Palestinian President Abbas's plan to seek statehood status at the UN next week has spurred new crisis-diplomacy efforts, but political pressures on all sides could make a deal hard to come by, says analyst Ziad Asali.

The Washington Post's Colum Lynch analyzes the Palestinian quest for UN state recognition, which highlights the role of the international organization despite its inability to resolve the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

Daniel Senor states, "New York's special congressional election on Tuesday was the first electoral outcome directly affected by President Obama's Israel policy."

Robert Danin argues that by adopting a publicly confrontational approach, the Palestinians risk undermining the goodwill and security that Fayyad's nation-building program has so painstakingly created.

With the upcoming vote at the United Nations on Palestinian statehood, Elliott Abrams urges Congress to reexamine the U.S. aid program to the Palestinian Authority in his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The recent mob attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo spotlights the fragility of Israel-Egypt relations, but the Egyptian military will strive to restore the peace between the two nations, says former U.S. ambassador Frank G. Wisner.

Elliott Abrams comments on the UN report on the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident.

The recent flare up of hostilities along the Israel-Egypt border signals a hardening of Egypt's stance toward Israel and further difficulties for the sluggish Mideast peace process, says expert David Makovsky.

The Middle East Quartet (United Nations, Russian Federation, United States, and European Union) issued this statement, regarding Israel's planning of construction in the West Bank, on August 16, 2011.

Elliott Abrams argues that after thirty months of Obama Middle East policy, the popularity and prestige of the United States have declined and negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians appear to be dead in the water.

In his piece for Aviation Week, David Eshel looks at Israel's new multiyear defense plan, which covers such emerging concerns as potential threats from the Arab Spring, BMD, and cyberwarfare.

Two recent books on the Israeli settlements explore their corrosive effect on Zionism and Israeli society.

Elliott Abrams discusses a recent letter from a group of American leaders urging President Obama to adopt a Middle East policy far more critical of Israel.

Elliott Abrams says that in a week of drama between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was notably absent from the scene.

In light of the region's latest agitations, former ambassador Hajrudin Somun reviews the history of Western proposals to draw and redraw Middle East borders.

In this piece for Foreign Policy, Senior Research Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine Hussein Ibish looks at the Palestinians concerns about recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, specifically in response to Prime Minister Netanyahu's increasing demand for Israel's recognition as a prerequisite to peace.

Fareed Zakaria, a frequent opinion writer for the Washington Post, argues that it is Prime Minister Netanyahu and not so much President Obama, who has dramatically shifted his foreign policy strategy.

In this piece for The New Republic, William Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and contributing editor, looks at the diverging priorities and strained relationship between Netanyahu and Obama.

Tim Lister, a writer for CNN, looks at the significance of the change to Israel's border after the Six Day War in 1967.