Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Turkish government has detained 11 members of parliament from the leftist, feminist and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP),including the party’s co-chairs. This step is intended to give Erdogan the majority in parliament he needs to make himself president for life, and to give Turkey (currently […]

Arab Americans

Are Arabs White?

contributors

Dena Takruri | (AJ+ Vidoe Report) | – – “White” – without the privilege. Arab-Americans are ready to check their own box on the U.S. census. Dena Takruri explains.” AJ+: “Are Arabs ‘White’?”

Israel/ Palestine

The Struggle Of Palestinian Olive Farmers Under Israeli Occupation

contributors

AJ+ | (Video News Report) | – – “These Palestinians can only access their land for a couple of days per year. This is how they harvest olives under occupation. Filmed by video journalist Elia Ghorbiah in Palestine.” AJ+: “The Struggle Of Palestinian Farmers Under Occupation”

Displaced and Refugees

Civilians in both Aleppos are Hurting

contributors

By Hadeel al-Shalchi | (Human Rights Watch) | – – The small child cries hysterically on the hospital bed, covered in dust and blood. The video, posted by the pro-Syrian government news agency al-Akhbariya, shows scene after scene of civilian men, women, and children injured from what they say were rockets launched by armed opposition […]

Featured

War within War – Iraqi PM: We don’t want to fight Turkey but we’re Ready

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – AFP Arabic reports that Iraqi PM Haydar al-Abadi said Tuesday that “We do not want a war with Turkey, and do not want a confrontation with Turkey, but if a confrontation takes place, we are ready for it.” He added that if Turkey “attacks Iraq, it […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel bans for 10 yrs. Mairead Maguire, others on International Women’s Boat to Gaza

contributors

By Mairead Maguire | (Inter Press Service) | – – ROME, Nov 1 2016 (IPS) – A few weeks ago, the US government agreed to give Israel $38 billion dollars, the largest military funding package the U.S. has given any nation. This $38 billion in military and other type of Aid will be used to […]

Israel/ Palestine

Colonizing the Dead: Israeli authorities demolish graves in East Jerusalem cemetery

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli Nature and Parks Authority forces demolished several graves inside a Palestinian cemetery in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, according to local sources. Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, the director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, told Ma’an that forces from the Nature and Parks Authority raided the […]

Featured

Hizbullah’s Candidate becomes Lebanese President after Sunni Compromise

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Lebanon finally has a president, Michel Aoun. In accordance with the country’s national pact, he is a Maronite Christian (a Catholic uniate church), and happens to be a former general. The US and Israel won’t be pleased that he is a strong ally of the Shiite […]

Iraq

Sectarian Tensions flare in Baghdad as some Sunni Arab families forced from Neighborhoods

contributors

By Ibrahim Saleh | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Several Sunni Muslim families were forced out of their mainly Shiite Muslim neighbourhood in Baghdad recently. Locals fear the creeping return of sectarian tensions, as street by street changes. Earlier this month, the head of the Baghdad provincial council’s security committee, Mohammed al-Rubaie, announced that […]