Al-Akhbar

Al-Akhbar is our weekly newsletter. It's an executive summary of what's happening in the region: big stories, notable quotes, and links to some of the best media coverage out there, both on the blogs and in the "old media." We'll also round up our best posts.

Want to subscribe? Enter your e-mail address below and choose when you'd like to receive the newsletter. (All times are U.S. Eastern Time.) We'll send you an e-mail to confirm.

Your e-mail address will be kept confidential, and we'll only use it to mail you newsletters (and occasional announcements about the newsletter service). No spam, no sales pitches, and we won't share your e-mail with anyone, ever.

Want to unsubscribe? There's a link at the bottom of every edition of the newsletter. Just click it, and we'll take you off our list.

B'Tselem: Settlements occupy 42 percent of West Bank

Ben-Eliezer makes "secret trip" to Turkey: Israeli TV

CENTCOM talking sense on Hamas and Hizballah

Peace Processing

Talking about direct talks: Netanyahu returns to the White House

Gregg Carlstrom | July 6, 2010 4:00 AM |

0 | recommend (0)

US president Barack Obama will use a White House meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an extended West Bank settlement freeze. If Netanyahu doesn't offer one - and the domestic politics are quite difficult for him - it's hard to see any possibility of direct talks with the Palestinian Authority later this year.

The Afghan Surge

Obama's southern strategy

Gregg Carlstrom | June 24, 2010 6:09 AM |

1 | recommend (0)

The president's decision to nominate Gen. David Petraeus as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan won't mean a major change in strategy. But there are mounting reasons for pessimism about current policy, particularly the relentless focus on southern Afghanistan. The deployment of tens of thousands of additional troops to Kandahar and Helmand serves few NATO objectives.

Freedom Flotilla Killings

Anticlimax: How much did the flotilla raid really change regional politics?

Gregg Carlstrom | June 17, 2010 7:35 AM |

4 | recommend (2)

It has accelerated Israel's isolation from several of its neighbors and allies; it has sharpened divisions within Turkish domestic politics; it has deepened perceptions that the Obama administration as too close to Israel. And it seems to have had a remarkably minor impact on Palestinian domestic politics.