Middle East

Safety Concerns for Activists, Ex-Crown Prince, Clerichu

When it comes to Palestinians, Jared Kushner can’t tell the Difference between Colonial Coercion and Fair Diplomacy

(Middle East Monitor ) – Predictably, Donald Trump’s Senior Adviser Jared Kushner exhibited no historical discernment when justifying the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE, and how this will affect the Palestinian people’s political rights. Palestinians, he declared, should not be “stuck in the past.” This was a sweeping statement typical not only […]

Featured

With US AWOL, NATO Allies rattle sabers: Turkish Ruling Party says Greece is now a Rogue State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Greece and Turkey have been having loud shouting matches this summer, with some pretty ominous language at times. The two are supposed to be NATO allies, but you couldn’t tell it from their bellicose rhetoric. A nationalist Turkish politician, Devlet Bahceli, is quoted as having said of said this past […]

China

China slams Trump Admin. as “Saboteur” on Iran Deal, “Making a Mockery of Int’l Law”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Iran nuclear deal was horse trading. Iran gave up 80 percent of its civilian nuclear enrichment program and was supposed to get in return the lifting of all sanctions. Instead, Trump maximized sanctions, in what is essentially a trade and financial blockade on the country. So it is like […]

Children

Saudi Arabia must stop Executing Children: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

By Bill Van Esveld | – ( Human Rights Watch) – On August 26, the Saudi Human Rights Commission announced the judiciary would review three death sentences in accordance with a recent decree to halt capital punishment for child offenders. Ali al-Nimr, Dawoud al-Marhoun, and Abdullah al-Zaher were sentenced to death for allegedly committing crimes […]

Epidemics

Palestinians in Gaza Face Covid-19 Alone and Isolated, in Israel’s Open-Air Prison

Middle East Monitor

By Eman Abusidu | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Since Covid-19 first appeared, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have tackled the pandemic with typical determination. Without delay, they implemented a strict quarantine regime with mandatory 21-day isolation in government-run facilities adjacent to the border posts. This seems to have worked well until last […]

Arab World

Coronavirus in the Middle East: a testing time for relations between regimes and their citizens

Brian Whitaker

( Al-Bab.com ) – THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic is not only testing the ability of governments to manage an unusual kind of crisis – it is also testing their relationship with the people they govern. Success in confronting the virus depends on governments and citizens working together, but among the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why the Israel-UAE Deal Isn’t About Peace at All

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Phyllis Bennis | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – In some ways, the U.S.-brokered plan for mutual recognition between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is big news. For more than a quarter of a century, only two Middle Eastern countries — Egypt and Jordan — had officially recognized Israel. None of the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza was Already Israel’s Open Air Prison, Bombed and Blockaded, and now Covid-19 and Lockdown

Middle East Monitor

By Mohammed Rafik: ( Middle East Monitor ) – Life has shut down in the Gaza Strip with an unexpected number of coronavirus infections within a single-family outside the quarantine zones. A number of deaths have also been reported and a full curfew was announced on Monday. In the middle of all of this, Israel […]