As oppressive Arab regimes totter and topple under the pressure of democratization movements, Israel needs to engage directly with the region’s increasingly politically empowered peoples. But can Israel implement an effective public diplomacy and harness “soft power” with the citizenry of its neighborhood? The answer must be yes; but Israeli public diplomacy strategy and analysis over the past decade provide little guidance for outreach to Arab publics.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni dismissed a purported plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a new peace initiative, saying on Sunday that the premier's attitude toward peace talks showed an utter lack of leadership.

A conference that opened in Sderot Monday, called 'Gaza-Sderot', brought a number of Palestinian residents of the Strip to the nearby southern town, where they stayed the night. The delegation was meant to include 30 people, but only 15 succeeded in gaining entry into Israel after fervent security measures.

Glued to television sets in Ramallah’s shisha cafes, Palestinians have been watching al-Jazeera television attentively as Egyptian people rise up from Alexandria to Cairo. Looking on with admiration as tens of thousands fill the streets during the January 28th “Day of Rage”, cheers erupt through the cafes with every police retreat and every Molotov cocktail that lands on security vehicles.

A series of cables released today reveal that U.S. diplomats were alarmed by Brazil's forays into Mideast diplomacy, long before last year's unsuccessful nuclear deal with Iran and the recognition of the Palestinian state.

Cries for President Hosni Mubarak's ouster in Egypt are being echoed in Jordan with antigovernment protests and a "day of rage" planned for Syria this Friday. But in the Palestinian territories, it's the silence that is most notable.

Palestinians watched anxiously as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has helped broker Middle East peace talks for the past 20 years, said yesterday he won’t run for another term. Neither the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, nor its president, Mahmoud Abbas, has said anything official about the weeklong protests that challenged Mubarak’s rule, calling the situation too volatile.

Al-Jazeera has done a great service to Israelis, Palestinians: What our leaders have been hesitant to tell us, has been done for them...the Al-Jazeera leaks have been a remarkable and brilliant exercise in public diplomacy.