Zvi Bar'el

Due to the lack of U.S. policy on Syria, encouraging a negotiated solution between Assad and the rebels now appears to be the West's least dangerous course of action.

Two years after the stormy demonstrations at Tahrir Square, President Mohammed Morsi's failure to offer hope has given rise to a genre devoted to Egypt's grim future.

Competing interests undermine attempts to convene a global summit on Syria and make military intervention increasingly unlikely.

The reforms carried out so far in Saudi Arabia have caused an uproar, but are only a drop in the ocean that divides Saudi Arabia from other countries such as Egypt or Kuwait.

The explosions near the Syrian border that claimed 46 lives exacerbated tensions between between locals and Syrian refugees - and among Hatay Province's ethnic groups.

Christians in Syria find themselves damned if they support the regime of President Bashar Assad, and equally damned if they join the rebellion. With both the regime and Islamists looking to settle scores, the future looks bleak.

It's impossible to tell if Moscow and Washington agree on how the crisis should end, and whether they agree on Syria’s intentions, or possible courses of action; but neither side can allow the future map of Syria to be drawn by militias and gangs that could easily spread the crisis into Lebanon and Iraq.

The U.S. president’s decision on weapons for Syria’s rebels is due shortly; either way, the risks are steep.

Other options also don't bode well: Retaliating through Hezbollah wouldn’t stop the Syrian uprising and is liable to expose Iran’s limited ability to help its Lebanese ally now that Syria can't serve as a logistical base.

A Syrian rebel website says that the alleged Israeli strike in Syria targeted aircraft fuel tanks, Syrian army ammunition storerooms, the army's runway and a civilian cargo plane that had arrived from Iran.

Iran's presidential candidates are already frowning on Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial; debate over the issue comes at a time when the presidential candidates are being careful not to offend Khamenei, whose endorsement they need, and who may be open to changing discourse on Holocaust.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi may be taking advantage of the post-revolutionary turmoil to lift the last brake on a political takeover.

President Assad crossed the red line on using chemical weapons, but as long as he does not lose them or use them again, Israel and the U.S. are hesitant to go ahead with an attack.

The story of two sisters who found themselves on opposite sides of the fighting symbolize the swift disintegration of Syrian society, where the conflict cuts through family as well as ethnic and political lines.

Canadian security officials alleged that the suspects in the plot to derail a commuter train received 'guidance' from an Al-Qaida element in Iran, but Iran and Al-Qaida have been at war with each other for years.

Judicial crackdowns on freedom of expression in Muslim countries, like the case of the Turkish pianist who was punished for anti-religious tweets, aren't always about religion.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi seeking 'real political pact' with Russia, and asked a $2-billion loan while about it.

The apology by Israel may have opened up avenues for Turkey to get involved but will Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan be compelled to visit Israel on his upcoming trip to the area?

If a new Damascus government chooses to turn its back on Iran, the Shiite country will do its utmost to keep Lebanon in its sphere of influence.

Censorship of an article criticizing the link between wealth, government and the press stirs a heated debate on the limits of press freedom in the country.

The U.S. wants to use Erdogan's connections to Hamas to get Meshal to recognize Israel and declare an end to the armed struggle; Egypt opposes any moves by Turkey to mediate Mideast talks.

The economic-security pressure which the Egyptian army is exerting on Hamas is showing Morsi the limits of his power in conducting negotiations with the Palestinians.

With Iran and the superpowers poised to hold their second round of nuclear talks in a month, the U.S. is reportedly expecting results, but some experts and domestic Iranian politics suggest the waiting game may not be over quite yet.

While Tunisia boils over an alleged sex-related fatwa, the Syrian opposition continues to quarrel like the countries arming it.

Israel will transfer the amount to a humanitarian fund set up by Turkish government to compensate for deaths of Turkish activists on Mavi Maramara in 2010; Turkish diplomat says U.S. pressuring Erdogan not to visit Gaza, West Bank.

As his recent interview in The New York Times shows, Finance Minister Yair Lapid knows how to sell himself as everything to everyone, but his brand is wearing thin.

When red lines are no longer red lines and threats of varying severity can be found around every corner, Israel needs to pick and choose its fights. Let's decide which issues really require a military response.

Israel, the country that notices distant threats before anyone else, has become deaf, dumb and blind when the threat is lying at its doorstep.

Freedom to decide is a two-edged sword because it gives Israel a double responsibility - the first for its security, and the second toward the U.S. - not to involve it in a war it did not start.

We may one day have 'peaceful coexistence’ with the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza. With the Arabs of Israel, it will take much more. We need sincere reconciliation.

Israel has made the occupation into a sacred security cow, preventing it from being evaluated economically.

Israel is planning for the aftermath of the crisis in Syria, but remaining aloof from events on the ground and letting chances to make a humanitarian and political impact pass it by.

Even the best relations can be destroyed by skewed expectations.

President Obama's visit attests to Washington's strategic choice: to neglect the Middle East peace process.

Instead of getting what we voted for, we'll get a chunky mixture whose components will be impossible to identify: Yair Lapid with the flavor of Naftali Bennett, Tzipi Livni rolled up in Netanyahu.

The head of the Shin Bet security service has to decide right now how to stop the next intifada.

The strange alliance between Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid has transformed both of their parties into something they're not.

Nobody disagrees with the prime minister's right to consult his wife. But it isn't customary for a political victory to depend on her authorization.

Despite the party's avowed interest in peace, Yesh Atid's platform does little to distinguish it from the hawkish agendas of the other major players in the coalition talks.

While Israeli politicians have done little to dissect the politics of the Arab world, Iranian academics are watching us closely, and publishing their analyses abroad.

There is nothing new about opportunism, but this time it has become a value in and of itself. We won’t get mad at Lapid, Livni or Yacimovich if they join Netanyahu’s coalition; we expect it. We’ll ridicule them if they sell out too cheaply, not for giving up their principles in the first place.

The question that was coined to boost hamburger sales and co-opted for Walter Mondale's ill-fated 1984 presidential bid could today be addressed to Shelly Yacimovich and her empty, so-called leftism.

The left wing parties have the best of intentions for helping Israel's Arabs, but like the most right-wing among us, wouldn't dream of publicly forming an alliance with them.

A society that knows how to respect and nurture ethnicities and cultures doesn't turn them into genies.

The frustration with Yacimovich is not about her unwillingness to take a leftist stance on the peace process. Rather, it is because this party will be unable to faithfully represent those who oppose the policies the next Netanyahu government will follow regarding the peace process.

Even the miracle drawing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed at the UN General Assembly has been forgotten. Has something happened in the interim that we don't know about?

The Labor chair absolutely cannot be prime minister so long as she does not say to the Palestinian president, 'Take me, Abu Mazen.' If she's not prepared to join in our fantasy, then let her go to hell.

Forty-five years of successful occupation speak for themselves. Another 87 years remain before Israel has occupied Palestine for as long as France ruled in Algeria, although in demographic terms Israel achieved its aim long ago.

After Israel gets over its anger, it will realize that an official Palestinian state, even one that Hamas is helping to run, can be a more responsible partner for conducting daily life than two authorities fighting each other.

It is worth remembering that Morsi is not a religious legal scholar, and the Muslim Brotherhood is not a Hasidic sect.