The Obama administration's failure to induce Israel to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank has led Western diplomats to worry that the continued settlement expansion may soon push the possibility of a two-state solution over the brink. But the focus on a settlement freeze should not detract attention from...

JERUSALEM - In Haifa earlier this month, an Israeli colonel identified as "Yossi A." said repeatedly that "in a war zone there are no civilians." The colonel, who drafted operating regulations for military bulldozers, was testifying in a civil trial about the death of Rachel Corrie, an American activist killed...

In the shadow of his ruined home, north of Gaza City, Hashem al-Ansari lit a small fire and made me tea. His family's blasted house looked just as it did when the war ended on January 18. Israel's land, sea and air blockade means the al-Ansaris can't get the concrete...