Middle East

By RFE/RL The Islamic State initially exhibited some restraint after entering northwestern Iraq in June, focusing on establishing control of the territories it held and gaining the trust of local Sunni communities. But as the self-declared caliphate has grown more comfortable in its surroundings, it has revealed its radical aims by destroying anything that conflicts […]

Featured

Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying its only power plant. Gaza can no longer generate its own electricity. Without electricity, the water purification plants cannot operate and the drinking water ends up being mixed with sewage or salt water. Without electricity, patients on life support […]

Israel

Gaza: Palestinians “Philosophical,” Israel “foils Foreign Infiltration” during 1957 Occupation (British “Report”)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole This British “report” suggests that Palestinians in Gaza were all right with being militarily occupied by the Israeli army in 1956-1957 before an absolutely furious President Dwight Eisenhower forced PM David Ben Gurion to withdraw. (Israel, Britain and France had jointly launched an unprovoked war of aggression on Egypt in late October, […]

Apartheid

Israel seeks to force 400,000 People from Homes in North Gaza

contributors

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Israeli military on Monday evening sent text messages and phone calls to residents of all cities in the northern Gaza Strip and parts of Gaza City telling them to evacuate their homes “immediately,” potentially displacing more than 400,000 people. The military said in a statement that it had told the […]

Christianity

The Persecution of Christians by ISIS contradicts idea of a Caliphate

contributors

By Erica C D Hunter, SOAS, University of London – via The Conversation ISIS conquests across northern Iraq have been comprehensive in recent weeks. Taking control of large parts of the region, they declared a Caliphate last month. And one group who have especially suffered at their hands are the Christians that have been a […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel & Palestine both Need to Root out the Hate

contributors

By Yakir Englander via ISLAMiCommentary Yakir Englander Serious illness calls for first aid, then sometimes surgery, followed by healing the source of the disease. If you ask which is most important, I’d say you can’t have one without the other. Without first aid, the patient will never reach the doctor. First aid without deeper treatment […]

Barack Obama

Israel’s Gaza Campaign Endangers US Security: Why Obama & Kerry are Furious

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The United States as a great Power is facing a large number of challenges in the Muslim world, and Israel’s Gaza campaign is endangering both American diplomacy there and the very security of the US. Given the series of setbacks for the US in the Middle East, in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and […]

Israel

The Children of Gaza (That’s Mainly Who is There)

contributors

“Jon Snow recounts the scene in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, where doctors struggle to treat adults and children wounded by Israeli attacks.” Channel 4 News: “The children of Gaza”

Human Rights

In Palestine, R2P isn’t Dead; It was never on the Table

contributors

By Michael Kearney My response to students’ queries on the matter of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has generally been that the whole narrative is a bit of a distraction: R2P merely repackages a principle that already existed, namely that states have a moral – and kind of legal – obligation to act in the face […]