UN tribunal for Lebanon frees Hariri suspects
May 2nd, 20090 Supporters of newly released prisoner Ali Hajj (C), former police chief, carry him during a welcome ceremony to mark his release, in Beirut April 29, 2009. REUTERS BEIRUT — Lebanese officials have released four generals held without charge since 2005 over the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former prime...
Gazans dying due to border closings
May 2nd, 20090 Palestinians build a house with clay in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip April 29, 2009. More than three months since the end of an Israeli military onslaught which killed hundreds of Palestinians and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, the people of Gaza are still waiting for the reconstruction materials they need to...Gaza resistance destroys Fatah faction
A Palestinian man paints portraits of late Fatah leaders on a wall in Gaza City. CAIRO — The recent onslaught against the Gaza Strip — and Israel's failure to achieve its military objectives there — left Palestinian resistance group Hamas politically stronger than ever. Concurrently, it dealt a possible death blow to the...Dubious claims spark row with Hizbullah
Hizbullah chief Hasan Nasrallah CAIRO — Egyptian authorities announced earlier this month the discovery of a Hizbullah "cell" allegedly planning to carry out violent operations in Egypt. Although Hizbullah chief Hasan Nasrallah insists the group was only tasked to assist the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the government has...
Why one state works
April 25th, 20090 A Palestinian protester holds up a Palestinian flag during a demonstration against the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Nilin April 21, 2009. REUTERS/Fadi Arouri The movement for a one state solution in Palestine has been acquiring momentum and appeal, not least evidenced by growing conference meetings in...
A new kind of war in Iraq
April 25th, 20090 Everyone knows the analogy of the beehive. When it is goaded, countless bees emerge, attacking the tormentor. Right now in Iraq, the formerly U.S.-backed al-Sahwa (Sons of Iraq) Sunni militia, ripe with broken promises from both the occupiers of their country and the Iraqi government that they would be given respect and jobs, have gone...
West Bank a time bomb waiting to explode
April 18th, 20090 RAMALLAH — Tension between Israel and Palestinians is rising sharply as reflected in a number of increasingly bloody and violent confrontations since Israel's devastating war in Gaza at the beginning of the year. Palestinians take part in a protest in the West Bank city of Nablus April 16, 2009, calling for the release of...
Israel demands recognition as “Jewish state” before negotiating
April 18th, 20090 Analysts say conditioning peace talks on new demand will thwart progress Israel's prime minister has told a visiting U.S. envoy that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" before it will discuss establishing an independent Palestinian state. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets U.S....
Why Arabs are backing Sudan’s Bashir
April 18th, 20090 Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, despite being indicted on March 4 on seven counts of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, was given a "hero's welcome" by the Arab League Summit hosted by Qatar last week. The 22 nations warmly supported Al Bashir with a resolution opposing the...“Animal Farm” finds a Palestinian stage
Palestinian actors perform in a theater production of George Orwell's 1945 satiric novel "Animal Farm," at the Freedom Theater in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin last month. RAMALLAH — "Intifada," scream the animals as they chase Jones from the farm. Strobe lights flash and loud music blares as the packed audience sits...After army crackdown in Bekaa, some may end support for Hizbullah
After supporting an Army crackdown against lawlessness in the Bekaa Valley, the Shi'a organization faces a backlash from angry clan members ahead of June elections. Relatives carry the coffin of one of three soldiers during a funeral in Al-Abdeh village in north Lebanon on April 14. Four Lebanese soldiers were killed when...Israel investigated, but will it repent?
Any variation of the words "Palestine" and "massacre" are sure to yield millions of results on major search engines on the World Wide Web. These results are largely in reference to hundreds of different dates and events in which numerous Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army or settlers. But references to massacres of similar...U.N. investigation into Gaza war crimes launched
The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) this week announced the formation of a U.N. fact-finding mission to investigate war crimes during the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. The appointment of South African judge Richard Goldstone, the chief U.N. prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former...Camp David Accord: 30 years later
CAIRO — Egyptian and Israeli officials celebrated the anniversary of the Camp David peace agreement last week. The agreement normalized relations between the two former adversaries 30 years earlier on Mar. 26. Opposition leaders, however, are calling for a suspension of the treaty, which they say fails to serve Egyptian...Sectarian tension on Bahrain’s streets
MALIKIYA, Bahrain — It was just another night in this small Shi'a Muslim village on the Persian Gulf. A mattress and chairs were set on fire in the street. The police shot tear gas canisters at the crowds. Neighborhood children taunted the police. The police fired more tear gas. There were smiles all around, not on the faces of the......
Al-Maliki draws U.S. troops into crackdown on Sunnis
WASHINGTON — When U.S. troops and Apache helicopters joined Iraqi forces in putting down an uprising by Sunni "Sons of Iraq" militiamen in central Baghdad last weekend, it was a preview of the kind of combat the U.S. military is likely to see increasingly over the next three years unless a policy decision is made in Washington to avoid...Israel has no intention of granting a Palestinian state
Let us get one thing perfectly straight. If the wholesale mutilation and degradation of the Gaza Strip is going to continue; if Israel's will is at one with that of the United States; if the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and all the international legal agencies and organizations spread across the globe are going to......
Syrian actor who played Abu Antar dies
March 31st, 20090 Syrian actor Naji Jaber Syrian actor Naji Jaber, best known as Abu Antar, died Monday after a long battle with cancer, according to Syria’s official SANA news agency. He was 64. Jaber performed as Abu Antar alongside Duraid Lahham’s famous Ghawwar character in countless films, plays and television series beginning in...
Murders at Mieh Meih Palestinian refugee camp
March 28th, 20090 Mieh Mieh Palestinian Camp, Sidon — Kamal Medhat, 58, known in Lebanon's Palestinian camps affectionately as "Kamal Naji," a senior member of the Palestinian Fatah movement, was killed exiting Mieh Meih Camp by a 25-30 kilogram bomb on Monday. The bomb was hidden in a small roadside shed between two checkpoints, one manned by the...Pyramids may rise above the recession
CAIRO (IPS) — When tourism officials met at the start of the year to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on Egypt's tourism industry, the prognosis looked bleak. But now, three months into 2009, a better picture is emerging — and some experts believe the battened-down sector can weather the storm. "Everyone has...The Middle East’s first theme park opens in Kuwait
JAHRA, KUWAIT — More than 700 guests were invited to enjoy the grand opening of THE 99 Village theme park conducted under sunny skies and moderate temperatures that seemed designed to welcome Kuwait's newest family entertainment venue. Ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of The 99 Village theme park. In addition......
Israeli soldiers expose atrocities in Gaza
March 21st, 20090 JERUSALEM (IPS) — Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers who took part in the recent war in Gaza, Israel is being confronted directly with the serious charge that permitted rules of engagement allowed for the killing of Palestinian civilians and widespread destruction of Palestinian property. A Palestinian boy stands in...Israelis using ‘excessive’ force against protesters
RAMALLAH (IPS) — The critical wounding of a U.S. activist has highlighted the excessive use of force by Israeli forces. The activist, Tristan Anderson, 38, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the Palestinian West Bank last week. He remains in intensive care in Tel......
Iraq: Pulling out or digging in?
March 14th, 20090 A lot of Americans who voted for candidate Barack Obama because of his promises to end George Bush's war in Iraq are feeling dismayed, or even betrayed. Iraqi policemen frisk tribal sheikhs before entering a reconciliation meeting in Baghdad March 8, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen During the election campaign, Obama vowed to...
In ruins for 18 months, a Palestinian enclave languishes in disrepair
March 14th, 20090 NAHR ALBARED REFUGEE CAMP, LEBANON — Rebuilding Gaza isn't the only effort under way to improve the Palestinians' plight. Eighteen months after it was wrecked in fighting between the Lebanese Army and Islamist militants, this impoverished refugee camp is just beginning to be put back together again in a project hampered by a......