Lebanese protest as fate of port explosion probe hangs in balance
January 29th, 20230 BEIRUT – More than 200 people protested outside Lebanon's justice palace on Thursday over efforts to derail an investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion, as top judges cancelled a meeting to discuss the fate of the inquiry. Judge Tarek Bitar announced on Monday he was resuming his investigation into the blast that...
U.S. concerned over Israeli raid against Palestinian camp ahead of Blinken visit
January 27th, 20230 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington is concerned the security situation between the Israelis and Palestinians could worsen ahead of a visit to the Middle East by Secretary of State Antony Blinken starting on Sunday, a U.S. official said, after a deadly raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The top U.S. diplomat...
Jenin resists: Israeli raid at Palestinian refugee camp kills 10, injures dozens
January 26th, 20230 At least 10 Palestinians were killed Thursday during an Israeli raid at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian health ministry, nine Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces, including an elderly woman, and at least 20 others were seriously wounded. At least four people were in critical...
Saudi foreign minister sees progress to end Yemen conflict
January 22nd, 20230 On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said progress was being made towards ending the Yemen conflict, in which Riyadh leads a military coalition, but more work was needed, including reinstating a truce and transitioning to a permanent ceasefire. A U.N.-brokered truce deal first agreed to last April, and which expired in...
U.S. senators visit Israel, ask not to meet with far-right ministers
January 20th, 20230 According to an Israeli official, a delegation of U.S. senators arrived in Israel on Tuesday, asking not to meet with far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, along with any other members of their hardline factions. Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen’s office made the request. Rosen co-leads the bipartisan delegation...
Netanyahu says he and White House’s Sullivan discussed prospect of relationship with Saudi Arabia
January 20th, 20230 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hosting his first senior member of President Biden's administration on Thursday, said they had discussed prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Visiting White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also heard from the Palestinians that their hopes of...
Arab normalizers face dilemma as Israel goes to the far right
January 16th, 20230 Israel's sharp tilt to what is likely to be the most hard right government in its history puts its new Arab allies in the awkward position of having to deal with ultra-nationalists while trying to do more than just pay lip service to the Palestinian cause. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, sworn in two weeks ago, includes...
Former Lebanese Parliament Speaker Hussein al-Husseini, architect of Tiaf Peace Accord, dies at 86
January 14th, 20230 Lebanese Shi'a politician Hussein al-Husseini, a former parliament speaker who was an architect of the peace agreement ending the 1975-90 civil war, died on Wednesday aged 86. Husseini, speaker from 1984 to 1992, was central in asserting a larger role for a Shi'a community that was largely downtrodden at the time, including by helping...
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin discusses her trip to the Middle East, painful lessons from U.S. invasion of Iraq
January 7th, 20230 U.S. Rep. Elissa Blair Slotkin (D- Holly) recently returned from a nine-day trip to the Middle East over Thanksgiving. The Congressional Delegation of House Veterans Affairs Committee members visited Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon. Slotkin had to miss the Lebanon portion of the trip due to President Biden’s visit to Bay City,...
Israel was never a democracy: So why is the West lamenting end of “liberal” Israel?
January 6th, 20230 Even before the new Israeli government was officially sworn in on December 29, angry reactions began emerging, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s historic allies in the West. As early as November 2, top U.S, officials conveyed to Axios that the Biden administration is “unlikely...
Jordanians protest over fuel price increases, day after policeman killed in riots
December 24th, 20220 AMMAN — Jordanians staged sit-ins on Friday, Dec. 16 and activists called for more protests over fuel price increases that have added to a cost-of-living squeeze, a day after riots in a southern city left one police officer dead, witnesses and security sources said. Authorities said the policeman was killed the night of Dec. 15 by a...
Lions’ Den is not a fleeting phenomenon: On Palestine’s looming armed revolt
December 24th, 20220 Just when Israel, and even some Palestinians, began talking about the Lions’ Den phenomenon in the past tense, a large number of fighters belonging to the newly-formed Palestinian group marched in the city of Nablus. Unlike the group’s first appearance on September 2, the number of fighters who took part in the rally in the Old...
Netanyahu says he has secured deal with religious and far-right to form Israeli government
December 21st, 20220 On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had secured a deal to form a new Israeli government after weeks of unexpectedly tough negotiations with religious and far-right coalition partners. "I have managed (to form a government)," Netanyahu said on Twitter, minutes before a midnight deadline set by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. A...
U.S. court decision against Lebanon’s banks gives hope to depositors
December 20th, 20220 A U.S. court of appeals determined this week that cases against Lebanese commercial banks can be tried outside Lebanon, paving the way for more cases by depositors seeking to unlock their frozen funds. The court decision, issued on Thursday in a case brought by Lebanese depositors against leading lender Bank Audi, overturned a federal...
The Nakba Day triumph: How the U.N. Is correcting a historical wrong
December 18th, 20220 The next Nakba Day will be officially commemorated by the United Nations General Assembly on May 15, 2023. The decision by the world’s largest democratic institution is significant, if not a game changer. For nearly 75 years, the Palestinian Nakba, the "Catastrophe" wrought by the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias in......
U.N. approves resolution to commemorate 75th Nakba anniversary
December 17th, 20220 UNITED NATION – The U.N. General Assembly has approved a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, a term used to describe the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the lead-up to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Ninety countries voted in favor of the measure, with 30...
Sendwave app: Send money to loved ones in Lebanon without charging them fees!
December 17th, 20220 By Eric Schloeffel Sending money to Lebanon traditionally includes fees on both sides: You pay a fee to send and your loved one pays a 2 percent fee to receive. But the app from Boston-based company Sendwave has disrupted the U.S.-Lebanon transfer market by eliminating fees for recipients in Lebanon while also offering...
Israeli troops kill Palestinian girl during West Bank firefight
December 16th, 20220 WEST BANK – Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian girl during a firefight with militants during a raid in the city of Jenin on Sunday, authorities said, as a wave of violence in the occupied West Bank continued. An Israeli military statement said soldiers hit the girl unintentionally as they returned fire at armed...
The next generation of resistance fighters: An interview with a Palestinian activist
December 12th, 20220 A commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and another Palestinian resistance fighter were killed early Thursday morning in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces near Jenin. The clashes happened after the IOF raided the city overnight to conduct arrests. According to the Spokesperson’s Unit of the IOF, three......
Hosting its first ever World Cup — MENA countries show up, in the stands, on the pitch
December 10th, 20220 By Marc Serber, football analyst The first-ever FIFA World Cup held in the MENA (Middle East/North African) region has brought a real opportunity to showcase football pedigree on the field and introduce the world to its fan culture in the stands and outside of Qatar’s eight stadiums. While the host nation bowed out in...
On “hate” and love at the World Cup: Palestine is more than an Arab cause
December 10th, 20220 We were mistaken to think that Palestine represents the central issue for all Arabs. Such language suggests that Palestine is an external subject, to be compared to other collective struggles that consume most Arabs, everywhere. The ongoing celebration of Palestine and the Palestinian flag at the Qatar World Cup 2022 by millions of......
Why the decision of the FBI to investigate Abu Akleh’s murder is unprecedented
November 26th, 20220 The recent decision by the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into the killing, last May, of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is not a game-changer, but important and worthy of reflection, nonetheless. Based on the long trajectory of U.S. military and political support of Israel, and...
Israeli occupying forces kill a Palestinian teen, injure dozens in the West Bank
November 25th, 20220 NABLUS, WEST BANK – Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager Tuesday night during an Israeli incursion near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Ahmad Amjad Shehada was shot during a confrontation while Israeli occupation forces secured an Israeli settler incursion at the site of Yosuf’s Tomb. Amjad was only......
