On-again off-again Palestinian unity talks between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions are off again for the near future: Hamas has asked to postpone its next meeting with Hamas to ensure the talks will be positive, the party’s deputy politburo chief said Sunday. Mousa Abu Marzouq said in a statement...

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Israel’s Defense Ministry announced today that it successfully tested Israel’s Arrow 3 anti-missile system, the latest iteration of the jointly-developed U.S.-Israeli platform designed to target and shoot down long-range missiles of the kind deployed by Syria and Iran. The Arrow system, co-produced by The Boeing Corporation and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), is the first the...

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Throughout 2012 senior Palestinian leaders – Fatah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – called for Palestinians to launch a third Intifada and resume violent attacks against Israel.  And as predicted, recent months have seen an uptick in orchestrated demonstrations and public violence among Palestinians targeting Israelis, including lynching attempts that reminded Israelis and observers...

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Reports that Hamas is somewhere between frustrated and angry with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government – which trickled out of Arabic-language media and were picked up by English-language Western and MidEast outlets – are gaining traction: Hamas condemned Egypt’s decision to flood smuggling tunnels linking Sinai and Gaza, according to a...

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An Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bombings that killed 21 people and wounded more than 100 last Sunday in Baghdad. The group, calling itself The Islamic State of Iraq, described the attack as a sectarian strike: “The operation was in response to the repression...

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Egypt is sending a security delegation to Israel this week to discuss a range of security issues including the ongoing implementation of the Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas that ended last November’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The Israeli campaign came after weeks of escalatory rocket and missile fire by Hamas-led...

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Egypt has seized two tons of explosives headed toward the Sinai Peninsula just days after military forces began flooding tunnels that connect the strategic area and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The operation will deepen concerns over the extent to which smuggling remains prevalent on the Peninsula. Israel and Arabic analysts have expressed concerns that...

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A Hamas delegation to Bulgaria has been expelled for posing a “serious threat for national security,” according to Bulgarian security officials. The delegation had been in the country for less than two days, having been invited by Bulgaria’s Center for Global and Middle East Studies. The center’s head, Mohammed Abu Assi,...

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The Palestinian Authority government is again facing criticism for suppressing civil liberties in the West Bank. David Keyes, executive director of Advancing Human Rights, has described the Western-backed government as becoming “worryingly similar” to the Iran-backed Hamas government in the Gaza Strip that “shuts down social media conferences, represses women, tortures dissidents...

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Unity talks between Palestinian rival groups Fatah and Hamas have ended with the two sides failing to come together on the procedures that would govern a new election. Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is currently in the eighth year of his four-year presidential term in the West Bank, while Hamas rules the...

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