First cholera case confirmed in Baghdad
Baghdad The World Health Organization on Thursday confirmed the first cholera case in Baghdad, raising fears the disease is spreading. A 25-year-old woman from western Baghdad was found to have cholera after she turned up at the hospital with a severe case of diarrhea, said Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in...UNICEF urges Egypt to stop female circumcision
GENEVAThe UN children's fund this week called for pressure to be maintained to stop female circumcision in Egypt, where more than three quarters of 15- to 17-year-old girls are subjected to the practice. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) acknowledged progress by authorities in the country, which has...Maliki blasts Blackwater firm for other attacks
BAGHDAD Blackwater security guards who protect top U.S. diplomats in Iraq have been involved in at least seven serious attacks, some of which resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Wednesday. Maliki didn't detail the incidents, which he said add to the case against the North...The Palestinian Mandela
The division of the Palestinian territories into a "Hamastan" in the Gaza Strip and a "Fatahland" in the West Bank is a disaster. A disaster for the Palestinians, a disaster for peace, and therefore also a disaster for Israelis. The Israeli political and military leadership are happy about the split, according to the doctrine "What's...Gunpowder dialogue in Lebanon
The explosion of September 19 targets the Christian community in Lebanon. The Christians of this country have become a demographic minority over the last few decades as a result of higher emigration and smaller families. They have emerged from a devastating 15-year civil war with less political power but with determination to retain...
Beirut blast kills lawmaker
September 22nd, 20070 BEIRUT An anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker was killed Wednesday in a large car-bomb explosion in east Beirut, just six days before parliament is scheduled to elect a new president. The death of Antoine Ghanem, a Christian parliamentarian, may delay the election, which has already aggravated a bitter year-long political dispute between...Hizbullah and the promised president
Too much responsibility has been attached to the role of the next president of Lebanon who is due to be elected on September 25. This is why it is difficult to agree on who is going to be the next president. The opposition camp wants the candidate to be friendly to Hizbullah and its regional supporters (Syria and Iran) and the government...In Lebanon, DNA may yet heal rifts
BYBLOS, Lebanon (Reuters) A Lebanese scientist following the genetic footprint of the ancient Phoenicians says he has traced their modern-day descendants, but stumbled into an old controversy about identity in his country. Geneticist Pierre Zalloua has charted the spread of the Phoenicians out of the eastern Mediterranean by...Saudi peace plan is Arabs’ greatest compromise toward Israel
After nearly 60 years, Israel is still not at peace with most of its neighbors. The Saudi peace plan, first proposed in 2002, is the latest in a series of Arab overtures aiming to end this situation. It offers Israel full normalization of relations in return for withdrawal from the territories it conquered in 1967, and a negotiated...Lebanon’s rising jihadi threat
Even after the Lebanese Army defeated Muslim militants Sunday, Al Qaeda's credo is spreading in Palestinian camps. Nahr Al-Bared Lebanese military helicopters flew low Monday over the smoking ruins of this Palestinian refugee camp as soldiers scoured the nearby countryside for remnants of the Al Qaeda-inspired group whose three-month...Palestinians poorer than ever
BRUSSELS (IPS) Poverty in the Palestinian territories has reached "unprecedented levels" because they have been held under an "economic siege" for almost seven years, a United Nations body has found. During 2006 the number of Palestinians living in "deep poverty" almost doubled to more than 1 million. Some 46 percent of public...The Shi’a power struggle: Not good news in Iraq
The decision made by Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt his Mahdi Army's attacks on occupation forces and Iraqi security is likely to be considered the single most promising breakthrough for the U.S. military in Iraq. Although the move comes ahead of several reports to be presented to the U.S. Congress later this month, the decision...Lebanon’s only chance is the army
I had the opportunity to spend the last six weeks in Lebanon, making pleasure and working visits to different areas of the country and engaging in political and other discussions with local officials, academics and opposition activists. The experience has been instructive, simultaneously heartening and depressing, but has also suggested...Palestine: A policy of deliberate blindness
Dennis Ross, formerly the United States envoy to the Middle East, admitted back in 2000 that mistakes had been made in the 1978 Camp David accords: The diplomatic process had not taken enough account of developments on the ground, especially the settlements. The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories doubled from 1994...In Iraq, sex is traded for survival
Baghdad When Rana Jalil, 38, lost her husband in an explosion in Baghdad last year, she could never have imagined becoming a prostitute in order to feed her children. A mother of four, Jalil sought out employment, but job opportunities forwomen had decreased since the U.S. invasion. She begged shop owners, office workers and companies......
Doesn’t anyone hear those awful cries from Gaza?
No one seems to hear the cries from Gaza enough to act, despite the reports that talk about imminent economic collapse, dangerous food shortages, total aid dependency and impending humanitarian disaster. Neither the cries nor the reports appear in the headlines or news alerts in our mainstream media. And, while the statistics make...
Why does Egypt choose to stoop so low?
September 1st, 20070 There is a special sadness to the diminution of giants, to great men and countries that choose to stoop low. Egypt, in this respect, mystifies us once again, as its ruling regime resorts to repression and harassment of those who would challenge it politically and demand more democratic governance. The Egyptian government increases......
First ice lounge in the desert
Outside it was a sticky 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), but Ali Hamdan was shivering under two parkas as he had a drink, surrounded by tables and chairs made of ice. Chillout is the Middle East's first ice lounge and the latest venture in this desert Gulf emirate that has been transformed by a mania for the biggest, first...What do Israel, U.S. expect from Abbas?
The rash and self-defeatist behavior emanating from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his close circle in the West Bank cannot possibly be intended for the benefit of the Palestinian people or for their internationally sanctioned struggle for human rights, freedom and equality. Abbas, and his self-serving Palestinian...The closed door meetings of Mahmoud Abbas
When Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestine Authority in Ramallah, holds three-hour meetings in Jericho with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and when these meetings are restricted to the two men only for half the time, the agenda must include issues of a very grave nature that require prior agreement. Mahmoud...Hamas optimism vs. Fatah despair
PALESTINE Even in the face of possible economic collapse, Hamas leaders want to figure out a better way to collect garbage in Gaza. The Islamist movement, which now controls the coastal strip, is working out ways to create new jobs and reduce petty crime. A new enthusiasm has swept through this territory in the aftermath of the......
Hizbullah marks Lebanon war anniversary with pomp and piety
August 14th, 20070 Last summer, the sky above Beirut's southern suburbs was filled with Israeli warplanes; Tuesday night, it exploded with color as Hizbullah supporters came out in force to commemorate "the day of victory" that marked the end of the 2006 war with Israel. Packing an empty-lot-turned-outdoor-auditorium and spilling into crowded streets...
America waking up to scale of Iraq disaster
July 29th, 20070 The most probable result of U.S. withdrawal will be further bloodshed Iraq is over. Iraq has not yet begun. Two conclusions from the American debate about Iraq, which dominates the media in the U.S. to the exclusion of almost any other foreign story. Iraq is over insofar as the American public has decided that most U.S. troops should......
Israel’s primal myth: A barrier to peace
Forget about Hamas, the wall, Gaza and the Occupied Territories. There can be no peace in the Middle East until Israel and the Palestinians deal with one key issue: the Palestinian demand that Israel recognize their right of return. That demand is based on the Arab charge that the Zionist state created the refugee problem in the war of...New peace initiative met with skepticism
WASHINGTON (IPS) A major policy address this week by U.S. President George W. Bush promoting a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine has been greeted with considerable skepticism by Middle East specialists here. Most analysts said Bush's speech including his pledge to provide some 190 million dollars to support Palestine......