Middle East

Vice News | — “Throughout the past several months, Jerusalem has been a scene of clashes and violent attacks. Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just steps away from Jerusalem’s Old City, has been at the heart of the unrest, and is becoming one of the most contentious neighborhoods in the most contested city in the world. […]

Israel

Sen. Lindsey Graham pledges allegiance to Israel’s Netanyahu vs. Obama

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) — “”During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Appropriations Committee Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the foreign leader Congress would “follow his lead” on a bill to reinforce sanctions on Iran. “In January of next year, there will […]

Drones

After 500 Strikes: Is America’s Drone War Crashing And Burning?

contributors

AJ+ | — “Drone strikes are the weapon of choice in America’s so-called War on Terror. They’ve been used nearly 500 times in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia since 2002. But while U.S. officials praise their “surgical precision,” the reality on the ground tells a different tale. Here’s what you need to know about the U.S. […]

Apartheid

What would Happen if the Int’l Criminal Court Indicted Israel’s Netanyahu?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — If the International Criminal Court takes up Israeli government actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, it could well find specific officials guilty of breaches of the Rome Statute of 2002. Article 7 forbids “Crimes against Humanity,” which are systematically repeated war crimes. Among these offenses is murder, forcible […]

Iraq

Iraq Faces Women’s Crisis: 1 Mn. Widows, Extremist Captives, Child Brides

contributors

By Alaa Latif | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) Bayan Nouri has a tough job over the next four years – the new Minister for Women’s Affairs in Iraq must try to improve the economic lot of Iraq’s women, prevent systemic domestic violence against females and work on problems like female genital mutilation and underage marriage as […]

History

Allied Footage of Istanbul from 1915 in WW I

contributors

British Pathe | — “Footage from 1915 of Constantinople, in the Ottoman empire (now Istanbul, Turkey), as the allies approach the city during World War One. Tracking shot on the water (Bosporus straits), moving to left. We pass many old buildings, Hagia Sophia, as well as other churches and mosques with domes, minarets, etc. Low […]

Israel

New Economic Pogrom: Israeli squatters uproot 5000 olive tree saplings In Palestinian West Bank

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Jewish settlers have uprooted more than 5,000 olive tree saplings in agricultural lands east of the town of Turmusayya in the central West Bank north of Ramallah, locals said Thursday. One of the owners of the lands targeted, Awad Abu Samra, told Ma’an that in the last week settlers have repeatedly raided […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

President Obama’s Biggest Mideast Policy Challenges, 2015

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Barack Obama wanted to be the president who got the US out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and turned America’s diplomatic energies to the more promising Pacific Rim. 2014 was the year in which he failed decisively at these objectives. He has had to keep 10,000 US military personnel […]

Israel

U.S. Twists Arms to Help Defeat Resolution on Palestine

contributors

By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The United States re-asserted its political and economic clout – and its ability to twist arms and perhaps metaphorically break kneecaps – when it successfully lobbied to help defeat a crucial Security Council resolution on the future of Palestine this week. Nadia Hijab, executive director of Al-Shabaka: The […]