The Washington Institute's Terrorism Studies Program has produced this guide to the Palestinian Legislative Council, with biographical information and other data on all PLC members, including Hamas legislators elected in January 2006.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week invited Palestinian leaders to return to the bargaining table. But he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may lack the necessary political capital to change the current tenor of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Henry Siegman, a leading expert on Israeli-Palestinian affairs, says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s recent speech reflected a “surprisingly radical change in tone,” but in substance “it’s quite true there was very little new.”

The Palestinian Authority is about to get a new government. The move could spell good news for the region, and might just strengthen Washington’s quest to build a coalition to contain Iranian designs.   

This report from Human Rights Watch is based on field research conducted in the West Bank and Gaza in November 2005 and early 2006 and documents dozens of cases of violence against Palestinian women and girls.

A joint poll by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah examines Israelis’ and Palestinians’ attitudes on the conflict in the aftermath of the second war in Lebanon. It tracks both publics’ attitudes regarding the resumption of a political process and their assessments of the impact of the war on the propensity for further violence in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

Khalil Shikaki, a leading Palestinian political expert, says recent polling among Palestinians shows most support Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel in advance of negotiations, but a great majority indicate they would back a peace agreement setting up a two-state situation.

Talks aimed at forming a Palestinian national unity government remain stuck on the issue of recognizing Israel, though both sides say they intend to continue trying for an accord this week.

This Human Rights Watch report documents the deterioration in the security of the estimated 34,000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. Since then, militant groups have targeted Iraqi Palestinians and have evicted them from their homes, largely because of the benefits these refugees received from Saddam Hussein’s government.

While the war raged in Lebanon, the other theater in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Gaza, was often overlooked. Though a cease-fire has stopped the fighting in the north, violence continues in Gaza. But Palestinian officials may form a "national unity" government as a result.

From his exile in Syria, Khaled Meshal, the top ranked member of Hamas, exercises leadership and serves as the group's diplomatic envoy.

Israeli forces enter Lebanon as back-and-forth missile attacks between Hezbollah and Israel escalate. EU and UN officials have called for the deployment of international peacekeepers to defuse the crisis.

David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy talks to CFR.org's Esther Pan about the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.

Violence worsens as Israeli forces move deeper into Palestinian territories in search of an Israeli soldier held by militants. Regional efforts to secure the soldier's release have had little effect as Palestinians continue launching rockets at Israel and the Israeli government escalates its military campaign.

Steven Simon, a leading Middle East expert, says the crisis over the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants may drag on for some time because of the "two new and essentially weak governments." He says Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will not negotiate a prisoner exchange and the Hamas leadership is fractured and unlikely to turn over the prisoner unconditionally.

The UN Human Rights Council Decision 1/106 regarding the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories was adopted on June 30, 2006.

Israeli forces have broadened their ground and air assault from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, where they arrested some dozen Hamas cabinet ministers and lawmakers. The operation came as Palestinian factions neared agreement on an approach to peace talks that could commit Hamas to an implicit recognition of Israel's right to exist.

CFR Mideast expert Henry Siegman says the fate of the kidnapped Israeli soldier could have a major impact on the future of the Palestinian government.