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Palestinians, mostly children search for food among burnt debris in the aftermath of an Israeli strike
Image: Mohammed Salem/REUTERS

Israel and the crisis in the Middle East

Israel's war in Gaza has exacerbated regional tensions in the Middle East.

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All Content on this topic

A Syrian Air Force fighter plane fires a rocket during an air strike in the village of Tel Rafat, some 37 km (23 miles) north of Aleppo, August 9, 2012.

The Syrian proxy war

With the UN peace plan in tatters, regional battle lines are being drawn in Syria. Calls for a no-fly zone have grown, but the West remains reluctant to intervene during an election year and an economic crisis.
August 14, 2012
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with Ahmet Davutoglu

Clinton talks Syria in Turkey

The US secretary of state has traveled to Turkey to discuss the Syrian crisis following diplomatic failure at the UN. Syria's civil war is straining an already tense region, with border clashes reported in Jordan.
August 11, 2012
Egyptian soldiers are seen near the Kerem Shalom crossing, a zone where the Israeli, Egyptian and Gaza borders intersect and where an Egyptian military vehicle that was seized by Islamist gunmen tried to storm the border into Israel on Sunday, August 8, 2012.

State TV: New Sinai clashes

Instability continues to grip the Sinai Peninsula in the worst violence the region has seen in decades. Clashes have erupted again as the Egyptian military sends reinforcements to root out suspected Islamist militants.
August 9, 2012
Egyptian border guards watch closed Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip

Military offensive in Sinai

The Egyptian military has launched airstrikes against targets in the Sinai Peninsula near the Israeli border. The airstrikes come after fresh overnight attacks on at least one Egyptian security checkpoint.
August 8, 2012
Egyptian relatives cry on the coffin of a soldier killed during an attack at a checkpoint along the Sinai border with Israel.

Egyptian soldiers laid to rest

A funeral has taken place for 16 members of Egypt's security forces killed on Sunday, in an attack on the Sinai Peninsula. A notable absentee was the country's president Mohammad Morsi.
August 7, 2012
Israeli citizen Izhak Shriki, who is searching for his wife, is comforted outside a hospital

Israel accuses Hezbollah

Israel has openly implicated Hezbollah and Iran in the suicide attack in Bulgaria that killed Israeli tourists. But with the bomber still unidentified and Iran denying the charges, questions remain unanswered.
July 19, 2012
An unidentified injured Israeli tourist is helped as she leaves a hospital in the city of Burgas, Bulgaria, Thursday, July 19, 2012. A daytime bombing that killed eight people and injured dozens on a bus full of Israeli tourists was most likely a suicide attack, Bulgaria's interior minister said Thursday. He said the suspected attacker was carrying a Michigan driver's license that was being sent to the FBI for authentication. (Foto:Impact Press Group/AP/dapd).

Security holes

Several warnings of attacks on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria did not prevent the bombing in Burgas.
July 19, 2012
Trio Joubran performing at the 2011 Jerash festival in Jordan

Sounds from Nazareth

The three brothers of Trio Joubran turned their childhood passion into their profession.
July 19, 2012

West Bank Village Susya a symbol of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Village of Susya is a collection of tent dwellings located in "Area C" of the occupied West Bank. But like with many villages in the West Bank, Palestinians and Israelis conflict on who is entitled to live in the area. The Israeli Civil Administration has now issued demolition orders for the village.This week, a temporary injunction runs out and the village becomes subject to demolition.
BusinessJuly 4, 201206:59 min
A Palestinian man walks past a damaged Hamas security site in Gaza City after an Israeli air raid

Gaza-Israel tensions escalate

Israeli military jets have struck again inside the Gaza Strip in retaliation for rockets fired into southern Israel by Palestinian militants. The raids raise doubts about a three-day-old Egyptian-brokered truce bid.
June 23, 2012
A Palestinian firefighter tries to extinguish a fire following an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City, early Saturday

Gaza-Israel tensions continue

Israeli military jets have struck again inside the Gaza Strip in apparent retaliation for rockets fired into southern Israel by Palestinian militants despite efforts to set up a truce.
June 23, 2012
Egyptian soldiers walk on a border wall between Egypt, and Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. Egypt boosted troop security along the volatile border with Gaza on Friday, a security official said, following an alleged threat by Hamas that the group would stage kidnappings of Egyptian troops if its militants arrested in the Sinai were not released.

Egyptian-brokered cease-fire

Militants in the Gaza Strip claim to accept a cease-fire with Israel after a spate of violence this week. Israel has expressed concern that militants are exploiting Egypt's instability to launch cross-border raids.
June 21, 2012
A Palestinian man looks at burnt cars outside a house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza Strip June 20, 2012

Israel raids Gaza after rockets

Israeli aircraft have carried out night airstrikes on Gaza after Palestinian militants battered southern Israel with rockets in a further night of fighting.
June 20, 2012
A photograph supplied by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shows Israeli sailors in the navy base in Haifa as they prepare to set sail into the Mediterranean Sea on 29 May 2010 in order to track and intercept the Free Gaza Movement flotilla.

Report slams Israeli flotilla raid

Israel's state watchdog has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his handling of a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The operation left nine Turks dead and severely damaged Israeli-Turkish ties.
June 13, 2012
Lebanese soldiers take up position, amid the strife between Sunni and Alawite factions

Lebanese die in Syria strife

At least 13 people have been killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli amid fighting between supporters of opposing factions in the Syrian uprising. Protagonists were reported to have fired rocket-propelled grenades.
June 2, 2012
Anti-Syrian gunmen stay put near buildings during overnight clashes between pro and anti Syrian Sunni groups in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, May 21, 2012.

Clashes in Lebanon

An expert tells DW about the causes and implications of recent violence in Lebanon.
May 24, 2012
Palestinians hold portraits of their relatives held in Israeli jails

Palestinian hunger strike deal

Israel has signed a deal with militant groups to end a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners. More than 1,500 inmates took part in the protest over conditions and a controversial policy of detention without charge.
May 15, 2012
epa02851581 Israeli soldiers keep watch on the border with Lebanon, facing the Wazzani River area, southern Lebanon, 01 August 2011. According to media reports, Israeli and Lebanese troops exchanged fire on their joint border on 01 August 2011, with both sides offering conflicting accounts of who fired first. United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesman Neeraj Singh confirmed the clashes that occurred in the Wazzani area between the Israeli and Lebanese armies. EPA/HASSAN BAHSOUN

Israel builds border wall

Following up on plans announced in January, Israel has started construction on a wall that will run along part of its border with Lebanon in an effort to curb attacks on the Israeli town of Metulla.
April 30, 2012
Ismail Haniyeh (L), the Hamas leader in Gaza, shakes hands with fellow Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during their meeting in Doha February 15, 2012.

Hamas' new course

The Palestinian Hamas strikes a new course in view of the violence in Syria.
April 26, 2012

'The World Tomorrow'

DW takes a look at Julian Assange's new talk show on the Kremlin-backed broadcaster, RT.
April 20, 2012
Druze residents of the the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights hold Syrian flags and portraits of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, during a rally

Syria's foreign policy

Syria's foreign policy would not change dramatically under a new leadership.
April 19, 2012
A Syrian refugee runs with a Syrian opposition flag

Syria after Assad

The fighting continues in Syria. But there are already plenty of plans for the future in the making.
April 18, 2012
Demonstrations in the West Bank by Palestinians

Palestine snubs Israel premier

The Palestinian premier has cancelled a meeting with his Israeli counterpart on a politically charged day when more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners started a hunger strike to protest conditions in Israeli jails.
April 17, 2012
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

No talks without settlement halt

An offer by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume direct peace talks without preconditions has been rejected by the Palestinians, who insist Israel must halt settlement construction first.
April 12, 2012
Jewish and Muslim leaders link arms in a silent march to honour the victims of a shooting at the Ozar Hatorah school, where a rabbi and three children were killed, in Toulouse March 25, 2012.

Media Manipulation

French-Jews claim media propaganda is fuelling further violence in their country.
March 30, 2012
Israeli security officers take position near a burning tyre during clashes with Palestinian protesters at a demonstration marking Land Day at Qalandiya checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 30, 2012. Israel shut crossings into the occupied West Bank on Friday and reinforced patrols along its borders with Lebanon and Syria to try to thwart pro-Palestinian rallies around the country. Land Day marks the annual commemorations in Israel of the killing by police of six Arab citizens in 1976 during protests against land confiscations in northern Israel's Galilee region. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (WEST BANK - Tags: ANNIVERSARY CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

One killed in Israel protests

Israel has stepped up security in anticipation of annual demonstrations that mark the death of six Israeli Arabs in 1976 protests over Israel's land policies - a central cause of conflict in the region.
March 30, 2012
Smoke rises from an explosion following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Saturday, March 10, 2012.

Israeli airstrikes kill seven

The latest round of violence between Israel and Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip entered a fourth day, with Israel launching airstrikes that killed seven people. Twenty-five people have died since Friday.
March 12, 2012
Fire after Israeli air strike in Gaza

Israeli airstrikes kill three

Three Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip as renewed cross-border violence enters its third day. One of the victims was reportedly a 12-year-old child.
March 11, 2012
Palestinians look at the remains of a vehicle after it exploded in Gaza City March 9, 2012. Israel killed the leader of a Palestinian militant faction on Friday in a targeted attack on the car in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said. A second man also died in the blast, and a third was injured.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

The Israeli military has said it launched multiple airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, with one of them killing a high-ranking militant in the Palestinian territory. Officials in Gaza say the Palestinian death toll is now 14.
March 10, 2012
Palestinian paramedics wheel a wounded police officer at the Shifa hospital

Palestinian killed in Israeli strikes

Israeli airstrikes, launched in retaliation for rocket attacks, have killed a Palestinian man and wounded at least two others. The weekend's violence violates a fragile truce between Israel and the Palestinians.
February 12, 2012
An Israeli Air Force F-16I jet fighter takes off

Israel eyes target Tehran

Experts in the US are weighing up a potentially 'far reaching' Israeli attack on Iran in 2012.
February 8, 2012
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal (R) and Palestinain President Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian rapprochement

After four years of division, Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a joint government to end the split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. However, Israel has indicated it would not support the deal.
February 7, 2012
Relatives of Palestinian prisoners attack the UN chief's convoy

Palestinian protesters

UN chief Ban Ki-moon's convoy is pelted with shoes and sticks by protesters in the Gaza Strip.
February 2, 2012
Al Jazeera pastry shop next to an Arabic barber on Sonnenallee, Berlin

Scene in Berlin

The Turkish community might dominate Kreuzberg, but Neukölln is Berlin's Arab heartland.
January 20, 2012
Graphic of a Turkish flag being torn away from an Israeli flag

Official recognition

Israel is considering whether to call the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 genocide.
December 26, 2011
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah

Criminal funding

A prominent Lebanese bank is linked to a money laundering operation run by militant group Hezbollah.
December 20, 2011
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

Sunni-Shia tensions

Iraq fears that the fall of the Syrian regime may lead to a wider conflict between Sunnis and Shia.
December 12, 2011
The building works in the synagogue

Beirut's hidden Jews

The Jewish community in Lebanon is rebuilding its synagogue.
November 15, 2011
Pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad supporters

Mixed signals

Syria's regime continues to send out contradictory signals as it struggles to contain the uprising.
November 4, 2011
Medics treat a wounded Palestinian militant

Israel-Gaza conflict

A new spate of violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel erodes a ceasefire agreed in August.
October 30, 2011
A banner bearing an image of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit

Successful swap

The historic swap of Palestinian prisoners for a captive Israeli soldiers goes without a hitch.
October 18, 2011
Gilad Shalit

Imminent release

The captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may soon be freed under a prisoner exchange deal.
October 11, 2011
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mideast shake up

Syria's crackdown on demonstrators challenges the interests of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
September 23, 2011
Protesters with Turkish and Palestinian flags

Row escalates

The Turkish premier plans to send warships to protect humanitarian vessels from Israeli raids.
September 9, 2011
Police stand guard outside Islamic cultural center

Terror arrest

Police in Berlin arrest two men for plotting a bomb attack ahead of the 9/11 anniversary.
September 9, 2011
Flags of Israel and Turkey over a map of the Middle East

Diplomatic dilemma

The US plays catch-up as its allies, Israel and Turkey, become locked in an escalating crisis.
September 8, 2011
A rip developing between a Turkish and Israeli flag

Fighting talk

The Turkish prime minister accuses former allies Israel of behaving like a 'spoiled child.'
September 6, 2011
Mavi Marmara

Blame game

A UN report says both Israel and activists were at fault in a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
September 3, 2011
Argentinian born Maestro Daniel Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern-Divan Orchestra, during a concert at the Lucerne Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland, 21August 2007

Israeli-Palestinian music

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra overcomes political differences with a passion for music.
August 27, 2011
A damaged passenger bus after an attack in southern Israel

New al Qaeda threat?

The terror attacks on Israeli commuter buses raise the specter of a new al Qaeda group in Sinai.
August 19, 2011