Middle East

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces Thursday evicted a Palestinian family from their home in the neighborhood of Saadiya in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem in order to make room for Jewish-only housing managed by right-wing settler group Ateret Cohanim. The family of Mazen Qirrish was evacuated from […]

Displaced and Refugees

Busting the Myths about Syrian Refugees in the US

contributors

Jeffrey H. Cohen | (The Conversation) | – – On Sept. 12, a new cease-fire took effect in Syria. With a lull in fighting, some are hopeful for an end to the nation’s ongoing civil war. Yet, even if the war ends soon, rebuilding the country will take time. As many refugees anxiously wait and […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel gets $38 Bn from US as it Strangles Palestinian Economy

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian economy remains “worrying” as growth stagnation, delays in aid delivery, and Israeli restrictions continue to seriously impede improvements to the Palestinian financial situation, a World Bank report revealed on Thursday. According to the report, which will be presented to the Ad Hoc Liaison committee […]

Barack Obama

Obama has one last Chance to remedy his Colossal Failure on Palestine/Israel

contributors

By Carl Bildt | ( Project Syndicate ) | – – STOCKHOLM – Next year marks the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, the British statement that paved the way for Israel’s founding in 1948, and for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as the larger Arab world, that continues today. World leaders […]

Israel/ Palestine

Right-wing Israeli ministers meet with Facebook to discuss censoring ‘anti-Semitic incitement’

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Two right-wing Israeli ministers reportedly met with top Facebook executives on Monday in an effort to “minimize online anti-Semitic incitement,” according to Israeli news website Ynet. The site reported that Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, members of right-wing Israeli parties […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syria Truce holds, despite questions on Humanitarian Aid

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The London pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-`Arabi reports that the truce that began Monday night held during its first twenty-four hours, in the areas designated for a cease-fire by Russia and the United States. The boom of artillery fire faded away at nightfall on Monday. It coincided […]

Iraq

End of the ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq? After Qayyarah, Mosul hangs in the Balance

contributors

Special Correspondent | (Niqash.org) | – – The liberation of the northern Iraqi town of Qayyarah from the [so-called] Islamic State group [IS] is a strategic victory in defeating the extremists, in addition to being a major financial blow to their efforts. Since it was liberated by Iraqi forces last month, Qayyarah has come to […]

Free Syrian Army

As Truce Starts, Russia Tells Free Syrian Army to Stop Fighting Kurds

contributors

TeleSur | – – Moscow added it would continue its own air strikes against the Islamic State group and the militants formerly known as the Nusra Front Russia’s Defense Ministry called on Free Syrian Army militants to “stop fighting Kurdish units,” as the cease-fire announced last week began in the war-torn nation. The ministry, which […]

Afghanistan

What did we buy with the $5 Trillion that the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars have cost us?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Boston U. political scientist estimates that as of 2016, The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have cost the American taxpayers $5 trillion. That number isn’t important when we consider the human cost– Some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis […]