocide during World War I, are now withdrawing their support.

A House committee yesterday passed a resolution to condemn the genocide carried out against the Armenian minority in the Ottoman Turkish Empire between 1915 and 1917 during World War I.

I agree that the US is acting against its true interest (and the true interests of Israel) – but the American leadership does not see it that way. Bush and his people believe that it would be advantageous for the US to establish a permanent American military presence in the middle of this region of huge oil reserves.

Why would a country that was willing to sink so low now provide pretexts for hostilities by carrying out brazen assassinations against America’s allies in Lebanon? Each such assassination only helps cement the anti-Syrian cries stemming from Washington, Tel Aviv and Beirut.

Israel once again appears determined to alienate world opinion by threatening to cut the supplies of fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip while, in the words of Human Rights Watch, “increasing its restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of the territory.”

In an exceptionally bellicose and war-mongering speech last week, President Bush threatened military action against Iran even to the point of a "nuclear holocaust."

Soon after coming to power, Ariel Sharon started to commission public opinion polls. He kept the results to himself. This week, a reporter of Israel's TV Channel 10 succeeded in obtaining some of them.

Israel deported to Egypt on 19 August some 50 asylum seekers who had illegally crossed the border over the weekend. The move has been legalized by the state's attorney-general but criticized by rights groups.

Armed conflict in Afghanistan has not only caused hundreds of civilian deaths but has also had a negative impact on many aspects of people’s lives.

Since the foundation of the United Nations' Security Council, the Palestinians did not manage to have any kind of sway that would allow them to block or amend a proposed resolution in any meaningful way.

ON THESE hot, sticky days of the Israeli summer, it is pleasant to feel the coolness of Oslo, even if the visit is only virtual. Fourteen years after the signing of the Oslo agreement, it is again the subject of debate: was it a historical mistake?

The major political players who are involved in sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians into an open air prison in the world’s most densely populated 360-square-kilometre area of the Gaza Strip are unmercifully trespassing humanitarian borders there.

Pretty much no one is taking it seriously. Even mainstream analysts usually willing to take Bush administration Middle East initiatives at face value are rolling their collective eyes.

The Middle East is now being invaded by a herd of white elephants. This week it became known that President Bush is about to supply Saudi Arabia with huge quantities of the most advanced weapons. The price tag is $20 billion dollars.

LAST WEEK, James Wolfensohn gave a long interview to Haaretz. He poured out his heart and summed up, with amazing openness, his months as special envoy of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN (the "Quartet") in this country - the same job entrusted now to Tony Blair.

The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court on Sunday ruled that the dismissal of Alon-Lee Green from his job at the Coffee Bean coffee shop chain three weeks ago was unlawful, and instructed the company to rehire him.

A long time ago, the United States viewed all settlements as illegal. When the Israeli government continued to expand them, James Baker, the Secretary of State under Bush the father, imposed financial sanctions upon Israel.

Anyone who has traveled through Ben Gurion airport in Israel knows that it is a unique experience. As I write from Ramallah, I recall my and my brother's experience in Ben Gurion just one week ago.

A detective trying to solve a crime always asks "cui bono?" (who would profit?) When we try to solve the crime called the Second Lebanon War, this question must head the list.