America and Israel: the end of a special relationship

Israeli tanks left the Gaza Strip yesterday after the most violent clash in the Hamas-ruled enclave in 14 months ended with two soldiers and at least one Palestinian killed. The bloodshed followed weeks of unrest as attempts to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations stalled.

Last night Arab League officials warned of a complete failure in the peace process, and spoke of alternative plans to "face Israel". Israel's "inner cabinet" discussed how to rescue its relations with the United States after the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was snubbed by a frustrated Barack Obama in Washington last week. More BS?

UK special relationship with US is over, say MPs
MPs today urged the government to adopt a more hard-headed approach towards the US and avoid the phrase "the special relationship" as Britain's influence over America was likely to diminish.

The 14-member cross-party foreign affairs committee said that the phrase coined by Winston Churchill more than 60 years ago no longer reflects political reality and should be dropped.

"The use of the phrase 'the special relationship' in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided," the committee said. "The overuse of the phrase by some politicians and many in the media serves simultaneously to devalue its meaning and to raise unrealistic expectations about the benefits the relationship can deliver to the UK."