Newsweek's Lead Story: How Bush Meets with Crisis in the Middle East

They're certainly kinder to him in this article than I would be. I see no evidence whatsoever that he has met this crisis head on or done more than effectively slap Israel's PM Olmert on the back and proclaim, "Way to go!" If this is crisis management, my five-year-old puppy can do better (and has as a peacemaker by far; Ben - named for the Jewish name for thoughtful nomad - is a lover not a biter).

A more important piece, IMHO, is Christopher Dickey's Failed Strategies in the Middle East. Note this because I think it's particularly telling since most of them are prisoners of politics than of war:

...there are 10,000 Palestinians being held by Israel. Just about every Palestinian family has someone or knows someone in prison, and nobody has been able to get the Israelis to let them go. Soft-spoken Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas pleaded for the release of these men, women and children. But Israel ignored him—and that’s one reason Hamas was elected to rule the Palestinian territories. Of course, Hamas had even less of a chance to free the detainees through negotiations.