TERROR IN TEL AVIV – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  A terror attack on a bus in Tel Aviv today has further complicated efforts to arrive at a ceasefire in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

Terrorists detonated an explosive device on a public bus on Tel Aviv's Shaul Hamelech Street around noon Wednesday. A total of 21 people were injured the attack.

One person was severely injured, one moderately and one light to moderately, according to a spokesperson from the city's Ichilov Hospital. The remainder of the casualties were lightly injured or suffering shock.

While Hamas has not formally taken responsibility for the attack, it has praised it.

Diplomatic "efforts" are ongoing to produce a ceasefire, but this latest event will not help matters.  Should the current round of efforts fail, almost anything can happen, it being the Mideast.

One side effect of the conflict is to remove Turkey as a major diplomatic intermediary in the region.  At one time Turkey was seen as an honest broker, who could deal with both Israel and the Arab countries.  That was then, this is now.  But Turkey's Islamist government – which has, by the way, imprisoned more journalists than any government except China's – has made so many hateful anti-Israel statements that it has effectively mouthed itself out of its former role.  It is a deserved fate.

We'll watch this hour by hour to see if the Mideast can be calmed, or whether we're in for another major war.

November 21,  2012