Let us go back to the fundamental that Goldstone’s latest statement has consolidated the nationalist “we told ya, we were right” camp in Israel. Amidst the political debates ahead of elections,the discourse is that, in an international community which is often misguided and indeed threatening, Israel stands alone but triumphant at the end of the day.
We know a lot more today about what happened in the Gaza war of 2008-09 than we did when I chaired the fact-finding mission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council that produced what has come to be known as the Goldstone Report. If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.
The Goldstone commission’s findings on deliberate attacks on civilians is one of at least seven broad findings (which comprise hundreds of specific incidents) that raise issues about Israel’s conduct....Goldstone’s op-ed pointedly excludes discussion of all of these very serious charges of possible war crimes and possible crimes against humanity
A review of the last two weeks, before Wednesday's explosion of a bomb near a bus in Jerusalem....
The construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has quadrupled since the end of the temporary freeze last autumn, say Israeli official documents.
Five members of the Fogel family are massacred in the settlement of Itamar. Although this act is condemned by the Palestinian Authority, Israeli government and media organisations consider it a terrorist attack. West Jerusalem’s responds quickly. The Ministerial committee on settlement affairs approves the construction of 500 new homes in several West Bank settlements. The Israel Defense Forces carry out mass arrests in the village of Awarta, and questioned almost all the men.
Al Jazeera English summarises latest developments:
Israeli jets have staged three air strikes over Gaza, hours after a bomb struck a crowded bus stop in West Jerusalem, killing at least one person and wounding 30 in what authorities said was the first major attack in the city in several years.
Palestinian sources said early on Thursday two of the raids targeted the city of Gaza while another was aimed at a tunnel near the Egyptian frontier at Rafah. No casualties were reported.
An Israeli defence spokeswoman confirmed the sorties, saying: "The air force targeted two tunnels at the south of the Gaza Strip and a terrorist target in Gaza."
Jerusalem blast
The strikes came after a bomb ripped through a Jerusalem bus, killing one and wounding more than 30 on Wednesday.
Speaking in Miami last week, President Obama addressed Israel’s security concerns within the context of the “new” Middle East. He said,“I'm actually confident that 10 years from now we're going to be able to look back and say that this was the dawning of an entirely new and better era.”
The statement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to announce his “grand plan” in May, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders as part of an interim peace agreement.
Netanyahu met resistance from his own Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, who said that immediate immediate action was necessary and sought clarity from the Prime Minister: ""A permanent agreement has a chance only if Israel would be willing to clearly say what would come after it....A permanent agreement has a chance only if Israel would be willing to clearly say what would come after it.”
Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 23:24 | Ali Yenidunya in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
After the departure of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official Yasser Abed Rabbo has confirmed Ramallah's determination to have elections in September, without giving a specific date. Rabbo, signalling to Hamas and its leadership in Gaza, continued, "We call on parties to put aside all of their differences and to focus on conducting the elections by September at the latest."
However, Hamas is determined not to take the offer. Its spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Saturday:
Hamas will not participate or recognize or give any cover for this election and we consider this announcement a conspiracy against the Palestinian people. Hamas believes in elections but elections can come only after [political] reconciliation.
In a second step, the Palestinian Authority's top negotiator Saeb Erekat quit in the wake of the scandal over the leak of more than 16,000 "Palestine Papers" revealing the PA's manoeuvres on talks with Israel and on Gaza: "If there was any security failure in my office, then I am responsible. For that, I have resigned."
Still, as protesters march in other Arab countries, this may not be enough for Ramallah to be secure from an uprising. This morning, it is reported that a "massive change" is expected in West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's Cabinet. More Erekats are expected to give their resignations for a "fresh' face to the region and to the Palestinian people.
Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 6:31 | Ali Yenidunya in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
The United Nations Relief Works Agency has announced that unemployment in the Gaza strip has reached 45%. Monthly earnings in Gaza decreased by almost 10%, in real terms, between the first half of 2009 and the first half of 2010. UNRWA spokesperson Chris Guinness warned that without international intervention to halt the Israeli blockade of Gaza, the crisis could deepen substantially.
As Facebook groups are calling for a 'revolution' in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's Interior Ministry Spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told AFP late on Wednesday: "It makes no sense, this is little more than media hype. Gaza has already had a revolution --- what happened in 2007 was a real revolution against corruption."
Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 6:28 | Ali Yenidunya in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
UPDATE 1000 GMT: On Wednesday, officials in Ramallah initiated pro-Mubarak demonstrations as people condemned Mohamed ElBaradei as a “CIA agent”. Fatah-controlled media outlets called him a“war criminal”, blaming responsibility for the Iraq war.
Haaretz's Amira Haaas asks: "Why isn't the PA supporting Egypt uprising?"
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 1:48 | Ali Yenidunya in EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Last night Al Jazeera completed three days of special broadcasts on the "Palestine Papers", the more than 1600 internal documents about the Palestinian negotiations with Israel from 1999 to 2010. The documents themselves carry on, posted not only by Al Jazeera but also by The Guardian of London.
On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, tried to strike back, calling the documents "fake". He told the crowd denouncing the Qatari regime, which owns Al Jazeera:
The Palestinian principles ... have not and will not change and the first of them is that East Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine. No one in the world can make us give up on a centimeter of our land, the issue of the refugees or the issue of Jerusalem.
