Middle East

By Fatma Müge Göçek | (The Conversation) | – – After the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, one of the first actions of the Turkish state and government was to purge thousands of academics and deans from office. In a crackdown that rapidly spread across civil and military services, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan […]

Israel/ Palestine

Palestinian FM asks Arab League to help sue UK over Balfour Declaration

contributors

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki urged the Arab League to help the Palestinian Authority to sue the United Kingdom over the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on Monday. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, al-Maliki delivered a speech Thursday at the Arab League’s annual summit, […]

Featured

Arab Street Shocked as Saudi Delegation Visits Israel

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Egyptian news site the Arab Observer Network reports that the visit to Israel of a former Saudi military intelligence officer, Gen. Anwar Eshki, came as a body blow to the Arab in the street. He conducted several meetings with Israeli officials last week, along with […]

Israel/ Palestine

Lieberman: Palestinian National Poet Mahmoud Darwish’s Verse is ‘Mein Kampf’

contributors

By IMEMC News | – – Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared the broadcast of poetry by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish on Israeli radio to glorifying Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday. On Tuesday, Israeli army radio broadcast works by the iconic Palestinian writer as part of its “University […]

Climate Change

Maybe Oil was a bad Idea: Temps in Mideast Beat Heat Records for E. Hemisphere

contributors

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | Commondreams.org ) – – “I’ve never seen Celsius temps like these on a weather map before,” climate scientist Michael Mann said on Twitter. Thermometers in Kuwait and Iraq reached record-shattering temperatures this week, with Weather Underground reporting that the measurements could be the hottest ever seen in the Eastern […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli squatters fire on, threaten Palestinians on their private land

Juan Cole

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers verbally attacked Palestinian residents of the town of al-Khader in the southern occupied West Bank on Saturday, threatening them with a gun as the Palestinians were working in their land, which is situated in the Bethlehem district between the illegal Israeli settlements of Neve […]

Featured

Is Russia deepening Cooperation with US in Syria, or hitting US Bases?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – About a week ago, Russian warplanes bombed a Syrian base used by the US and the UK. The Wall Street Journal suggested that Russia was attempting to herd Washington into a closer military cooperation. At the same time, the Arabic press commented on on a Washington […]

Iraq

Will Iraq’s next Government be . . . Iran-backed Shiite Militias?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – The [so-called] Islamic State [IS] group has caused a realignment of Iraq’s political map. Next year’s provincial elections will signal who will rule the land after the security crisis has passed – and it may not be to everyone’s liking. In April 2017 Iraq will […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Army Uproots Olive Trees in Salfit, “Settlers Only” Road to be Opened

contributors

IMEMC | – – Israeli soldiers, on Wednesday, uprooted olive trees in the village of Deir Istiya, Salfit governorate, under the pretext of opening a road designated for the sole use of people residing in illegal West Bank settlements. Head of Deir Istiya council, Sa’id Zaidan, informed WAFA correspondence that Israeli forces have begun uprooting […]