Arab Spring Derailed
By Jamal Kanj Last week’s defection of the Syrian prime minister was a public relations blow to the regime of Bashar Al Assad, but had no other significance. In Syria, power is in the hand […]
Year: 2012
Brotherhood under Attack, Fears for Free Expression in Egypt
By Shahira Amin – Cairo The month-long suspension of a privately-owned Egyptian TV channel for “defamation and incitement to violence” has triggered an outcry in Egyptian media circles amid fears of regression in freedom of […]
Instability Reigns in Post-Gaddafi Libya
By Bernhard Schell A new report paints a rather gloomy picture of post-Gaddafi Libya: fighting between tribes, ethnic groups and rival militia has accounted for instability at a local level; and flare-ups continue to occur […]
PA: Israel Returned Wrong Body
Israel wrongly identified at least one of the bodies returned to the West Bank in May, the Palestinian Authority minister of justice said Wednesday. Israel in May returned the bodies of 91 Palestinians interred in […]
US Realists, Neocons and the War in Syria
By Ramzy Baroud In US political circles, the Syria conflict is increasingly being presented as a discussion pertaining to Israeli interests. This attitude is not substantially different from the way US politicians and media weighed […]
Palestinians Being Drawn into the Fight in Syria
By IRIN When mortar shells slammed into Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian camp, in early August, killing at least 20 people, many Palestinians in Syria saw it as a wake-up call. “It was the third time […]
Gaza Residents ‘Stranded Abroad’ as Egypt Denies Visas
A number of Palestinians say they are stranded abroad because Egypt has denied them transit visas to return to Gaza. Palestinians in Lebanon, Turkey, Libya and Kenya have contacted Ma’an, saying they were refused Egyptian […]
Shifting Truths in Sinai: Who Stands to Gain from Carnage?
By Ramzy Baroud Two Toyota Land Cruisers filled with about 15 well-built gunmen in ski masks and all-black outfits appear seemingly out of nowhere. Behind them is vast, open desert. They approach a group of […]
Egyptian Forces Kill ‘Five Fighters’ in Sinai
Five fighters have been killed in a joint military and police operation in the Sinai Peninsula, police sources said, as security operations continued a week after an attack on a police station that left 16 […]
West Bank Faces Impending Electricity Crisis
The general director of the Jerusalem Electricity Company on Monday called on the Palestinian Authority to intervene in an impending electricity crisis in the West Bank. Hisham al-Omari called on the PA to take action […]
‘Way It ‘spozed to Be’
By Jim Miles (Laurel E. Miller, Jeffrey Martini, F. Stephen Larrabee, Angel Rabasa, Stephanie Pezard, Julie E. Taylor, Tewodaj Mengistu. RAND National Defense Research Institute, 2012.) This monograph from the Rand, "a nonprofit institution that helps […]
Women Fight for Rights in New Egypt
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani – Cairo Throughout the course of Egypt’s January 25 Revolution, which culminated in the ouster of longstanding President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, female protesters stood on the […]
Israeli Soldier Avoids Manslaughter Charge
A defence attorney says Israel’s military prosecutor has dropped a manslaughter charge against a soldier suspected of killing a Palestinian mother and her daughter during Israel’s assault on Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009. Oded Savoray, […]
Hamas ‘Ready to Close Tunnels’ if Egypt Reopens Rafah
Hamas is prepared to shut down smuggling tunnels under its shared border if Egypt opens the Rafah crossing permanently, a senior Hamas official said Sunday. "The tunnels are a popular and compulsory way to lift […]
Ministry: 1,500 Return to Gaza via Rafah Crossing
Some 1,500 Palestinians returned to the Gaza Strip on Friday as Egypt’s border partially reopened after a four-day closure, the interior ministry in Gaza said. Maher Abu Sbeiha, director of crossings in the Hamas-run ministry, […]
US Adds Hezbollah to Syria Sanctions List
The US has denounced Hezbollah, the Lebanese political group, for backing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, and added it to a list of organisations under sanctions for their ties to the Syrian government. The US already classes […]
UN-Backed Rogue States Plan Syria’s Slaughter
By Felicity Arbuthnot – London ‘The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy.’- Former US Attorney General, Ramsey Clark. On 4th May 2012, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Chaired a Security […]
Incarcerated inside Israel: Palestinians Tortured, Isolated
By Graham Peebles Detention without trial, the presumption of guilt, denial of family visits, solitary confinement, torture, violent interrogation, and denial of access to appropriate health care, such is the Israeli judicial system and prison […]
Grace Halsell: De-bunker of Christian Zionist Doctrine
By Stuart Littlewood Not long ago I quoted American journalist Grace Halsell in an article about the damaging influence of the Scofield Bible, not realising how sorely she was made to suffer for setting out […]
Former Hunger Striker Bilal Diab Released
Former hunger striker Bilal Diab was released from Israeli jail to his home in the northern West Bank on Thursday, as part of an agreement to end his 77-day strike. Diab, 27, told reporters he […]
Children are in the Front Line of Israel
By Stephen McCloskey The Gaza Strip is inching toward a humanitarian crisis as Israel’s five year blockade of the territory has been exacerbated by a dispute over fuel supplies. Gaza’s young people are on the […]
Children are in the Front Line of Israel
By Stephen McCloskey The Gaza Strip is inching toward a humanitarian crisis as Israel’s five year blockade of the territory has been exacerbated by a dispute over fuel supplies. Gaza’s young people are on the […]
Romney’s Gaffes Show His Numbers Don’t Add up
By Mamoon Alabbasi – London US presidential candidate Mitt Romney ended a three-country world tour of Britain, Israel and Poland without appearing to have learned much from his overseas trip. Even in his attempts to […]
New Frontier in US Fundraising?
By Jamal Kanj Mitt Romney has just ended an international tour intended to prop his political credentials as a world leader. In the first leg of his trip, he angered the otherwise temperate Brits by […]
Swiss Experts Asked to Conduct Arafat Autopsy
Swiss experts have been invited to the West Bank to test Yasser Arafat’s remains for possible poisoning, the chief investigator looking into the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader has said. Tawfik Tirawi did not […]
Egypt’s President Fires Intelligence Chief
Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi has fired his spy chief Murad Muwafi in a major shake-up of military and intelligence ranks extending to the head of the Republican Guard and the governor of North Sinai. Wednesday’s decision […]
Neocons vs. the ‘Arab Spring’: Back on the Warpath
By Ramzy Baroud The neoconservatives are back with a vengeance. While popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries had briefly rendered them irrelevant in the region, Western intervention in Libya signaled a […]
Israel Itching for War
By Stuart Reigeluth -Brussels The EU seems oblivious to the fact that Tel Aviv is using the Syria violence to encourage disastrous regional conflict and divert attention from Palestine. The annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting was […]
Drone Strikes Very Much a Human Rights Issue
By Martin Khor – Geneva The use of drones by one state to kill people in other countries is fast emerging as an international human rights issue of serious public concern. This was evident in […]
Why Afghanistan Can’t Wait
By Kathy Kelly and Dr. Hakim – Kabul Two days ago, we spent three anxious hours in an outer waiting area of the ‘Non-Immigrant Visa’ section of the U.S. consulate here in Kabul, Afghanistan, waiting […]
