Surrounded by a forbidding wall, watchtowers, and deadly buffer zones, I entered with a hard-to-obtain visa at the Erez crossing - iron gates, an interrogation by bored young immigration officers and scanners. On the other side is a kilometer-long caged walkway that leads into this part of Palestine, trapped between Israel, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and the general indifference of the international community.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is heading for a shock defeat at elections on Aug. 21, a new opinion poll showed on Saturday, as government infighting and damaging cabinet leaks threatened to derail her campaign.