As the Palestinians were finalizing the formation of their unity government in recent days, U.S. lawmakers were discussing the legal ramifications of continued American aid to the Palestinian Authority. Secretary of State John Kerry told PBS last Thursday that Israel’s stance toward an expected unity government between the rival Palestinian Hamas and...

Iran has become the “the new priority” for Saudi Arabia in orienting itself toward Israel, replacing the Palestinian issue that had for decades been emphasized by Riyadh as having prominence, according to a not wholly sympathetic account of the shift published Thursday by London School of Economics professor Madawi Al-Rasheed....

The Wall Street Journal on Friday assessed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to maintain a firm grip on power – a year after Turkey was rocked by the anti-government Gezi protests, and many months into a massive graft scandal that has implicated the premier and other elites...

The Palestinians are pulling the wool over the eyes of the international community by describing the new Palestinian Authority government as a cabinet of technocrats, according to Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz. The most important thing is not who are the personalities, or the ministers, but who sent them,...

While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says it will be business as usual with Israel after the expected formation of a new Palestinian government this week, one of Hamas’ leading officials told reporters on Saturday that security cooperation with Israel will not continue. The Hamas-Fatah unity government was sworn in earlier...

The Lebanese-Shiite Hezbollah may have set up a branch in the Gaza Strip, according to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. The flag and logo of an organization that was launched a few days ago in the Gaza Strip suggest a Hezbollah now exists in Gaza. The organization is called al-Sabirin (the...

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas early this morning announced the formation of a Palestinian government agreed to by the rival Fatah and Hamas factions. The new cabinet is made up of 17 cabinet ministers who were sworn in despite what local Reuters bureau chief Crispian Balmer described as a...

Just hours before the Palestinian Authority’s unity government was sworn in Monday, United States Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to express Washington’s concern over the inclusion of the Hamas terror organization in the new Palestinian government, according to Israel Radio (Hebrew audio...

A “top-ranking overseas operative of Hamas” was arrested last week, according to a report Friday in the Times of Israel. The operative gave Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, details about how Hamas operates inside of Israel. According the report, Mahmoud Toameh “gave the security agency a wealth of details” on...

Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday conveyed reports that forces loyal to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime had “rained barrels bombs on Aleppo” over the course of the day, part of what the wire described as “a campaign against rebels in the northern city where dozens have been killed this week”: The use of...