Arab World

Human Rights Watch | – (Beirut) – The Houthi armed group in Yemen has intensified its recruitment, training, and deployment of children in violation of international law. Since September 2014, when the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, took control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, they have increasingly used children as scouts, guards, runners, and fighters, […]

Apartheid

Israel plans forced evacuation of Bedouin families east of Jerusalem

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Dozens of Palestinian families living in the Bedouin Abu Nuwwar village to the east of Jerusalem will be forced from their land in less than a month, locals told Ma’an on Saturday. Israeli authorities are evacuating the families to clear way for the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, […]

Apartheid

Hanan Ashrawi: New Extremist Israeli Gov’t generates a Culture of Hate

contributors

By IMEMC | – PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi stated: “Such a coalition betrays the true nature of the Israeli political system and promotes an anti-peace agenda and the language of racism, extremism and violence; it will further increase the isolation and deligitimization of Israel. In addition to the extremism in the Likud […]

Education

What makes one Palestinian Village School one of the Best in the Middle East?

contributors

World Bank | – “Amid widespread dissatisfaction with public services in the Arab world, a new report identifies local success stories that could point the way to solutions.” World Bank: ” What Makes this Palestinian School a Top Performer?”

Barack Obama

Saudi Arabia as the Incredible Hulk: King Salman snubs Obama’s Gulf Summit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Watching Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia nowadays, is like Kremlin-watching in the old days of the Cold War. It is not as if most Western journalists have a really good idea of the maneuverings inside the Saudi palace or know why exactly things happen. Since King Salman […]

Arab World

Egypt: Mubarak, Sons, given 3-year Wrist Slap for Massive Corruption

contributors

Reuters | — “Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are sentenced to three years in jail without parole in the retrial of a corruption case. Nathan Frandino reports.” Reuters: “Egyptian court sentences Mubarak, sons to 3 years in jail”

Apartheid

Palestinians: “”The face of a new form of racist, discriminatory Israel has been revealed”

contributors

By IMEMC Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new right-wing religious “government of war” is a blow to an already stagnating peace process, PLO officials said Thursday, vowing to fight it on the international stage. The PLO blasted Israel’s “extremist” cabinet, after Netanyahu announced a coalition government that gave him a slim parliamentary majority and included […]

Bashar al-Assad

Hizbullah, Syrian Army push back al-Qaeda in Qalamoun as Christian militia mobilizes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Smarting from a string of losses, the proregime coalition of Hizbullah and the Syrian Arab Army is looking for some victories against the al-Qaeda-linked Support Front (Jabhat al-Nusra). They seek them in the Qalamoun mountain range near the Lebanese-Syrian border, where Hizbullah was victorious last year this […]

Featured

Syria: What if Turkey and Saudi Arabia install al-Qaeda in Damascus?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Journalists such as the intrepid Liz Sly covering the Syrian Civil War were struck with the victories of the Army of Conquest coalition in northern Syria, which in recent weeks first took Idlib city (they had already taken most of Idlib province) and then Jisr al-Shughur, a […]