Middle East

By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – Mr. Donald Trump’s electoral victory has created shockwaves worldwide. It was as unexpected as it was unwelcome to many peoples, particularly in the Middle East. Most people in the region appear to be at a loss. Political commentators and pundits are projecting a series of hard […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli parliament moves to ban Boycott, Divestment Backers from entering Israel

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A bill preventing supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement from entering Israel was authorized on Monday for its first reading in the Israeli parliament, according to Israeli media. According to the Jerusalem Post, the interior committee of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, approved the bill, which was initiated by Knesset […]

censorship

European journalists brand Turkey ‘biggest prison in the world’

contributors

By Herbert Vytiska | EurActiv.de | Translated By Samuel Morgan | EurActiv | – – Curbs on press freedom have been dramatically increased since the failed coup attempt against President Erdoğan. The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) has called on the European institutions to exert more pressure on Turkey, in face of further restrictions on […]

Israel/ Palestine

W. Bank Palestinian farmers: Israeli squatters stole harvest of 400 olive trees

contributors

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Palestinian farmers in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus reported on Monday that Israeli settlers stole the harvest of 400 olive trees planted on their private lands. Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank told Ma’an that more than 30 Palestinian families from […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Mosul Campaign: ISIL using civilians as Human Shields

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – All Forces Should Take Necessary Precautions to Protect Civilians (Erbil) – In areas around Mosul, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is forcibly evacuating civilians under their control with its fighters, apparently to use them as human shields. There are also grave concerns that ISIS is rounding up […]

Iraq

Mosul Is My Hometown, Here Is Why ISIL Was Able To Stay There

contributors

Special Correspondent | Baghdad | Niqash.org | – – NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent explains why people in the city did not resist the [so-called] Islamic State group at first, why his family and others decided to stay and how extremists kept control of a city of around 2 million. Mohammed* is NIQASH’s Mosul correspondent. He grew […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey: the road towards dictatorship and the west’s responsibility

contributors

By Mehmet Ugur | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – Let us stop pretending otherwise: Turkey is now under a dictatorial regime established step by step under the gaze of, and with tacit support from western governments and institutions. Kurdish and democratic forces within the country are paying a heavy price, not only because of the […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Balfour Slow Genocide and the Fate of Palestinians

contributors

By Aimee Shalan | al-Shabakah | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – Current British Complicity It is not only corporate entities such as G4S in the case of Dareen Tatour that are infringing on free speech on Israel’s behalf. At a time when international pressure on Israel is increasing, the UK government and a number […]

Israel/ Palestine

Britain, Balfour, and 100 years of cultural repression of Palestinians (Part I)

contributors

By Aimee Shalan | Al-Shabaka | (Ma’an News Agency) | – – If Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour passes over the perimeter of her home’s driveway in her village of Reineh in the Galilee, an alarm will sound at the British multinational security firm G4S and the Israeli authorities will be alerted. Israeli police arrested Tatour […]