After a page calling for a mass march by Palestinians on the borders of Israel on May 15 was taken offline by Facebook, mirror sites with more than 3.5 million followers sprung up... Will the so-called "Facebook Intifada" tip the Middle East into further turmoil?

DUBAI --- Take a look at Barack Obama’s 2009 speech in Cairo. It was beautifully written and radiated good intentions. The U.S. government relied heavily on new media tools to disseminate it throughout the Arab world and beyond. Arab opinion of Obama improved significantly; and then it dropped like a rock.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein on Wednesday opined that Israel should not wait until September to announce annexation of the West Bank, but rather immediately, as well as initiate other measures, noting that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has "chosen a strategy of terror and unilateralism."

Obviously we have to be active on all fronts. The international media is a front. So you have the IDF Spokesman. You have the Ministry of Public Diplomacy. Everyone must do what they can to improve this situation. But it’s not that important.

Ertugrul Apakan, Turkey's ambassador to the UN, said here Thursday that his country has offered "unwavering support and determination" to help Palestine reach the goal of statehood, Xinhua reported.

Dozens of prominent Israeli academics, artists and other public figures will today protest against Israel's West Bank occupation and express support for a Palestinian plan to seek United Nations support for statehood.

The path to international recognition of Palestinian statehood by September - when the Palestinians plan to bring the matter before the UN General Assembly - seems clear. The question before Israel and its supporters who oppose such recognition is how to create a detour.

In the Middle East, perceptions are as important as realities. A notable change-of-mind occurred when a newspaper published an article by Richard Goldstone, who was the head of a UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) commission that accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in Gaza.