ISRAEL

• In the realm of possibility, two steps forward, one step back… while some parties in both the Palestinian and Israeli camps indicate a willingness to move toward reconciliation, others will continue to fight for the impossible, no matter what the cost in blood or tears shed ultimately shed as a result of their squabbles.

• Ariel Sharon has declared the coming year to be an unprecedented opportunity for peace with the Palestinians.

• It would seem that some American Christian churches are willing to put their money where their mouths are - not necessarily good news for Israel or for peace and understanding.

• In last Saturday’s Good News post, reader Nikita pointed us to a wonderful website called Israel2c, telling us about such things as a new Israeli fruit hybrid called a pomelit has been shown to lower cholesterol, and a breakthrough by an Israeli researcher who has discovered the cause of bad breath.

THE PALESTINIANS

• Speaking of conjecture, where there's a terrorist, there's a conspiracy theory to justify his existance (or lack thereof) - there’s a buzz amongst the Palenstinians to discover what really killed Arafat? Besides old age, a failing liver? That portait up in the attic that finally saw daylight?

• The Palestinian National Conservatory of Music sounds a bright tone for Palestinian children throughout the Middle East.

• In an interesting callback to the Israeli-Egyptian peace accords, Jimmy Carter is slated to supervise the Palestinian Authority’s elections on January 9th.

SYRIA & LEBANON

• Lest we forget those who have suffered anywhere, there are always the duties of memory as served by photography to remind us - Josee Lambert, a Canadian photojournalist and human rights activist, has put together a book of her documentary work in Southern Lebanon appropriately titled, “They Called Them Terrorists.”

• Lebanon remembers that the enemy of my enemy is my friend - opponents of the Syrian-backed government unite in common cause, despite their mutually antagonistic history.

EGYPT & ELSEWHERE

• Egypt’s long-standing ban against public protests has been broken by an anti-Mubarak demonstration calling for an end to his 23-year reign as President.

• Not all liberal literates in Egypt have been silenced by the last decade’s rising tide of Islamo-fascism, as proved by one brave woman’s bid for the Presidency.

• A push to raise the economic possibilities in the region saw fruition this week as Egypt and Israel sealed a $500 million dollar annual trade deal the US has been pushing for.

• Despite many Egyptians’ anger over the release back to Israel of Azzam Azzam, the swap of the Israeli Druze for a group of Egyptian students is another sign of the warming trend between Israel and Egypt.