Lebanon (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Prime Minister Resigns --- What Next?

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Friday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Concludes Trip with Netanyahu Meeting

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Najib Mikati1825 GMT: Turkey and Palestine. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that he may travel to Gaza and the West Bank in April.

The statement follows Friday's reconciliation between Ankara and West Jerusalem, with Israel’s apology for the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.

“I may eventually visit Gaza and the West Bank in April. This visit would take place in the context of a general effort to contribute to the resolution process [of the Palestinian issue],” Erdoğan told reporters.

1755 GMT: Bahrain. Security forces have fired tear gas to prevent protesters from reaching the house of Nabeel Rajab, the imprisoned head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Riot police clashed with hundreds of people marching for Rajab, sentenced to two years in prison on charges of backing “illegal” protests.

Authorities also set up roadblocks to keep cars from reaching the house.

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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Concludes Trip with Netanyahu Meeting

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu at the grave of Theodor Herzl at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem (Photo: Getty)

See also EA Video Analysis: Iraq, 10 Years Later --- 5 Points About the "Intelligence" Factor
Israel Video and Analysis: President Obama's Speech in Jerusalem
Syria Live Coverage: Damascus Suicide Bomb Kills 42, Including Top Cleric
Thursday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Visits West Bank

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2002 GMT: Lebanon. The statement of Prime Minister Najib Mikati as he resigned, citing divisions on key issues and calling for the formation of a national unity government: "I announce the resignation of the government, hoping that this will open the way for the major political blocs to take responsibility and come together to bring Lebanon out of the unknown."

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Israel Video and Analysis: President Obama's Speech in Jerusalem

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President Obama spoke in Jerusalem, to a largely-student audience, on Thursday.

Perhaps in line with my cynicism about any substance on this trip to Israel and Palestine, I was not moved as I heard the speech. But perhaps I am being harsh --- many others saw this as a forthright speech, asking the Israeli people to press their leaders for movement on the Palestine issued.

In particular, this passage raised attention, as a sign that Obama will push the Israeli leadership to act on the Jewish settlements and military occupation that are blocking progress:

the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and justice must also be recognized. Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their home. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.

See full transcript of Obama speech

I am still withholding judgement. Attention to this section overlooks other parts of the Obama speech, including one which effectively told the Palestinians that they cannot press their case outside a US-supported "peace process". Signficantly, the President slapped down the successful Palestinian attempt to get Observer State recogntion at the UN: "The United States will oppose unilateral efforts to bypass negotiations through the United Nations."

Yet, at the same, time, Obama's Secretary of State John Kerry let it be known that Washington will not lead any attempt to revive that peace process.

So how will Obama's words be translated into meaningful action after he leaves Israel and Palestine today?

EA Video Analysis: What Does Obama Visit to Israel and Palestine Mean? (Very Little.)

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A five-minute forecast, filmed just before President Obama arrived in West Jerusalem, of his visit to Israel and Palestine....

So far I think I've got it right: "President Obama will not have the political will --- I might even say courage --- to do anything significant."

But there is more:

There will be very little said because the fact of the matter is that the US is no longer at the centre of these Middle East questions. The US is no longer the power that can wave a magic wand or carry out shuttle diplomacy. ...

The Israeli leaaderhip will do what it wishes to do while hoping that Washington is alongside, but not necessarily depending on it. The Palestinians will try to persist and obtain a meaningful State, even if that is a halting process, whether or not Washington supports that.

Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Visits West Bank

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday

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1331 GMT:Palestine. President Obama's statement on Jewish settlements today, as he stood beside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas:

One of the challenges [to the resumption of negotiations] has been continued settlement activity in the West Bank area. I've been clear with prime minster Netanyahu...that we do not consider continued settlement activity to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace.

Asked about the Israeli-backed plan for settlements in the E1 area in the West Bank near Jerusalem, Obama said:

I think that is an example of a public statement by the Israeli government that would be very difficult to square with a two-state solution. And I've said that to prime minster Netanyahu. I don't think that's a secret.

However, Obama declared that the West Bank leadership should not demand a freeze on settlement before resuming discussions with Israel:

What I shared with President Abbas is that if the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time then there is no point for negotiations. It is important to work through this process even if there are irritants on both sides. The Israeli have concerns about rockets firing into their cities last night....

Even though may have areas of strong disagreement maybe engaging in activities that the other side considers to be a breach of good faith, we have to push through those things.

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Israel (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Pays A Visit

1908 GMT: Israel Press Conference. Obama was pressed (with at least 4 questions) from Chuck Todd to explain his slow progress with regards to the peace process with Palestine. Obama seemed to insinuate that he'd like to focus more on this issue in term two, but that politics in Israel and Palestine have gotten in the way, just as they have with his domestic agenda.

He stressed that Israel will be more secure, Palestine stronger, and the entire region enriched by a solution, but it's a six-decade-old problem that won't be easy to solve.

Netanyahu, seeming to forget all of Todd's questions, went back to Iran. He said that Iran was enriching uranium, but that they could develop a weapon within a year. The enrichment process is ongoing, however, so every day is one day closer to a nuclear Iran.

Neanyahu stressed that Obama had pledged historically-significant levels of support for Israel, including a ten-year commitment to extend military support for Israel.

1905 GMT: Israel Press Conference. Netanyahu stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself. Obama stressed that there was "not a lot of daylight between our two countries" as far as their intelligence concerns with Iran were concerned.

Each country has to make its own decision re military action.

On the Palestinian issue, Obama stressed that he was disappointed with the rate of progress. He did praise the role of the Palestinian Authority, and suggested that he hoped that Palestinians could feel that they were "masters of their own fate" and that they could take part in a thriving regional economy.

This hasn't happened, neither has Israel been freed from the fear of rockets falling on them.

Then an interesting line from Obama - he'll consider the trip of a success if he spends more time listening than talking.

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Israel (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The New Coalition Government

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0555 GMT: Israel. After seven weeks of negotiations following the 22 January election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally confirmed a new Government on Friday.

Netanyahu's Likud-Beitenu bloc, which led the January poll but suffered a drop in its vote from the last ballot, reached agreement with the Yesh Atid Party --- the surprise emerging force in the election --- and the new Jewish Home Party, led by American-born high-tech entrepreneur Naftali Bennett.

The small centrist party of former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will also be in the coalition. For the first time in a decade, ultra-orthodox parties are excluded.

Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid was named Minister of Finance, while Bennett will be Minister of Trade. Likud-Beitenu retains control of the Ministries of Defense and Interior.

Iran Special: How Western Media Missed The Important Story from Israel

On Thursday, the head of Israel's military intelligence, Major General Amir Kochavi, made an important announcement. He said that, while Iran is developing its nuclear programme in 2013, it "has not yet decided to build a bomb".

Here's the catch: those who rely on Western media are unlikely to learn of this.

Instead, they will be treated to this far scarier spin, also taken from Kochavi's presentation: "Iran and Hezbollah Have Built 50,000-Strong Force to Help Syrian Regime".

So why did one declaration of Kochavi --- which is a misreading of a statement by an Iranian military commander last autumn --- make the headlines? Why is another --- which is far more significant and points to the debate within Israel over what to do about Tehran --- ignored?

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Mubarak's Police Behind Almost 900 Killings of Protesters in 2011 Uprising

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Saudi Support of the Insurgency
Wednesday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Death of Vendor Who Set Himself on Fire

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1815 GMT: Bahrain. Dozens of people have reportedly been injured amid widespread protests on the second anniversary of a Saudi-led military intervention to help suppress the pro-reform movement.

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Opposition society Al Wefaq said that at least 35 protesters had been hurt, three of them critically.

The Ministry of Interior claimed "domestic terrorists" had blocked roads and burnt cars. It said two police officers were injured.

Witnesses reported heavy clashes as police used tear gas and stun grenades against youths who, according to the Ministry of Interior, carried "Molotov cocktails, iron rods, and a number of homemade bombs."

In March 2011, the other members of the Gulf Co-operation Council sent in troops to back up Bahrain's security forces, who overran the camps of protesters, including the main one at the iconic Pearl Roundabout.

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Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Death of Vendor Who Set Himself on Fire

Tunisian President Ben Ali at bedside of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire over his economic situation, in December 2010

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Syria Live Coverage: Turkish Special Forces Enter the Country
Tuesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Division over Powers for "Citizen's Arrests"

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1410 GMT: Egypt. The Government has launched an appeal against a court ruling suspending Parliamentary elections due to start on 22 April.

President Morsi's office had said that would not challenge the verdict.

A judicial official said the High Administrative Court will rule on the appeal on Sunday.

Last week the lower court ruled that the law governing the elections was illegal and that its passage by the upper house of Parliament was procedurally improper.

1400 GMT: Israel and Palestine. The Israeli High Court of Justice is due to rule on the State's right to declare ownership of 1000 acres of undeveloped land located in West Bank settlement of Efrat.

Palestinians claim the land belongs to them.

The case is seen by some as a bellwether of the Israeli Government's plans to support Jewish settlements in the controversial E1 area near Jerusalem. Palestinians claim this would effectively cut off access from one part of the West Bank to another.

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