War Crimes

Special Correspondent | Mosul | via Niqash When Sunni Muslim extremists took over Mosul in early June, they closed local courts and set up their own quasi-religious system of justice. They also put thousands of Mosul’s lawyers out of work. For those who didn’t flee the city, there was worse to come: judges have already […]

Apartheid

Israel’s Exclusion of Palestinians from Area C Costs Pals. $2.2 bn a Year

contributors

World Bank “If businesses and farms were permitted to develop on Area C land, 61 percent of the West Bank, it would add as much as 35% to the Palestinian gross domestic product.” World Bank: “Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy

Apartheid

Protests after Israeli Troops kill American Teenager near Ramallah

contributors

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager late Friday during clashes in Silwad village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, medical officials said. Orwa Abd al-Wahhab Hammad, 14, was shot multiple times with live bullets. He was taken to Palestine Medical Complex where he was pronounced dead. An Israeli army […]

Colonialism

WWI: Remembering how Europe Blockaded Lebanese Civilians & Killed 200,000 with Famine

contributors

BBC “Unknown to many, a third of the Lebanese population [then West Syria] died of famine and disease during World War One. BBC Arabic’s Carine Torbey recounts the horrifying story of the Famine of Mount Lebanon.” The famine of Mount Lebanon during WW1 – BBC News Note: Contrary to what Ms. Torbey alleges, the Ottomans […]

Displaced and Refugees

Could ISIL be Put on Trial? Challenge for International Law

contributors

DUBAI (IRIN) – The international outcry to the openly advertised atrocities committed in Iraq by the jihadist group calling itself Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL) has led to calls for investigations and punishment, with US President Barak Obama saying “justice will be done” after the killing of journalist James Foley. This has […]

Apartheid

Armed Israeli Squatters attack Jerusalem Home of Returning Pilgrim

contributors

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Armed Jewish settlers on Thursday attacked a Palestinian home in the al-Suwanna neighborhood on the Mount of Olives east of the Old City of Jerusalem, removing banners celebrating the return of a family member from the Hajj pilgrimage. Witnesses said settlers from the nearby Beit Orot settlement carrying automatic weapons approached the […]

Displaced and Refugees

The New McCarthyism on Israel: Naming and Shaming . . . Hillel

Juan Cole

By Alice Rothchild Jewish communal and religious organizations have become increasingly donor driven and sclerotic when it comes to discourse on Israel/Palestine. This is clearly in evidence when it comes to the dogmatic guidelines espoused by Hillel International, the umbrella organization for local Hillel chapters on American campuses. Despite spouting pluralism and tolerance, the organization […]

Human Rights

Iraqi Kurds to Turkey: Let Volunteers Through To Defend Failing Kobani

contributors

By Charles Recknagel via RFE/RL A top official of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region is calling on Turkey to let volunteer fighters through to the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, where Syrian Kurds are waging a desperate battle against Islamic State (IS) militants. Speaking on a visit to RFE/RL in Prague on October 13, Falah Mustafa, […]

Colonialism

French Planes bomb Damascus to put Down Syrian Revolt, 1925 (Video: This Day in History)

contributors

“Title reads: “Defence of Damascus. French troops – barricades – and armed posts – now circle the town of view of threatened attack by Rebels”. Having invaded and occupied Syria, French troops who brutally suppress an uprising against them in 1925 were described in British newsreels as “defending” Damascus against “rebels.” british Pathe: Damascus Revolt […]