You can go on a little holiday with the Conservative Friends of Israel and return with a mindset about the current carnage in Gaza. Or, you can spend 30 years covering the Middle East as a foreign correspondent and come to the conclusion that simple solutions to complex problems are just trite. The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel's anger, just as Israel provo...

The Mainly Dale, freshly briefed from his hosts when he recently visited Israel, has come out 100% for Israel’s actions, publishing many of the points from Conservative Friends of Israel’s briefing. He thinks “it’s a shame” that William Hague, amongst other things, deeply regretted the loss of civilian life in Gaza and that Hague called on

300 Dead, More To Come Latest developments… Israel / Gaza UN’s calls for calm in Gaza; Israel defends actions Six months of secret Gaza planning London protest over raids on Gaza Arabs protest their governments’ reaction to Gaza Jordan MPs want Israeli ambassador expelled Gaza morgue overflows with bodies Israel rallies troops, tanks for possible ground invasion Robert Fisk: Lead...

Unless extra time is called, the final score in the Gaza match is thought to be Israel 1200, Gaza 13. This stunning victory is thought to result largely from Israel’s overwhelming superiority in equipment and training rather than better play. And Gaza’s homemade equipment proved no match for Israel who were able to show off all the very latest technology. One might have thought that Ga...

Israel has downgraded the level of meetings with a group of fifteen visiting MEPs as a result of their plan to hold talks tomorrow (27 May) in the Gaza strip, EurActiv has learned. Israel refuses to permit foreign officials to enter Gaza, explaining that such moves serve to legitimise Hamas.

David Grossman proposes:After its severe strike on Gaza, Israel would do well to stop, turn to Hamas' leaders and say: Until Saturday Israel held its fire in the face of thousands of Qassams from the Gaza Strip. Now you know...

Israel started bombing Gaza at Christmas with two avowed war aims. Firstly, to neuter Hamas and turn the people of Gaza against them, and the second was to stop the missile attacks on Israel and end the means by which these missiles can get in to Hamas in the first place. Clearly with the announcement that Israel has announced a unilateral ceasefire these war aims have been shown to be lies. Why d...

This piece by Adi Dvir (via) reminds me why I’m not interested in the Israel-Gaza conflict:To pity the people of Gaza is to patronize them, in essence implying that they do not control their fate, the state of their government,...

The Media Guardian reports: Plans to allow journalists into Gaza were aborted yesterday after Israel’s military said it was too dangerous to keep staff at the Erez passenger terminal to allow people to cross into the besieged territory. Israel argues that excluding the international media from Gaza is helpful because foreign journalists are unethical and biased

Tensions rose between the Vatican and Israel on Thursday as Israel condemned a high-ranking Vatican official for comparing the Gaza Strip to "a concentration camp."