A period of high-level diplomacy on the Middle East opens in New York on Monday, promising further insights into an emerging strategy from Barack Obama's administration that is already raising concerns among Israel's supporters

From The Onion of early 2007: MIDDLE EAST—With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afghanistan in its sixth, and conflict between Israel and the rest of the region continuing unabated for more than half a century, intelligence sources are warning that a new wave of violence in the Middle East may soon blah blah blah, etc. etc., you know the rest... In Israel, Palestinians and Israelis...

The Middle East Forum is a US based think tank which seeks to promote a stronger American policy in the Middle East. Its stated aims include 'working for Palestinian acceptance of Israel and fighting Islamic extremism in the Middle East'. The website includes information on the aims, membership and recent activities of the group. It includes free access to press releases, blog postings f...

Barack Hussein Obama,just ater his State of the Union without a teleprompter: "The Middle East is a problem that has plagued the region for centuries." Yes, indeed. The Middle East Plagues itself! Of course, if he meant the Arab-Israeli conflict, either he unaware how long the modern nation of Israel has been in existence and is thus not the student of history he claims to be..or he just admitted ...

Max Blumenthal, writing at Alternet is bemused as Pro-Israel demonstrators call Islam a death cult and almost in the same breath call for all the people of Gaza to be wiped out. Sheesh, they sure know how to party, those Middle East tribes. Most of them. As bad as each other. Why not watch the video above, with a group of friends, on silent first and each try to guess which vox popper said the "wi...

Today's sampler and analysis of Mideast media content from my pal Soccer Dad: 1) Letter challenge from the New York Times Seymour Reich has written a letter to the New York Times, it begins: As a longtime supporter of Israel and of Middle East peace efforts, I fear that Israel has never been so isolated, as your Sept. 11 front-page article “Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing a Wider Siege&rdq...

Today's rundown on Middle East commentary by my old blogging pal Soccer Dad: 1) AIPAC or State? The story's been reported for little more than a day now. Here's the version in the New York Daily News: Israel signaled Tuesday it is ready to show some "flexibility" in its border stalemate with the Palestinians, prompting hope that Middle East peace talks can be revived. Up until now, ...

Gordon Brown is in his own mind a genuine and lifelong friend of Israel. But just like that other genuine friend of Israel Tony Blair, where his heart leads him in the Middle East his brain somehow fails to follow. Brown's particular type of tunnel vision is to see every problem as an economic phenomenon, and the Middle East impasse is no exception. So he thinks that if the Palestinians are offere...

Throwing shoes at Gordon Brown is not going to bring peace to the middle east - unfortunately Firing home made rockets at waste ground is not going to bring peace to the middle east. Keeping 1.5 million people in a prison camp with F-16's, tanks and Apache helicopters is not going to bring peace to the middle east. As I think we can all agree that Israel is not going to change Judaisms claim ...

The King of Jordan is suggesting that the latest "make or break" talks to solve the Middle East crisis will be the last. King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next ...