We have just passed the second anniversary of 'Operation Cast Lead', in which for many it seemed that the holiday period was used as a convenient cover for launching the attack on Gaza which led to 1400 Palestinian deaths, most of them civilians and one-third children. Most of the buildings - homes, shops, factories - destroyed on that occasion remain so, due to the blockade on building materials and many other items entering Gaza.

Meanwhile attempts to bring together the Palestinians and the right-wing government brought to power by last year's election in Israel in peace talks have foundered on Israeli unwillingness to end the building of settlements on Palestinian land. This despite enormous bribes in terms of $3bn worth of fighter planes plus other inducements being offered by the Obama administration in return for just three months extension of a freeze which was in any case honoured as much in the breach as the observance.

By Has South Africa joined the United States of America and European countries in providing Israel with "geopolitical insulation"? This question arises against the backdrop of an intense week during which international media attention was focused on whether a senior Israeli politician faced the prospect of being arrested upon her travel to South Africa. It also arises because of a perception that the visit by Tzipi Livni had been planned months ago and would only proceed without hitch if the Pretoria government had given it a green light.

The (now cancelled) visit by Israel's leader of the opposition and former foreign minister led to charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity being laid against Livni before the National Director of Public Prosecutions. This is unprecedented in South African history and presents numerous challenges to the judiciary of the country.

The political crisis over democratic secession in the mineral rich West African state of the Ivory Coast continues to cause agitation five weeks after the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to hand over power to his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. Despite unprecedented levels of pressure from the international community, the risk of re-igniting civil war and being ousted by force, Gbagbo, supported by the Ivorian constitutional court, is holding firm to claims of electoral fraud. Following an independent commission, the UN, the African Union and the US recognised Ouattara as the election winner. The continuing standoff is being viewed from a variety of angles; by elements of the international community as a challenge to its authority and credibility and as a test case for appropriate future African response to ensuring electoral democracy is upheld, but also through the lens of colonialism's legacy in the region.

After the second round results were revealed, French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, bluntly gave Gbagbo two days to hand over the reins and a senior US State Department official asserted he had 'limited time' to listen carefully to what they would 'make him understand'. British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, later commented that Gbabgbo "should not underestimate the determination of the international community that the will of the people of that country should be recognised", thus framing any international intervention within the context of democracy and the rule of law. He also stated that the UK would back the use of force and that a British military liaison officer had already been deployed to work on various contingencies with the French.

By Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The University of Johannesburg's Senate will next week meet to decide whether to end its relationship with an Israeli institution, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, on the grounds of that university's active support for and involvement in the Israeli military. Archbishop Desmond Tutu supports the move. He explains why

'The temptation in our situation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine to a state of their own.

We can easily be enticed to read reconciliation and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. Having achieved our own freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face. Yet we would be less than human if we did so. It behoves all South Africans, themselves erstwhile beneficiaries of generous international support, to stand up and be counted among those contributing actively to the cause of freedom and justice." - Nelson Mandela, December 4 1997