Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Mideast for his highly anticipated visit (1) (2) (3). An article in The Guardian looks at the West Bank village of Nu'man, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation barrier (4). In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer assesses cease-fire terms recently proposed by Hamas leaders (5). Senior Israeli officials express concern over the shifts in the state of the U.S.-Israel relationship under the new governments in both countries (8). The Israeli organization Peace Now petitions the High Court of Justice for an immediate cessation of settlement construction in the West Bank settlement of Halamish - Neve Tzu (9). Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad calls for an end to land expropriation in the "E1" area near Jerusalem (11).