Now that the dust has settled in Gaza, though no one can say for how long, the new normal of the post-Arab Spring Middle East has begun to make itself apparent.  

The complex dynamics of Turkey’s geographical position and cultural uniqueness have always defied easy explanation.  But in the decade since Tayip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) were first elected, change within Turkey and between Turkey and the world has erupted in a number of different directions.

In Israel’s fractious politics, parties poised as ‘centrist’ have repeatedly proven themselves long on well-meaning rhetoric but short on survivability.

After yet another decade of a peace process that is obviously stalled if not terminally ineffective, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to take Palestinian aspirations of statehood to the United Nations.

Will leaked papers that, as the Guardian puts it, reveal the ‘slow death’ of the Middle East Peace Process end up being its saviour?

While this latest round of talks is scheduled to continue on September 15th, judging from comments coming out of both camps, the negotiations have already failed.

The killing of four Israeli settlers near Hebron on the eve of a new round of peace talks in Washington has shifted the likeliness of forward progress in the peace process from ‘not likely’ to ‘not going to happen.’

Yesterday’s raid by the IDF on the ‘Freedom Flotilla’- an aid convoy en route to Gaza- amounts to one more diplomatic nightmare for an Israeli government that is finding itself increasingly bereft of international support.

Abortive ‘proximity talks’ between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are unlikely to bear fruit.

The moment that Secretary Clinton praised an Israeli proposal to temporarily restrict settlement construction in the West Bank as an ‘unprecedented concession,’ sighs of disappointment could be heard ringing out from Arab capitals around the world.