Neither success nor failure is inevitable. But this much we know: If we do not make the attempt, then failure is guaranteed. If both sides do not commit to these talks in earnest, then long-standing conflict will only continue to fester...

The United States may offer an arms package to compensate for the security risk Israel would face including additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Jets and additional missile defense systems.

Netanyahu noted that the outcome of the talks depends also on the willingness of the Palestinians to be reasonable. He said,

I hope to find a courageous partner as Begin found in [Egyptian president Anwar] Sadat.

The Lebanon-based Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah and the Syrian army have initiated a significant military cooperation in joint preparation for the possibility of a future armed conflict with Israel, the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai reported on Monday.

... Israel was ready to implement a plan to destroy within four hours all Lebanese military infrastructure, including army bases and offices, should a similar confrontation occur in the future.

On Sept. 2 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host the first direct Israel-Palestinian negotiating session between the parties.

The meeting will serve to "re-launch direct negotiations to resolve all final-status issues which we believe we can complete in one year," Clinton said.

Today's Middle East, he says, reflects two developments. One is the rise of Iran and militant Islam since the 1979 revolution, which led to al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. The other development is the multiplying threat of missile warfare.

"We continue to think that this is the right time and that we have in fact appropriately paved the ground for successful direct negotiations... We'll see if we can get both leaders to yes."

Mr Assad and King Abdullah are thought to have been instrumental in ending the five months of deadlock which preceded the formation of Lebanon's unity government - which includes Hezbollah - last November

Israel has long feared that any strike on Iran would result in counterattacks against the Israeli home front by Iranian proxies, including Hezbollah to the north and Hamas in Gaza toward the south.

Israeli military officials said the ship's captain informed Israel he was heading for the Egyptian port. Egypt had promised to transfer the ship's supplies to Gaza if the vessel docked there.

Some believe there are two reasons for Obama's change of heart -- money and politics...Republicans have used Obama's treatment of Netanyahu as a campaign issue against Democrats.

The two leaders will discuss several important issues:

- Stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons

- US sanctions against Iran

- Creation of a Palestinian state

- Freezing Jewish settlements

- Aid to Gaza

Sources said Mr Oren told the meeting: "There is no crisis in Israel-US relations because in a crisis there are ups and downs. [Instead] relations are in a state of tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart."

The gathering storm in the Middle East is gaining momentum. War clouds are on the horizon and, as with conditions prior to World War I, all it takes for explosive action to commence is a trigger.

Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships...

Saudi Arabia has practiced standing down its anti-aircraft systems to allow Israeli warplanes passage on their way to attack Iran's nuclear installations, a British newspaper reported on Saturday.

An an unnamed U.S. defense source in the area said that this arrangement has been done with the agreement of the [U.S.] State Department.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas chief in Gaza, told WND he believes a Middle East confrontation is likely, possibly in the next few months.

"You don't need to be a fortuneteller to see that Israel is planning something soon."

"Are we going to remain silent over the murder of nine people? We can't turn a blind eye to this banditry in international waters," Erdogan told the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum. "From now on, this can't continue as it is."

No ruling Arab leader is as popular as the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose discourse amounts to calls for a jihad against Israel.

"The heart of humanity has taken one of her heaviest wounds in history."

"Bloody massacre" … "spilling the blood of innocent humans"

"Today is a turning point in history … Nothing will ever be the same again."

An Israeli government spokesman said that its troops were attacked with knives and metal pipes as they attempted to board one of the ships from a helicopter. He said that shooting started when one of the civilians made a grab for a soldier’s gun.

On a visit to Saudi Arabia Mashaei claimed that the annihilation of Israel should be a global goal. He told Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that "the corrupt and criminal Zionist regime is harming not only the Arab and Islamic world, but all of humanity."

The minister stressed that the exercise was an annual and routine affair that was not linked in any way to fears of looming war.