In the Washington Post, Griff Witte reports that Condoleezza Rice has left Israel without having negotiated a halt to settlement building in occupied Palestinian land (1). An opinon in the Daily Star by Rami Khouri examines what a halt on settlement activity could do for Palestinian confidence (4). In BitterLemons, Safwat Kahlout argues that Hamas is gaining strength thanks to the blunders of its foes (5). A poll in BBC, reported on by Haaretz, shows Iran as the only country viewed more negatively than Israel (8). Also in Haaretz, an Uzi Benziman opinion discusses the motivation of settlers (9).