Middle East

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Israel’s seemingly never-ending drive to uproot Palestinians from their homes by force of arms and threat of imminent slaughter resulted in one of its bloodiest massacres on 29 October 1956 in the village of Kafr Qasem, on the Israeli side of the 1949 Armistice […]

censorship

Human Rights? Saudi Arabia put a Child Dissident on Death Row for 10 Years, but has Finally Released him

Human Rights Watch

By Bill Van Esveld | Associate Director, MENA, Children’s Rights Division | – Nearly ten years after Ali al-Nimr was arrested by Saudi authorities in February 2012, he was finally released from prison this week. His mother tweeted a video showing their emotional reunion. But amid the relief and celebration, al-Nimr’s ordeal highlights the cruelty […]

Featured

Israeli Government defies President Biden, announces 3K new Squatter Dwellings on Palestinian Land

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab48 reports that Israeli authorities are authorizing 3,144 new housing units for squatters on Palestinian-owned land in the Palestinian West Bank. The move is spearheaded by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his expansionist Yamina Party, and was greeted with outrage by some elements of the unwieldy 8-party […]

Epidemics

Is the Pandemic finally Subsiding in the Middle East? New Infections at Lowest Level for More than a Year

Brian Whitaker

( Al-Bab.com) – New Covid-19 cases recorded in the Middle East and North Africa averaged 19,075 a day last week. This is the first time since September last year that the daily average among the 20 countries monitored has dropped below 20,000. TRT World: “Schools in Iran reopen under COVID-19 restrictions” New infections peaked in […]

Featured

Israeli, UN, European Human Rights Experts Condemn Israel for Branding Palestinian Rights Groups “Terrorists”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Monday, Israeli, European and United Nations human rights experts condemned last Friday’s decision by Israeli Foreign Minister Benny Gantz to classify 6 prominent, nonviolent Palestinian human rights organizations “terrorist organizations.” The Israeli government had tried to peddle this line to the members of the European Union, presenting what it […]

censorship

“A Psychopath with Infinite Resources:” Al-Jabri accuses Saudi Crown Prince MBS

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scott Pelley at CBS’s “60 Minutes” interviewed Dr. Saad al-Jabri, the number 2 man in Saudi intelligence until 2014, when he fled for his life to Canada. Al-Jabri made a number of serious accusations against Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, including alleging […]

Featured

Becoming Typical Mideast Dictatorship, Apartheid Israel Declares Palestinian Human Rights Groups “Terrorists”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera English reports that on Friday, the Israeli government declared six human rights organizations active in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank to be terrorist organizations. The government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Benny Gantz thus brought Israel into the grand tradition of modern Middle East dictatorships. […]

Books

Citizen Pilgrim: Richard Falk’s Breakthrough against Israeli Apartheid toward Palestinians

Foreign Policy in Focus

A review of Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim, by Richard Falk. By Walden Bello | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Richard Falk is universally regarded as one of the top minds when it comes to international law. Yet his views are not only unwelcome in establishment circles, but even among many […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Israeli Squatter-Settlers attack Palestinians and their Olive Harvests with Impunity

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – As happens each year during the Palestinian olive harvest, Israel’s illegal settlers are destroying olive trees and attacking Palestinian farmers. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that in the year to August this year, over 9,300 olive trees were destroyed by Israeli settlers; the damage peaked during […]