Checkpoint Jerusalem - McClatchy Newspapers

The best-known Palestinian political hip-hop artists spend most of their time rapping about Israel and the occupation.

BBC reporter Alan Johnston knows tough.

Four months after an Israeli tank opened fire on a Reuters crew in Gaza stationed a mile away from the tank's position, the Israeli military has cleared itself of any wrongdoing in the chilling incident in which Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana captured his own impending death on film.

He has been described as the Palestinian "poet of conscience," a reluctant visionary who once wrote "my homeland is my suitcase."

Israel's simmering conflict with Al Jazeera is heating up again.

The Israeli officer who reportedly ordered one of his soldiers to shoot a bound-and-blindfolded Palestinian demonstrator is being reassigned.

Maariv today carries an entertaining story about a CD music mix that became the focal point of a fevered Israeli security sting.

It was a bizarre end to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Israel in June: A shot is fired. Security teams move in. The French president and his wife are hustled onto the plane as Israeli leaders are led to safety.

Haaretz's Avi Issacharaoff traveled to California to tell the unique tale of Masad Yousef, the 30-year-old son of Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, who has converted to Christianity and is seeking refuge in the United States.

Pundits, journalists and academics are always searching for metaphors and symbolism to tell the story of life in the Middle East.

Israel won't have Ehud Olmert to kick around anymore.

For years, Palestinian and international activists have been leading weekly (and sometimes daily) protests against ongoing construction of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank.

(AP Video: Obama at the Western Wall)

What is one to make of the half dozen seemingly unconnected attacks in Jerusalem over the last six months?

Barack Obama's just-completed international adventure generated much media attention, but perhaps nothing quite so revelatory as this piece from The Times of London.

Barack Obama places his prayer in the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Israeli governments have become very adept over the years at methodically expanding their hold on the West Bank while publicly declaring plans to freeze controversial settlement development that is a major obstacle in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

The satirical newspaper The Onion is taking another jab at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Barack Obama receives an "I (heart) Sderot" T-shirt from Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal during his visit to the southern Israeli town that has been a frequent target of rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in the nearby Gaza Strip.

I was just cruising back into Jerusalem this afternoon after a whirlwind visit to Beirut when I started seeing police cars zipping past me and heading towards downtown.

Heeb Magazine is pushing the envelope with its latest issue by including "The Ladies of '69," a special swimsuit calendar featuring some of Israel's best known models, including Leo's girlfriend, Bar Rafaeli.

As Lebanon declared a national holiday to honor Samir Kuntar, residents of Lebanon started getting calls from unknown numbers.

Samir Kuntar is sitting under a photo of himself standing next to Hassan Nasrallah and telling friends that he almost didn't come home.

Eli Ishmerini leaned against a guard rail in the humid heat as he watched Israeli army jeeps and ambulances head north to the nearby Lebanese border.

Sometimes international diplomacy seems more like a high-stakes high school dance. Only the stakes if Billy and Tommy don't like each other is a lot higher than who gets to be prom king and dance with the pretty cheerleader.

Some of the world's great attractions never quite live up to expectations.

As my McClatchy colleague Shashank Bengali has written more than once, Zimbabwe has an unending list of problems, including insane runaway inflation that requires people to lug around large suitcases full of dollars to pay their bills.

Is Israel doomed?