Analysts question timing of Syria raid
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A cross-border raid into Syria by U.S. forces in Iraq, and a subsequent stonewalling by U.S. officials unwilling to divulge details, has led to rampant speculation among U.S. analysts about the origins and meaning of the attack. Syrian villagers stand near and mourn for the bodies before a mass funeral for...Egypt’s ruling party in free fall
CAIRO (IPS) — A high-ranking member of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is facing trial on charges of arranging the murder of a Lebanese pop singer. The case, along with a host of other public grievances, has badly tarnished the NDP's reputation ahead of an upcoming party conference. Egyptian textile workers...Yemen holding more than 1,000 political prisoners
Yemen holding more than 1,000 political prisoners By Zainab Mineeia WASHINGTON (IPS) — A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) urges Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to launch an independent commission to investigate arbitrary arrests and disappearances and to hold those responsible to account. In the 50-page report...Israel targets Palestinian students
GAZA CITY (IPS) - The letter of acceptance that 28-year-old Hazem Hussain got for a business graduate program in a Californian university once brought joy. Now he does not know what to do with it. He has admission, and a visa to the U.S., but the Israelis will not let him leave. "I have tried to get out through every means possible...Two Palestinian girls detained in Israel without trial for months
On the night of June 5, someone knocked on the door of the Salah house in Khader, near Bethlehem. Had it not been 2 a.m., nobody in the family would even have been suspicious. Nevertheless, said Siham Salah, her eldest daughter, Salwa, opened the door. "Soldiers and a officer entered," Siham related. "They sat down calmly and began...Syria establishes full diplomatic relations with Lebanon
BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a presidential decree on Tuesday ordering the establishment of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon and announcing the opening of an embassy-level diplomatic mission in Beirut, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency. Presidential Decree Number 358 declared that...Extremist West Bank settlers help stir Acre violence
Acre, a mixed city of approximately 52,000 people in northern Israel, recently witnessed four days of violent clashes between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israeli Jewish residents. Israeli soldiers inspect a damaged Palestinian car after an assault by Jewish settlers during olive harvest in the West Bank village of Izmut...Iraqi officials to probe attacks on Christians
MOSUL (Reuters) — Iraq's government pledged this week to send senior officials to northern Iraq to tackle violence against Christians which has led thousands to flee their homes fearing for their lives. "The cabinet stressed the need to move quickly to support the security effort with intensive military operations to restore security...Anger approaches boiling point
CAIRO (IPS) — Public disaffection with the government appears to have reached an all-time high. "There's no denying that popular anger towards the government is rising across the board," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, assistant director at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. "The political friction...As violence drops, Iraqi tribes begin to make amends
Baghdad (TCSM) — Tears rarely roll down Iraqi farmer Hassan Mohammed Hamoud's proud, sun-creased face. But as this Shi'a father describes his losses to war, the impact overwhelms him: a brother, two sons, two nephews, all killed by Sunni militant neighbors during the peak of sectarian violence in 2006. A boy cries beside...Lebanon in an uneasy alliance with Syria
BEIRUT (IPS) — Small countries right next to one another, Syria and Lebanon seem light years apart. The two countries have shared a rocky relationship for decades, characterized mainly by Syrian dominance. Once again this relationship appears to be put to the test as reports of Syrian deployment on Lebanon's borders abound....Torture ‘routine’ in Jordanian prisons
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A new report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the Jordanian authorities of routine and widespread torture of prisoners throughout the country, and calls for an end to the abuses. According to the 95-page report, based on interviews with 110 random prisoners in several locations in 2007 and...Palestine: Where water leaves a bitter taste
BARCELONA (IPS) — Palestinian villagers drink unsafe agricultural water rather than trusting water provided by an Israeli company, says Buthaina Mizyed, who has worked in Arraneh village near the conflict-laden West Bank city of Jenin. A Palestinian villager of the Nawajah clan draws water from a well close to the West Bank...U.S. urged to share more of refugee burden
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Despite a marked increase in the number of Iraqi refugees admitted into the United States, experts on Iraq and human rights and refugee organizations are calling on Washington to open the door wider amid fears that returning home remains dangerous for many displaced Iraqis. The U.S. government has met its target...Breaking the silence
RAMALLAH (IPS) — An Israeli police commander has called them "provocateurs," "militants," and, "lawbreakers." Earlier in the year the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) decided that their presence in the city of Hebron, 30km south of Jerusalem in the Palestinian West Bank, constituted a security threat and banned them from the city,......
Brief talks with Syria spur speculation
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A series of meetings between U.S. and Syrian diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, at the United Nations over the past week is stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward engaging Damascus. Instead of focusing on specific...Final hours find newly conciliatory Olmert
Olmert told the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that Israel would need to end its 41-year occupation of the West Bank and also give up most of its territory in East Jerusalem to the 270,000 Palestinians who live there.WASHINGTON (IPS) — In an interview with a newspaper on the eve of the Jewish holidays, outgoing......
At the Palestinian camp, bombing is a way of life
BEIRUT (IPS) — A bomb blast at the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp as this IPS correspondent was visiting, comes as yet another reminder of the precarious peace in these places. Leading into Ain el-Helweh, on the outskirts of the southern city Sidon, this correspondent saw a large Israeli jeep strategically parked at a...Palestinian economy: From bad to wretched
The numbers are grim, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian economy is in one of its most wretched states, and the disaster is mostly, if not entirely, manmade, thus reversible. The World Bank made no secret of the fact that Israeli restrictions are largely to blame, as poverty rates in the Gaza Strip and West...Turning the Palestinian cause into Medusa
In Greek mythology, there is a famous story about the beautiful Medusa who was turned into a horrific monster with hair of serpents. The transformation came about as "punishment" by the goddess Athena after the sea god Poseidon raped Medusa at Athena's sacred temple. The story goes on to say that anyone who looked...Incoherent agreement spells the way forward
BEIRUT (IPS) — The Lebanese unity government has finally came to terms with its ministerial declaration after weeks of political haggling. What promises and threats does the incoherent declaration hold for Lebanon in a polarized local and regional context? "The ministerial declaration is an impossible document that carries many......
Racism, propaganda, and the Palestinian right of return
Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, has recently issued statements in accordance with a framework agreement reached with Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, surrendering the inalienable right to return of roughly five million Palestinians to their land and homes that they were driven from primarily between the years of...
Car bomb, ambush at U.S. Embassy in Yemen, 16 dead
September 19th, 20080 SAN'A — Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said. The U.S. said no Americans were hurt. Multiple explosions rang out outside the......
Five ex-secretaries of state urge talks with Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — Five former secretaries of state, gathering to give their best advice to the next president, agreed Monday that the United States should talk to Iran. The wide-ranging, 90-minute session in a packed auditorium at The George Washington University, produced exceptional unity among Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell,...Slow Sunni integration could derail Iraq successes
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Amid reports that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has launched a campaign to disband the so-called Awakening Movement, or Sahwa, concerns among analysts and policy makers here is growing that such an effort could result in a resumption of sectarian violence, if not civil war. Only a......