Timing of the recent escalation in tension between Israel and Gaza is not coincidental. It is a calculated move, Phyllis Bennis, director of the Institute for Policy Studies has told RT. “The Israelis launched their attack shortly after the US elections and shortly before the US was about to swear in a president at the inauguration in January and just before Israeli elections were scheduled as well.... 

Israeli soldiers fire their weapons during a training session near Beqa’ot in the West Bank Israel’s Defense Ministry has ordered eight Palestinian villages in the West Bank to be razed, claiming the land is needed for military training. Hundreds of Palestinians are to be displaced despite evidence that the villages have existed since 1830. ­The residents of the villages, located in the southern... 

Palestinians hold candles and pictures of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during the seventh anniversary of his death in Gaza City, November 13, 2011. Scientists of a Swiss institute say they have evidence that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium. According to the findings of laboratory research conducted at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland,... 

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos says the presence of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in the Israeli cabinet is “unbearable.” In an interview with the Austrian daily Die Presse, Darabos severely criticized Israel’s policies, with a special emphasis on the continued settlement activities and the nuclear allegations against Iran. An attack... 

Patima Zakka with her son Thousands of Palestinians are on hunger strike in Israeli prisons – for over a week, they have been protesting against indefinite detention without charge and alleged ill-treatment. Some of those who got out, told RT about their life behind bars. Human rights groups in the West Bank say 2,000 Palestinians have been on hunger strike for more than a week, and others are... 

A 2008 survey says 0.8% of Christian Palestinians cited 'fleeing religious extremism' as a reason for emigration Despite claims by Israeli government officials, Christian Palestinians regularly face discrimination. A recent report by CBS show 60 Minutes on “Christians of the Holy Land” has received a lot of attention, not least for the embarrassing contribution by Israeli Ambassador... 

The lower house of the Egyptian parliament has unanimously approved a text declaring that Israel is the number one enemy of Egypt and calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and a halt to gas exports to Israel. On Monday, Egyptian MPs voted by a show of hands on the text of a report, which was compiled by the Arab Affairs Committee of the People’s Assembly (lower house of parliament). “Revolutionary... 

In a letter to Netanyahu, Knesset leaders urge for sanctions against the Palestinians, expansion of settlements, and annexation. In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, several right-wing factions in the Israeli Knesset argued that Israel should annex West Bank settlements as punishment for the recent Palestinian bid for United Nations membership. The letter was signed by Likud... 

Mahmoud Abbas In the whirr of diplomacy taking place at the United Nations, the case for and against statehood recognition for the Palestinians has become almost an afterthought. Rather, two countries, the United States and Israel, are going to great lengths to avert the embarrassing consequences of an expected application. Great pressure is being placed on the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas,... 

Pro-Palestinians protesters take cover from Israeli forces shooting near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Sunday, June 5, 2011. Israeli troops fired at Palestinian demonstrators in Syria who rushed to the frontier fence in what Israel called a challenge to its sovereignty. Syrian state-run media said 23 were killed. “Anyone who tries to cross the border will be... 

Egypt permanently reopened its border crossing into Gaza on Saturday, opening the door for Palestinians to the outside world and raising fears among Israelis of an increase in militant attacks. Hundreds were expected Saturday to pass through the Rafah border, which had been blockaded by Egypt and Israel after Hamas, an Islamic militant group, took control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure of the border... 

An Israeli navy vessel entering the southern Israeli port of Ashdod. Israeli naval forces have fired warning shots at a Malaysian ship carrying aid to Gaza as it approached the shore, forcing it to withdraw to Egyptian waters, according to organisers and the Israeli military. Israeli naval forces fired warning shots at a Malaysian aid ship as it approached the Gaza Strip on Monday, forcing the vessel... 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Rebranding Israel Campaign. The U.S. is not going to fully engage. Only bad things can come out of Netanyahu’s visit to America. And I mean bad things for all of us, everywhere. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, a master of Zionist double-speak and deception, is about to undertake the most important assignment of his life. Because of its continuing occupation... 

Palestinian prisoners are forced to strip to their underwear in front of cameras by Israeli soldiers. Israel’s Channel 2 TV station has released video footage showing Palestinian detainees being tortured by Israeli troops in the regime’s desert prison of Naqab (Negev) back in 2008. The footage showed one Palestinian died and several others sustained injuries due to the torture by the Israeli... 

An Israeli tank maneuvers just outside the southern Gaza Strip. Ten more Palestinians have lost their lives and dozens of others, including children, have been injured in separate Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip, reports say. On the deadliest day of the shelling of the strip on Friday since the end of the Gaza war two years ago, Israeli tanks and warplanes struck heavily on the northern...