Middle-East
The Suffering of Palestinian Refugees in Jordan
To highlight suffering is one thing, to alleviate suffering yet another.... [read more]
Does Syria Have the Right to Defend Itself?
The Syrian government is truly fighting to defend itself against an armed opposition that is violent, sectarian and unpopular with the large majority of Syrians... [read more]
White Helmets Deceive ‘Right Livelihood’ and CodePink
The story of the White Helmets is principally a “feel good” hoax to manipulate public perception about the conflict in Syria and continue the drive for “regime change”... [read more]
It Can Happen Here
Political ideas and structures don't die easily. The human mind is lazy and apprehensive, and clings to familiar ideas, long after they have become obsolete... [read more]
Clintonites Prepare for War on Syria
Neoconservatives including Clintonites are pushing hard for a direct US attack on Syria to prevent the collapse of their regime change project... [read more]
The Great Rift
The tragedy of present-day Israel is not that there are so many divisions, but that they all converge in one large rift.... [read more]
What the Hell
What the hell has happened to them? Have they gone crazy? The British, of all people?... [read more]
The Second Coming?
Suddenly, a familiar face, almost forgotten, appeared on the TV screen... [read more]
I Was There
"Please don't write about Ya'ir Golan!" a friend begged me, “Anything a leftist like you writes will only harm him!"... [read more]
Squaring the Circle
This week, President Rivlin published a peace plan. That is not a usual act by a president, whose office is mainly ceremonial.... [read more]
The Case of Soldier A
A group of soldiers, supported by a major part of the political scene, has mutinied against their commanders. This is a major menace to the structure of the state, a challenge to what remains of our democracy.... [read more]
Iran - A Travelogue to Home Away from Home
David Rhani describes his latest trip to Iran... [read more]
Iraq: US, UK Fabricated WMD Threat
The scorched earth onslaught of 2003 and subsequent years of bombings brought further radioactive pollution in orders of magnitude. The US is now bombing again.... [read more]
The Pied Piper of Zion
The Israeli Peace Camp is in despair. No savior is in sight. Many just sit in front of their TV set and wring their hands... [read more]
Yemen’s Plight and Britain’s “creative clout” - Arms Sales and Advice on Killing
In spite of the UN stating that civilians are being disproportionately killed in Yemen, arms sales rose to over one billion pounds... [read more]
Extreme, Extremer, Extremest
By 1967, the situation was quite different. The causes of the new war were disputed, David had turned into Goliath, a world-wide Cold War was on... [read more]
The Widening Gap
In any list of Israel's 100 most important women, Ilana Dayan would occupy a prominent position... [read more]
Fear of Assimilation
The Israeli Ministry of Education has struck a book from students' reading list. The cardinal sin was the plot: a love story between a Jewish girl and an Arab boy... [read more]
A Bribery Case
When the State of Israel was founded, the new foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, did something that seemed quite natural. He sold his private apartment.... [read more]
Imagined Nations
Each of us has a few books that formed and changed his or her world view... [read more]
A Lonely Lawyer
By now every Israeli has seen the TV clip several times - showing a 14-year old Arab girl being shot dead... [read more]
Illegal Slaughter – Cameron’s Syria Equals Blair’s Iraq?
A recent ITV poll showed 89.32% of British people are against bombing Syria... [read more]
King Bibi
The real danger of Netanyahu's reign is his total lack of an answer to Israel's main problem... [read more]
Questions of Power and Slavery
All governments encroach, creep into our lives, and smother our minds with ever more legislation that infringes our human rights and civil liberties... [read more]
Bombing Yemen, Munitions Sales to Saudi Arabia - Britain’s “Robust Arms Export Control Regime.”
Since March this year, bombing raids and a blockade of ports imposed by the Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Gulf states have crippled much of Yemen... [read more]
The Reign of Absurdiocy
There is no such thing as "international terrorism". To declare war on "international terrorism" is nonsense. Politicians who do so are either fools or cynics, and probably both.... [read more]
Tiffany’s Supplier Funds a Unit of the Israeli Military Accused of War Crimes - Jewellery Industry Awash with Blood Diamonds
The hypocrisy and double standard that permeates the jewellery industry when it comes to blood diamonds is laid bare when one examines the ethical credential of Tiffany’s diamonds – one of the world’s most prestigious jewellers.... [read more]
Russia vs terrorism
This week the Russians became the latest victims of the accomplices of terrorism... [read more]
Palestine
Just to think of Palestine is evocative. From the lush orange orchards to the laden olive groves... [read more]
“Conflict Issues” In Israel and Palestine: Debate in Committee Room G, British Houses of Parliament
Sitting in Committee Room G in the Houses of Parliament on 23rd October was a sobering affair... [read more]
The Cats of Ariel
Every time you think we have reached the limit, something else pops up and the limit moves... [read more]
Adolf, Amin and Bibi
It is not very pleasant when serious people around the world – historians, psychiatrists, diplomats – ask themselves if my prime minister is completely sane... [read more]
We’ve Got to Talk about Water and the Middle East
This is the text of a lecture given in Dorchester on Wednesday 28 October 2015... [read more]
Weep, Beloved Country
Sometimes, a small incident can pierce the darkness and reveal a frightening picture... [read more]
The Settlers' Prussia
Israeli democracy is sliding downwards. Sliding slowly, comfortably, but unmistakably... [read more]
US Wars: Russia’s Fantasy “Stray Missiles” - America’s Real Ones
"Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an act of terrorism." (Barack Obama 15th February 2013)... [read more]
Leader without Glory
Abu Mazen was very different from Arafat. Arafat was flamboyant, spontaneous, extrovert. Abu Mazen is rather withdrawn, introverted, cautious, meticulous... [read more]
Syria: Russian Intervention Exposes Coalition Lies
How speedily the lies of the “international community” in general, and those of the US and UK in particular, about the Syrian situation are unraveling since the participation of Russia... [read more]
Nasser and I
Forty five years ago Gamal Abd-al-Nasser died at the early age of 52. It continues to have a huge influence on the present, and probably will on the future... [read more]
The Ministry of Fear
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself," said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was wrong... [read more]
"Don't Talk Zionism!"
Decades ago in Israel, "Zionism” was a kind of joke among young people. "Don’t talk Zionism!" meant "Don’t talk highfaluting nonsense!"... [read more]
The Real Menace
Let's put it bluntly: to try to stop IS means supporting the Assad regime. Bashar al-Assad is an abominable fellow, but he has kept Syria together, protected its many minorities and kept the Israeli border quiet... [read more]
The Syrian Crisis is Part of a War Waged on Russia by the West
The roots of the current Syrian refugee crisis lie in the adoption of regime change as a key plank of US and NATO foreign policy... [read more]
Syria: The Murder of Dr Khaled al-Assad, The Guardian of Palmyra
When a new Syria one day confronts the impossible task of rebuilding itself, one elderly academic’s quiet resistance will provide a stark example of dauntlessness and civilization amidst the rubble of its bleakest hour... [read more]
Nuclear Deal or Not?
The ratification must be solely entrusted to the U.S. and Iran-- and NOT to Israel and Saudi Arabia... [read more]
The Face of a Boy
The Israeli occupation in the Palestinian occupied territories is being filmed all the time. Everybody now has cellular phones that take pictures... [read more]
The Self Hating Arab
It felt odd to speak on Skype to a friend in war torn Syria. We had not seen each other since our school days in the 1960s... [read more]
The Molten Three
In 2009, the three leading ministers – Netanyahu, Barak and Lieberman – decided that the time had come to attack Iran... [read more]
The Magician's Apprentice
One has to choose: Binyamin Netanyahu is either incredibly shrewd or incredibly foolish... [read more]
The Douma Market Attack: a Fabricated Pretext for Intervention?
Eric Draitser raises important questions about the recent attack on a market in the Syrian town of Douma and highlights gaps in the official narrative of events... [read more]
Syria: From the sublime to the shameful
What follows is a report from a resident of Aleppo whose identity is not revealed for reasons of security... [read more]
Jewish Terrorists
Some of my best friends demand that I write an article condemning unconditionally the "administrative detention" of Jewish terrorists. ... [read more]
Divide et Impera
Binyamin Netanyahu is not known as a classical scholar, but even so he has adopted the Roman maxim Divide et Impera, divide and rule.... [read more]
Syria: America’s “Inherent Resolve” to Destroy Another Sovereign Nation
The US led “coalitions” of recent years have, it seems, moved on from destroying towns, now entire sovereign nations are laid to waste... [read more]
Sheldon's Stooges
In Japan in the good old days, Binyamin Netanyahu would by now have committed hara-kiri... [read more]
Aleppo a city ravaged by “Islamic State” and Imperialism
This is a report from an Aleppo resident whose identity is protected for their own security... [read more]
The Treaty
What if Binyamin Netanyahu was duped to become unwittingly the main collaborator of Iranian ambitions... [read more]
The Nuclear with Iran and the Prospect of Regional Transformation
The long anticipated historic nuclear accords between the P5+1 countries and Iran is now poised to set a new milestone for non-confrontation and dialogue... [read more]
Yemen: A Voice in the Wilderness
Vanessa Beeley interviews a woman who fled Yemen in the wake of the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against her country... [read more]
The Second Battle of Trafalgar
A mighty naval battle took place this week on the waves of the Mediterranean. It will go down in history as the equal of Salamis or Trafalgar... [read more]
War Crimes? Us???
The concept of "war crimes" is dubious. The biggest crime is starting the war in the first place... [read more]
The Shameful Tragedy of Tariq Aziz. A Metaphor for the “New Iraq.”
As with everything to do with “The New Iraq”, the death of the country’s former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, 79, was announced with a lie... [read more]
Isratin or Palestrael?
The inventors of the "One-State Solution" remind me of this genius. They have a wonderful idea. But there are a few questions left open... [read more]
BDS, the New Enemy
For years now, Netanyahu has built his career on fear of the Iranian Nuclear Bomb... [read more]
The Real Naqba
Three weeks ago was Naqba Day – the day on which Palestinians inside and outside Israel commemorate their "catastrophe... [read more]
The Map on the Wall
History shows us that there are (at least) two kinds of peace agreements. One kind, the stupid one, is based on power. The other, the intelligent, is based on common interest... [read more]
Who Will Save Israel
The battle is over. The dust has settled. A new government – partly ridiculous, partly terrifying – has been installed
... [read more]
The War of Fools
A few days ago, Israeli TV Channel 10 broadcast an investigative story about the 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, known as "Lebanon War II"... [read more]
A Boy Called Bibi
There are two different opinions about Binyamin Netanyahu. It is difficult to believe that they concern the same person... [read more]
Cats in a Sack
A fight is going on. A fight of all against all. A fight without rules or limits... [read more]
"There Are Still Judges…"
This week I won a dubious distinction: a groundbreaking Supreme Court judgment has been named after me. It is an honor I would have gladly dispensed with.... [read more]
A New Israeli-Palestinian Discourse
There is a need for both Israelis and Palestinians to change their discourse which is based on a mixture of rewriting history, expansionist aims, victimhood and endless conspiracy theories where none exist... [read more]
Cultural Zoroastrianism: The Commonality amongst the South-Central-West Asians
The people of Zoroastrian faith, ethnically Persian, can be traced back in history for over 4,000 years... [read more]
National Unity
My first reaction after the election was: “Oh, no! Not a National Unity Government, please!... [read more]
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bomb?
My father once taught me how to withstand blackmail: imagine that the awful threat of the blackmailer has already come about. Then you can tell him: Go to hell... [read more]
An Iranian model of altruism, volunteerism, philanthropy and scholarship in the Diaspora
The devotion of one’s intellectual and material resources to the betterment of human society has been emphasized in Persian literature, culture and religions since the earliest times... [read more]
The Israeli Salvation Front
The 2015 election was a giant step towards the self-destruction of Israel. An Israel Salvation Front is needed now.... [read more]
The Messiah Hasn't Come
As the American saying goes: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."... [read more]
For whom to Vote?
Uri Avnery discusses whom to vote for in the upcoming Israel elections... [read more]
Iraq: The Destruction of Nineveh’s History – Murdering Mesopotamia
March 19th commemorates the twelfth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq... [read more]
The Speech
I was watching The Speech by Binyamin Netanyahu before the Congress of the United States. Row upon row of men in suits (and the occasional woman), jumping up and down, up and down, applauding wildly, shouting approval... [read more]
Israeli Prime Minister to appear before the US Congress
The much hyped up appearance of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress... [read more]
An Expensive Speech
Churchill famously said that democracy is the worst political system, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time... [read more]
Hegemony and Illusion
Only patient and sustained grassroots work among the masses can sharpen their consciousness and help them shed any illusions about the prevailing system. We must be under no illusions. There is no fast-track to the Revolution... [read more]
The Casino Republic
Money plays an ever-increasing role in politics. Election propaganda is made on television, which is very expensive... [read more]
Iraq’s Children: Ever Expendable - From Madeleine Albright to “Save the Children.”
By 2010, seven years in to an unending war, over a quarter of Iraqi children suffered from Post Traumatic Stress disorder... [read more]
Over Bottled
Everybody knows what the Israeli elections are about. The choice is stark: on the one side, the dream of a Greater Israel "from the sea to the river"; on the other side, an end to the occupation and peace... [read more]
Zionists All
The term Zionism can mean many different things. Like the term socialism, for example. Francois Hollande is a socialist. So was Joe Stalin. Any resemblance?... [read more]
Je suis un être humain
For the first time in a long lifetime, the events in Paris have left me cold, shocked, speechless and terrified.
Cold because of its inevitable cruelty. Shocked because of the awful response from a hypocritical world. Speechless because there can be nothing I could possibly say to explain the inexplicable - to defend the indefensible. And terrified because I have brown skin, a beard and I am a Muslim Palestinian... [read more]
Half of Shas
The Shas party has split into two. Opinion polls show that both parts are hovering around the 3.12% threshold which is now necessary for entering the Knesset, after the minimum was raised by the last Knesset... [read more]
My Glorious Brothers
When I was 15 years old and a member of the Irgun underground (by today's criteria, an honest-to-goodness terrorist organization), we sang "(In the past) we had the heroes / Bar Kochba and the Maccabees / Now we have the new ones / The national youth…"... [read more]
Splendid Isolation
Almost a thousand Israeli personalities have already signed an appeal to European parliaments for their governments to recognize the State of Palestine... [read more]
Two activists pay tribute to Palestinian minister killed at human rights day ceremony
Planting a tree should be a joyous occasion, new life, growth and the fruits of labour but not in the West Bank where this simple act cost Palestinian minister, Ziad Abu Ein (55) his life... [read more]
The Pen Trumps the Sword Anytime (Part 4)
The fourth part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
Can the Duke become King?
On Monday, the 19th Knesset voted to dissolve itself, less than two years after its election... [read more]
The Plebiscite
Israelis are fed up with Binyamin Netanyahu. They are fed up with the government. They are fed up with all political parties. They are fed up with themselves. They are fed up... [read more]
The Son of my Eyes
Ruvi Rivlin, who was recently elected to the high but largely ceremonial post, is far from being a leftist... [read more]
The Pen Trumps the Sword Anytime (Part 3)
The third part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
The Pen Trumps the Sword Anytime (Part 2)
The second part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
The Pen Trumps the Sword Anytime (Part 1)
The first part of an 'Introduction' to an illustrated book of poetry by Dr Faysal Mikdadi. The collection, Painted into a Corner, appeared in the summer of 2014... [read more]
The Unholy City
In its long and checkered history, Jerusalem has been occupied by dozens of conquerors. Uri Avnery's weekly article... [read more]
Deaths in detention: Defence of Human Rights group in Pakistan on a “high- risk” mission to Swat
Many innocent people have become victims of the state in Pakistan as successive governments assisted the US with its War on Terror operations after 9/11... [read more]
Wine, Blood and Gasoline
Kafr Kanna, a village near Nazareth, is probably the place where Jesus – according to the New Testament - turned water into wine. Now it is the Arab village where the Israeli police is turning stones into blood... [read more]
Is ISIS Coming?
If ISIS had approached the borders of Israel this week, nobody in the country would have noticed. Israel was riveted to a court-room drama... [read more]
Chickenshit
When a high-ranking official of one country calls the leader of another country "chickenshit", it may be assumed that the relations between the two countries are not at their best... [read more]
Muhammad, Where Are You?
About a month ago, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the government statistical office published a set of interesting items about the population of the state... [read more]
Decent Respect
Sweden, like Britain, was always considered a "pro-Israeli" country, loyally voting against "anti-Israel" resolutions in the UN. If such important Western nations are reconsidering their attitudes towards the policy of Israel, what does it mean?... [read more]
IMT Statement: Kobane threatened with massacre: Fight imperialism! Defend the Kurds!
The forces of ISIS are closing in on the besieged town of Kobane on the Turkish-Syrian border... [read more]
Crusaders and Zionists
Lately, the words "Crusaders" and "Zionists" have been appearing more and more often as twins... [read more]
Two Speeches
If I could choose between the two rhetorical gladiators, I would rather have Mahmoud Abbas representing Israel and Netanyahu representing the other side... [read more]
Pakistan Air Force: Could “retirement” and detention cases have a link to drone policy?
A letter received by the author earlier this year may shed some light on the strange case of officers allegedly being penalized after seeking to take early retirement from the Pakistan Air Force and refused their requests... [read more]
Ah, If I Were 25
Recently, Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit has written an article in which he equally condemns “extreme rightists” and “extreme leftists”, those who advocate war and those who advocate peace... [read more]
Lots of soldiers could die in Iraq — and not fighting ISIS
U.S. troops today should take that lesson to heart. It is not worth being the cannon fodder in another arrogance-driven military adventure in the Middle East... [read more]
Scotland on the Euphrates
Two countries competed this week for first place in news programs all over the world: Scotland and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria... [read more]
Hannibal ad Portas
The last war has come to an end, the next war has not yet started, so let's use the time to speak of many things. Of Hannibal, for example... [read more]
God Wills It!
For six decades my friends and I have warned our people: if we don't make peace with the nationalist Arab forces, we shall be faced with Islamic Arab forces
... [read more]
The history and modern role of political Islam
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the capitalist counter-revolution in China, an immense political vacuum opened up in ideology and politics on a world scale. Article by Dr Lal Khan... [read more]
Genocide in Gaza – The Silence of the Jewellery Industry is Deafening and Telling
The horrific carnage we have seen unleashed in Gaza in recent weeks - a humanitarian catastrophe - would not have been politically or economically affordable without the tacit acquiescence of the global jewellery industry... [read more]
Gaza should make us sick; but we need a more courageous, honest and truthful debate
An article from Dr David McCoy, public health physician and chair of global health charity Medact... [read more]
Farah, A Gazan “Anne Frank”
Farah, who began blogging when she was just 12, sends her messages to be read by global audience, most of whom she will never meet... [read more]
Who is behind ISIS?
I have no idea where the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL or whatever name it uses came from, and I'm just as baffled by the roots of its violent ideology... [read more]
Son of Death
The war was over. Families returned to their kibbutzim near Gaza. Kindergartens opened up again. A ceasefire was in force and extended again and again. Obviously, both sides were exhausted.... [read more]
Bury my Heart at Gaza City
The similarities between the building of Israel and the US are astonishing. The native people are portrayed as savage, inherently violent, unable to understand peace... [read more]
The Yellow-Vented Bulbul
A work by the Palestinian poet, writer and artist, Dr Faysal Mikdadi... [read more]
Eyeless in Gaza
The trouble with war is that it has two sides. Everything would be so much easier if war had only one side... [read more]
Metro Gaza
Israeli journalist and former member of the Knesset, Uri Avnery, suggests a solution to the ongoing conflict in Gaza... [read more]
I Am a Palestinian
A work by the Palestinian poet, writer and artist, Dr Faysal Mikdadi... [read more]
Gaza: Middle East “Peace Envoy” Tony Blair Parties as Gaza Burns
The Fourth Geneva Convention is specific in prohibiting attacks on civilian hospitals, medical transport and of course designates collective punishment a war crime... [read more]
The Dilemma of the Israeli Government in Gaza
The 72 hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas did not last more than a few hours... [read more]
Meeting in a Tunnel
The Israeli media are now totally subservient. There is no independent reporting. "Military correspondents" are not allowed into Gaza to see for themselves, they are willingly reduced to parroting army communiqués, presenting them as their personal observations... [read more]
Climbing High: Samina Baig first Pakistani woman to achieve “seven highest peaks” challenge
Samina Baig from the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan has once again made the news becoming the first female to summit all seven highest peaks in the seven continents in just under eight months... [read more]
Israel slates Gaza for fighting back but why the double standards on “resistance”?
The Palestinians of Gaza consider themselves to be living within “occupied territory”, a fact recognised by the United Nations Human Rights Council and Human Rights Watch due to the fact that Israel maintains control of Gaza’s airspace, waters and borders... [read more]
Holocaust Legacy - Britain’s New Nazis
The first Holocaust of this century is taking place in Mosul, Iraq, and the British Government is strangely silent... [read more]
Once And For All!
In this war, both sides have the same aim: to put an end to the situation that existed before it started... [read more]
Iraq: US and Israel Plan Destruction of the Nation State
The Yinon plan is an Israeli strategic plan to ensure Israeli regional superiority. It insists and stipulates that Israel must reconfigure its geo-political environment through the balkanization of the surrounding Arab states into smaller and weaker states... [read more]
Israel’s Golden Gift
In recent weeks, with the crisis which has befallen Iraq and the upsurge in ISIS related violence, Iraq has become the focus of many media articles which mostly state that the anti-war movement was right to oppose the 2003 war... [read more]
Who is Winning?
Uri Avnery asks what history would look like if it were written in the style of the "Solid Cliff (a.k.a. Protective Edge) operation?... [read more]
GMOs, Corporatocentrism And Economic Plunder: The Right To Challenge And Refuse
The recently leaked report by India's Intelligence Bureau - ‘Impact of NGOs on Development’ - accuses certain activists and civil organisations of working against the national interest by colluding with foreign interests to undermine development and growth... [read more]
Iraq: US: Insurgents Have Chemical and Nuclear Material – “Minimal Risk.”
On 11th and 12th June, ISIS gained control of the Al Muthanna former chemical weapons complex where, in the 1980s, Iraq developed weapons believed to be on par with, then, the US and the former Soviet Union... [read more]
The Atrocity
Bombs are raining on Gaza and rockets on Southern Israel, people are dying and homes are being destroyed... [read more]
“Operation Protective Edge”: Is Israel Planning Gaza’s “Final Solution”?
Yet another massive assault on Palestine is underway. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions is unequivocal: collective punishment is a war crime.... [read more]
So, you think you know Iraq?
After the nearly decade long occupation of Iraq, you would have thought that some within British political circles would have learned about the country they sent troops to occupy back in 2003.... [read more]
The Watch on the Jordan
The Arab world is in turmoil. Syria and Iraq are breaking apart, the thousand-year old conflict between Muslim Sunnis and Muslim Shiites is reaching a new climax... [read more]
The International Brigade of Terror?
For many years, I’ve understood the involvement of British fighters in the Spanish Civil War, to have been made up of people from a variety of different backgrounds, who took up arms to combat the spread of Fascism in Europe... [read more]
An Armed Ghetto
One side's terrorists are the other side’s freedom fighters. That is not simply a matter of terminology. It is a difference of perception, which has far-reaching practical consequences... [read more]
Sisyphus Redeemed
If there is a God, he surely has a sense of humor. The career of Shimon Peres, who is about to finish his term as President of Israel, is clear evidence... [read more]
Has the US-UK War for Oil Detonated the “New Iraq”?
Flames are rising from Iraq's largest oil refinery at Baiji, the result of mortar attacks by the varying forces sweeping towards the capital city. Felicity Arbuthnot describes the latest tragedy to befall Iraq... [read more]
A Coup? Nonsense!
Journalist and former member of the Israeli parliament, Uri Avnery, describes how the Israeli Defence Force is held on a pedestal... [read more]
Good for the Jews?
The claim by Binyamin Netanyahu that he has a right to pick and choose the Palestinian government is rather astonishing, writes Uri Avnery
... [read more]
Patagonian Dreams
During his short visit to Israel, Pope Francis laid a wreath on the grave of Theodor Herzl, writes Uri Avnery... [read more]
In Their Own Juice
According to press reports, President Barack Obama has decided to let Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas “stew in their own juice.”... [read more]
Syria and Ukraine: Two Elections, Diplomatic Shenanigans, Double Standards and Insurgents
Thursday 15th May marked Nakba Day, Yawm an-Nakba, “Day of Catastrophe”: the onset of the displacement of perhaps 800,000 Palestinians... [read more]
A National Hero
Just before Israel’s 66th Independence Day, the country acquired a new national hero, writes Uri Avnery... [read more]
Iraq and Syria, the need for a new Nuremberg
Over one thousand people are dying each month in Iraq as a result of foreign Jihadists exploiting the borders with neighbouring Syria... [read more]
Iraq: Sixty Nine Days In Fallujah General Hospital Emergency Department
Felicity Arbuthnot writes about the ongoing massacre in Fallujah, Iraq, as government forces continue to attack the city... [read more]
Fascism Today
A friend reminded us on Facebook that today, 8 May, is the anniversary of the end of the War in Europe when Fascism was thankfully defeated... [read more]
Pakistan: Tear gassed, baton charged and detained for peaceful protest on missing persons
The day started out with Amina Masood Janjua, Defence of Human Rights (DHR), rallying the relatives of “missing persons” in Pakistan... [read more]
A Shameful Chapter
How would the US react to a declaration that the Palestinians would not conduct negotiations with an Israeli government that includes semi-fascist parties?... [read more]
The emergence of separatist movements in Pakistan
We have undergone two martial law regimes since the National Assembly adopted the 1973 Constitution. The 1973 Constitution failed to transform Pakistan into an economic success... [read more]
Chemical War: The Ties That Bind
Few countries in the Middle East have experienced the same level of chemical attacks as the Iraqi people writes Hussein Al-alak... [read more]
Betrayal Tinged with Greed and Stupidity
When, last July, an Israeli friend sent me a message about the news of John Kerry's declaration of the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, both she and I were not particularly hopeful.... [read more]
Iraq: General Mark Kimmitt’s Easter Day Mistruths and “The Sound of Freedom.”
In 2003, a month into the invasion, Easter Day fell on the same day as this year, 20th April, as Iraqis of all denominations and none, died, were incarcerated, tortured, found with their heads drilled or no heads, thrown on garbage piles... [read more]
Pakistan’s shame: Missing persons at epidemic proportions, campaigners call for urgent action
Carol Grayson highlights the campaign against enforced disappearances in Pakistan... [read more]
An Oslo Criminal
The death of Ron Pundak, one of the original Israeli architects of the 1993 Oslo agreement, brought that historic event back into the public eye.... [read more]
Imperialist war crimes against the people of Syria piling up
Demonstrators denounce mercenary attack on Kassab in Syria... [read more]
Tony Blair, George W. Bush and David Cameron: Hijacking God?
There must be something in the water at Number 10 Downing Street, writes Felicity Arbuthnot... [read more]
Twelve Years a Slave, Sixty Six Years a Living Dead
Dr Faysal Mikdadi dreams of his lost love - Palestine... [read more]
In One Word: Poof!
Poor John Kerry. This week he emitted a sound that was more expressive than pages of diplomatic babble.... [read more]
Censorship double standards: State terrorism websites vs insurgent websites
Carol Grayson asks whether the CIA website should be banned as the organisation is implicated in torture and promotes violence... [read more]
The Monster on the Hill
There is nothing better than a scandal every week. A juicy scandal excites people, engages the media, takes our minds off matters like war and peace, occupation and apartheid... [read more]
Changing The Flag
New Zealand has decided to change its flag. This was only briefly mentioned in the media here. But it is a significant example for us... [read more]
Letter to President Obama
Dear Mr. President, I was sorry to hear that you have been upset by that rogue President Putin... [read more]
The US and Britain’s Paedophile Colony
On February 25th, Iraq’s Cabinet approved a draft law lowering the age of legal marriage for females to nine years old... [read more]
Pakistani accountant raises concerns for human rights of foreign workers in Saudi, claims Labour Law “not working”
Amendments have been made to Labour Law in Saudi Arabia to protect the rights of both foreign and Saudi workers, at least that is the theory but is it working in practice?... [read more]
God Bless Putin
Binyamin Netanyahu is very good at making speeches, especially to Jews, neocons and such, who jump up and applaud wildly at everything he says, including that tomorrow the sun will rise in the west... [read more]
The Promise of the New and the Delusion of the Old
In 1952 the Egyptian Army Officers' Revolution of the 23 July brought in a new era of hope and pride. By 1967 it had brought us Arabs to the brink of disaster... [read more]
Captain Boycott Rides Again
It has always been a secret ambition of mine to have a Bagatz ruling bearing my name... [read more]
Bowe Bergdahl, US soldier captured by Taliban: A reflection on his words and time for prisoner exchange
Carol Grayson reports on the status of Bowe Bergdahl, an American held prisoner by the Taliban since 2009, and provides a transcript of the unedited version of a video of Bowe which the Taliban recently released... [read more]
Islamic Terrorist or Innocent Man?
Spaniards and Gibraltarians will remember well the case of Cengiz Yalcin. However as the British, French and USA secret services were claimed to be involved in his arrest, the case probably reverberated around the world... [read more]
The Logic of War Crimes in a Criminal War
When U.S. marines carried out the savage and systematic execution of Iraqi families and small children in Haditha [in November 2004], it was initially reported as a “battle” with “insurgent casualties.”... [read more]
Little Pharaoh
The moment General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his forces removed Morsi from the Egyptian Presidency, I said that he was doing precisely what President Gamal Abdel Nasser did back in 1952... [read more]
Return, Return oh Shulamit
Dina Dinur, the wife of the Holocaust-writer K. Zetnik, called to invite me to meet Pete Seeger... [read more]
The Imperator
In the middle of the 70s, Ariel Sharon asked me to arrange something for him - a meeting with Yasser Arafat... [read more]
Ariel Sharon: Serial war criminal, mass murderer
Richard Becker, author of "Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire" describes the true legacy of the virulently anti-Arab racist and former Israeli prime minister... [read more]
The Afghan child “suicide” bomber and 8 year old Yemeni drone “spy”: Whose “truth” and whose “propaganda”?
There is often online censorship on insurgents for alleged “propaganda” and instigating violence yet we do not see the same level of censorship for governments that churn out false information on Afghanistan and drone civilians... [read more]
Time for a complete withdrawal in Afghanistan, we should never have invaded in the first place
Journalist Carol Grayson was asked to write an article on the war in Afghanistan for a new magazine, Afghan Zariza, but was told that the “boss” thought it was “too inflammatory, so the article was banned from publication!... [read more]
Peace Comes through Forgiveness
I am a Palestinian. My family moved to Beirut after Israel was created because we were the "myth" that was Palestine... [read more]
Iraq’s Persecuted Christians
The Christmas day attacks against Iraq’s Christian community has once again thrust this besieged and dwindling minority back into the media writes Hussein Al-Alak... [read more]
Britain's Legacy in Palestine (Part 2 of 2)
Dr Faysal Mikdadi publishes an excellent account of Palestine's history, focusing on how the economic, racist, religious, nationalistic, commercial and orientalist attitudes of Britain shaped the land and its people (Part 2 of 2)... [read more]
Britain's Legacy in Palestine (Part 1 of 2)
Dr Faysal Mikdadi publishes an excellent account of Palestine's history, focusing on how the economic, racist, religious, nationalistic, commercial and orientalist attitudes of Britain shaped the land and its people (Part 1 of 2)... [read more]
Angel Face
Seeing her face on the TV screen, one is struck by her beauty. It is the face of an angel, pure and innocent... [read more]
Self-Boycott
Can a country boycott itself? That may sound like a silly question. It is not.... [read more]
Who Are The Mother Agnes Critics?
It would be hilarious, if it wasn’t for the severity of the Syrian crisis, to read some of the allegations being directed against the Syrian based nun, Mother Agnes Mariam... [read more]
The US Role and Iran in Southwest Asia
Déjà vu all over again: US foreign policy has once again arrived at a critical historical crossroad... [read more]
The Assassination
From the first moment, I did not have the slightest doubt that Yasser Arafat was assassinated... [read more]
The Judaization of Israel
On my 16th birthday, in 1939, I rushed to the district registration office of the Government of Palestine to change my name officially... [read more]
A Lifetime of Disillusion
I recently turned sixty five. This is the same age as the State of Israel. From our side of the fence (or should I say 'of the Separation Wall'), it the same date as the birthday of our dispossession as a Palestinian people... [read more]
Is Islam Compatible with Democracy?
The Western world, used to its democratic frame of mind, is constantly telling Muslims in general and Arabs in particular, to build democratic governments... [read more]
The Culture of Blame Will Get Us Nowhere
Dr Faysal Mikdadi challenges the culture of blame associated with the long running conflict between Palestinins and Israelis
... [read more]
Killjoy Was Here
Journalist and former Knesset member, Uri Avnery, reviews Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations... [read more]
Who is listening to the Syrian people?
Throughout the whole Syria crisis, one thing which has been striking, is the clear absence among British political circles, to actually listen to the points being raised by the Syrian people... [read more]
The Delusion of Democracy
It is an amazing fact that in most democracies the majority does not rule, writes Dr Faysal Mikdadi... [read more]
Iraq: The Beats and the Bedouins
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, day to day accounts of what was taking place did not come from left or right wing journalists but from ordinary Iraqi writers, who gave outsiders a unique insight into events... [read more]
Why Do They Hate Our Freedoms So Much?
Former President Bush Junior, not remembered for being remotely articulate, claimed that "our enemies hate our freedoms".... [read more]
The formula for revolution
Three years ago few predicted that a revolution, a coup and an emergent civil war would soon explode in a country considered a prime tourist hot spot and ruled by the same autocrat for nearly 30 years
... [read more]
Marx and the Muslim Brothers
How should one respond to the claim that Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are "Marx's contemporary successors"?... [read more]
The Palestinian Right to Education
Dr Faysal Mikdadi explains how education is the key to Palestinian liberation and democracy... [read more]
Who is killing the people of Iraq?
The United Nations recently warned that the ongoing turmoil inside Syria and Iraq has formed a situation where "the battlefields are merging” into one, writes Hussein Al-Alak... [read more]
Iraq: Between Drug Dealers and Death Squads
Hussein al-Alak shows how drug addiction has taken hold across Iraq following the invasion a decade ago... [read more]
Suffer the Children: Persecuting Christians in the Middle East
Hussein Al-alak demonstrates how the Western media have failed to address direct attacks and murders against Middle Eastern minority communities, in particular the Christians of both Syria and Egypt... [read more]
The battle of Gezi – the battle for freedom
When the first shots sounded I closed my eyes. I shut them closed. I tried to just breathe, not think, while my heart pounded hard against my eardrums. Kitty Ehn reports from Taksim square!... [read more]
The Road to Damascus
Tomasz Pierscionek deconstructs the story behind calls for intervention in Syria... [read more]
“Palestine’s existence depends on respect and on our children” - Dr Rauf Azar (Director of the Beit Sahour medical centre)
Patrizia Bertini interviews Rauf Azar, a Palestinian doctor, using the pioneering Lego Serious Play technique... [read more]
What It Is Like Being Invisible
"Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning"... [read more]
The ‘MENA’ region and the International Monetary Fund
Daniel Robicheau describes the lead up to the war in Syria and the involvement of the IMF... [read more]
My World Is Upside Down
What does the ordinary Arab man or woman in the street think about current events? Dr Faysal Mikdadi ponders... [read more]
The Argo Deception: How Hollywood masks the ugly truth of Iran-US relations
Exiled Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker, Lila Ghobady, talks about the fabrication of history through film... [read more]
Iraqi Freedom Ten Years after Liberation
Next week, on Tuesday 19 March, many of us will remember how, precisely
ten years ago, in another and dreamlike existence, we incredulously
watched the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. Faisl Mikdadi shares some personal reflection... [read more]
“Ich bin ein Bil’iner!”
This does not happen every day: a Minister of Culture publicly rejoices because a film from her country has NOT been awarded an Oscar. And not just one film, but two.
... [read more]
Shallow Depths
In front of me is a copy of today's Khaleej Times; its front page story is about a speech by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed who is the Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, writes Elizabeth Ellis... [read more]
Iraq Ten Years On: What You Don’t Hear!
10 years on from the invasion of Iraq, Hussein Al-Alak examines the long term psychological effects of the occupation... [read more]
Who to vote for?
The Israeli elections will take place in three days, and they are boring, boring, boring writes Uri Avnery... [read more]
The Shame and Duty of a Paranoid State
The rise of neo-Zionism in Israel goes against everything Jews have struggled against for centuries, explains Oliver Thompson ... [read more]
New Year Resolutions in the Arab Spring
Regrettably 2013 has started in a most ghastly realisation of my pessimistic forecast, writes Faysal Mikdadi. The Egyptian comedian, Bassem Youssef, has dared to poke fun at President Morsi and a charge has been filed against him for parodying the President's speeches... [read more]
Was the Bahraini ambassador trying to bribe British MPs?
It is interesting to receive two different news stories on the same day both mentioning the Gulf state of Bahrain and the UK Parliament, writes Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
We Arabs know very little about democracy and understand even less
This is not a self hating statement made in frustration. It is simply the truth. The Arab World has never ever enjoyed a democracy as we understand it today in the Western World or as it was understood at the height of Athenian democratic rule, Dr Faisal Mikdadi says... [read more]
It’s like Déjà-Vu All Over Again
The Israeli-US rhetoric towards Iran is more than just hollow threats. History shows us why Iran is next in the firing line, and why an invasion just might be inevitable. ... [read more]
Palestine’s New Status: A History Rerun or a New Palestinian Strategy
Palestine has become a “non-member state” at the United Nations as of Thursday November 29, 2012.The draft of the UN resolution beckoning what many perceive as a historic moment passed with an overwhelming majority of General Assembly members: 138 votes in favour, nine against and 41 abstentions, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Kurds and Human Rights
David Morgan asks what the Kurdish people have to celebrate as International Human Rights’ Day 2012 approaches... [read more]
Israel's war on journalists
Targeting journalists is not a new Israeli strategy as some might believe. There is irrefutable evidence that the Israeli military is targeting journalists covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, writes Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
A Different War in Gaza, and the War Ahead
Ramzy Baroud writes, in life, some phenomena cannot be explained by ordinary logic or technical language, let alone official discourses. How did Gaza manage to fight back with such ferocity and undying vigour in quelling the latest Israeli war despite years of a bloody siege and one-sided war in 2008-9?... [read more]
Palestine and Israel: A Modest Suggestion for Peace (Part 2)
Faisal Mikdadi discusses the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and presents a road map for achieving peace between all peoples and factions that reside in these lands (Part 2)... [read more]
PTSD in Gaza: A mental health time-bomb
The Gaza Community Mental Health Programme is the leading Palestinian non-governmental organisation which provides mental health services to the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, Hussein Al-alak reports... [read more]
Carrot Versus Breadcrumb: A Palestinian Dilemma
Palestinian Authority leader, President Abbas, is attempting to gain an upgraded status for Palestine at the UN this month writes Susan Walpole... [read more]
Palestine and Israel: A Modest Suggestion for Peace (Part 1)
Faisal Mikdadi discusses the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and presents a road map for achieving peace between all peoples and factions that reside in these lands (Part 1)... [read more]
As Gaza is savaged again, understanding the BBC's historical role is vital
We must understand the BBC as a pre-eminent state propagandist and censor by omission, says John Pilger.... [read more]
Netanyahu’s High-stakes Game in Gaza: Same Time, Same Place
Many key phrases have been presented to explain Israel’s latest military onslaught against Gaza, which left scores dead and wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flexing his muscles in preparation for the Israeli general elections in January, suggested some, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Lip Service to Peace: EU as an Enabler of Netanyahu’s Colonial Policies
Europe is different, as we are often reminded. The general wisdom is unlike the US’ unconditional support for Israel. European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Who Needs an Unstable Middle East?
Being a supporter of Palestinian statehood used to be a more lonely road than it is now. It was difficult to mention Palestine in public because it was such a 'dirty' word, Susan Walpole writes... [read more]
Palestine Entangled: The Politics of Money
The link between political statements and action, and money is obvious for all to see. What may appear as political concessions can oftentimes be attributed to some frozen or funds waiting to be delivered. It is transaction-based politics at its best, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Manipulating History: The Different Faces of ‘Popular Resistance’ in Palestine
Apparently, ‘popular resistance’ has suddenly elevated to become a clash of visions or strategies between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and its rivals in Gaza, underscoring an existing and deepening rift between various factions and leaderships, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Time Magazine and My Psychosis
Dr. Faysal Mikdadi discusses a recent letter he wrote to Time magazine... [read more]
Rhetorically Speaking: US Elections and the Middle East
US elections are manifestly linked to the Middle East, at least rhetorically. In practical terms, however, US foreign policies in the region are compelled by the Middle East’s own dynamics and the US’ own political climate, economic woes, or ambitions, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Majority of Israelis and Palestinians Want Peace
Susan Walpole discusses how the majority of Jews and Muslims wish to live in peace... [read more]
Turkey’s Policies at a Crossroads: From Zero-Problems to a Heap of Trouble
It seems that media consensus has been conclusively reached: Turkey has been forced into a Middle Eastern mess not of its own making; the ‘Zero Problems with Neighbours’ notion, once the foreign policy centrepiece of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), is all but a romantic notion of no use in realpolitik, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Empire Trapped: The US’ Unpromising Role in the New Middle East
Since the Second World War, US foreign policy has been largely predicated on military adventures, by severely punishing enemies and controlling ‘friends’. Diplomacy was often the icing on the cake of war, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
That defining moment: On anti-Muslim films, cartoons and my Gaza neighbour
Insulting Islamic symbols often represents a breaking point for many Muslims. Spiritual, religious figures and symbols often represent the last hope to which poor, humiliated and disenfranchised people cling onto with absolute ferocity, writes Ramzy Baroud. ... [read more]
Iran and the imminent prospect of another unilateral war waged by Israel in the Middle East
Israel, presumably due to its longstanding failure to reach amicable peace with Palestine and the Arab neighbors since 1967, is imminently determined to wage a unilateral war on Iran while struggling to divert internal dissent from its lingering economic and socio–political challenges and international isolations, writes Freeman Ure. ... [read more]
Whose truth is it anyhow?
Dr Faysal Mikdadi remembers the Sabra and Shatilla massacre in 1982 and examines the findings of the Kahan Commission which found that responsibility lay with former Israeli Defence minister, Ariel Sharon... [read more]
The Delusion of Democracy
Elizabeth Elis reminds us that when added together, minorities form a majority and it is only through unity that power can be wrested away from a tiny elite and placed firmly in the hands of the masses... [read more]
Growing Isolation: Boycott of Israel Crosses to Governments’ Realm
Should Israel be worried? Very much so, for the age of total impunity is coming to an end. Critical voices of the Israeli occupation and mistreatment of Palestinians are rising - not only within civil society circles, but among world governments as well, argues Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Palestine- The Right of Return
Dr Faisal Mikdadi looks at some of the arguments used to justify Israel's annexation of Palestinian land and discusses the 'right of return'... [read more]
The Implication of Syria's Civil Strife
Syria's Civil War is essentially a war between the majority Sunni Muslims and the minority Alawites (Shi'ites) who have ruled Syria for over 40 years. The result is a foregone conclusion. President Assad will lose and the Alawites will be ousted. Or will they? And before they do, what will be the price paid by others, asks Faysal Mikdadi.... [read more]
Palestinian Refugees from Syria Lost and ‘Betrayed’
The official position of Arab nations is unambiguous: solidarity with Palestine is paramount. But facts on the ground point to a disturbingly different reality, one in which Palestinians are mistreated beyond any rational justification in various Arab countries, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
A Step Towards the Dock
Desmond Tutu has helped us see the true nature of what the former prime minister did to Iraq and increased pressure for a prosecution, writes George Monbiot. ... [read more]
Melinda Taylor: The Spy That Got Away?
On the 7th of June 2012, Melinda Taylor and three other ICC delegates were arrested in the city of Zintan in Libya by Zintani militia. How should the Australian media handle the story? Finn Bowen takes a look.... [read more]
Arrigoni’s Murder Trial in Gaza: Answers Not Just a Verdict
Justice for Vittorio Utopia Arrigoni has been paramount, but we also expect the Gaza government to hand down more than a verdict, also answers to those trying to kill Vittorio’s dream – along with our humanity, writes Ramzy Baroud.
... [read more]
Israel’s Plans for a New Arab World
Dr Faysal Mikdadi discusses the consequences of the division and disorganisation seen amongst the countries of the Arab world... [read more]
Shifting Truths in Sinai: Who Stands to Gain from the Carnage?
Two Toyota Land Cruisers filled with well-built gunmen in ski masks and all-black outfits appear seemingly out of nowhere. They approach a group of soldiers huddled around a simple meal as they prepare to break their Ramadan fast. The gunmen open fire. This is not an opening scene of a Hollywood action movie. The massacre actually took place at an Egyptian military post in northern Sinai, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Democracy By Candlelight: Living In Fear And Kept In The Dark
Giving people the opportunity to vote every four or five years, while in the meantime deceiving, misinforming and lying to them, has no more to do with democracy or freedom than what is happening in Syria right now, writes Colin Todhunter. ... [read more]
Neocons vs. the ‘Arab Spring’: Back on the Warpath
The neoconservatives are back with a vengeance. While popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and other Arab countries had briefly rendered them irrelevant in the region, Western intervention in Libya signaled a new opportunity, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
In southern Iraq too, Ottoman-era heritage decays
Two cemeteries sprawl in this southern Iraqi town. One is for British and Indian soldiers. The other for Turkish veterans. Both died in World War I... [read more]
Independence In The Pocket Of The US: "Mera Pyara Bharat" ("I Love My India?")
With a population of 1.2bn people, many believe that India is the arena where the future direction of humanity is being played out. However, the future of humanity may not be determined in India, but by events in a much smaller country – Syria, writes Colin Todhunter.
... [read more]
Lurking Danger: Palestinian Refugees in Syria
Palestinian refugees in Syria cannot expect to exist outside a paradigm of danger and unpredictability. Their brethren in Lebanon learned the same lesson years ago, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Bosnia and Croatia: What is the tie with Iran?
Professor David Rahni uses etymology to explain how different cultures may have more in common with each other than they think... [read more]
Turkey, the Kurdish Struggle and the New Middle East
Turkey, a NATO member, has historically been a key strategic ally of the West in the Cold War but the political situation inside the country is far from tolerant of opposition, writes David Morgan. ... [read more]
Poisoning Arafat
Uri Avnery asks whether the late Palestinian Prime Minister, Yasser Arafat, was assassinated by Ariel Sharon... [read more]
The Predicament of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon exist on the margins of a larger political question concerning the country’s irreconcilable sectarian, factional and familial divides, Ramzy Baroud reports... [read more]
From MI5 to Islamabad, safe in our hands: death, destruction and spymaster saviours
Colin Todhunter explains that the US had its fingers all over much of the Arab Spring since before day one.... [read more]
Anniversary of Gaza Blockade: A State of Siege, and Normalcy
Condemning Israeli rights violations in Palestine by leading human rights and humanitarian organizations is nothing new. Unfortunately, such calls are rarely followed by any organized political campaigns, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Manhunt
Uri Avnery, Israeli journalist and former Knesset member, writes about the abuse of African migrants in his country... [read more]
Off the Agenda: The Unresolved Question of Egypt's Economy
A new Egypt demands a new constitution and president. Many pressing questions also need to be addressed, including the religious-secular divide, the value of Sharia in the making of law, citizenship, minority rights, the rule of civil society, foreign policy, and much more, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The War on Palestinian Soccer: Free Mahmoud Sarsak
On 3 June, Palestinian national soccer team member Mahmoud Sarsak completed 80 days of a grueling hunger-strike. He had sustained the strike despite the fact that nearly 2,000 Palestinian inmates had called off their own 28-day hunger strike weeks ago, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Starving and Broke: Yemen’s Renewed ‘War on Terror’
Yemeni forces continue to push against fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda. Their major victories come on the heels of the inauguration of Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi, who is now entrusted with the task of leading the country through a peaceful transition writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Bahrain: a microcosm that typifies the intensifying dilemma of the Arab regimes
David Rahni discusses the political deadlock in Bahrain... [read more]
A Bird’s Eye View
Uri Avnery explains a principle that has long guided Zionists: 'accept every compromise that gives us what we can get at any stage, but never let the final aim out of our sight'... [read more]
The soft colonialism's obsession: an interview with Adam Levick
Adam Levick has been the managing director of CIF Watch since July 2010. He was born in Philadelphia and moved to Israel in 2009, Patrizia Bertini speaks to him through a 'Lego interview'.... [read more]
Redefining the ‘Arab Spring’: Is Chaos Overtaking Revolution?
The age of revolutionary romance is over. Various Arab countries are now facing hard truths. Millions of Arabs merely want to live with a semblance of dignity, free from tyranny and continuous anxiety over the future, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Iran uses intimidation to deter Arab protests
Dan Brett says Tehran is using martial law, arrests, imprisonment, torture & killings to suppress its Arab minority... [read more]
The Palestinian Nakba: The Resolve of Memory
Writing about the events of Al-Nakba, Ramzy Baroud reports that every region in Palestine that was meant to be taken was captured, its people were expelled or massacred in their homes and villages. Ben Guiron ‘cleansed’ the land, but he failed to cleanse Israel’s past. Memory persists.
... [read more]
The anniversary of the Catastrophe
John Wight provides a detailed account of al-Nakba, known to Palestinians around the world as 'the catastrophe'... [read more]
A Putsch Against War
Uri Avnery reveals that in Israel senior military officers and intelligence chiefs are speaking out against President Binyamin Netanyahu's calls for war with Iran. However, Netanyahu ignores their warnings and carries on regardless... [read more]
Struggle over Iran: Tumultuous Israeli Politics Will Not Usher Peace
Israel is currently experiencing the kind of turmoil that may or may not affect its political hierarchy following the next general election. However, there is little reason to believe that any major transformations in the Israeli political landscape could be of benefit to Palestinians, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Illegal Settlements Bonanza: Israel Plots an Endgame
Israel’s colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Rest is Hasbara: Jenny Tonge’s Victory over the Lobby
Baroness Tonge, spoke at the House of Lords in January 2009 of the "impotence of the international community, not just in Gaza, but…over 40 years of occupation of Palestine by Israel," Ramzy Baroud explains further.... [read more]
The New Mandela
Uri Avnery writes about the determination of the Israeli state to keep Marwan Barghouti, Palestine's Mandela, behind bars... [read more]
Hana Shalabi ends hunger strike, other prisoners begin
The decisions of political prisoners, Hana Shalabi and Khader Adnan, to go on hunger strike to protest their detention without charge has ignited a new wave of protest amongst Palestinian prisoners in Israel jails.... [read more]
What Marwan Barghouti Really Means to Palestinians
Marwan Barghouti, the prominent Palestinian political prisoner and Fatah leader, is a unifying figure among Palestinians, last week he called on Palestinians to launch a “large-scale popular resistance” which would “serve the cause of our people,” writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Theresa May and Al-Qaeda's ''Assurances''
Hussein Al-Alak reflects on Teresa May seeking assurances that Abu Qatada not be tortured if deported to Jordan... [read more]
When will the Palestinians revolt?
After six decades of occupation, Israeli government strategists are yet to realize that the Palestinian people are not a singular body of blind followers who can be easily manipulated and controlled, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
All Quiet on the Southern Front
Uri Avnery comments on the rationale behind Israel's latest bombing of the Gaza strip... [read more]
Why Israel Attacked Gaza: Bibi Stirring Trouble
The first Israel missile sped down to its target, scorching the Gaza earth and everything in between. Palestinians collected the body parts of two new martyrs, while Israeli media celebrated the demise of two terrorists, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Michel Warshawski: walls and democracy
Legoviews are interviews based on 'Lego Serious Play' methodology, in this EXCLUSIVE interview with Michel Warschawski, Patrizia Bertini uses the world famous Lego bricks – to find her interviewee’s answers to tough questions. By involving a creative manual activity, it is thought to engage different areas of the brain and reveal concepts and ideas which might not emerge otherwise.... [read more]
Back to Basics in Palestine: Redefining Our Relationship to a People’s Struggle
Palestinians are governed by laws without internationally recognizable legal frame of reference, a situation that allows Israel to justify the detention of Gaza patients seeking medical treatment outside their besieged area, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Between Politics and Principles: Hamas’ Perilous Manoeuvres
Despite all of Hamas’ assurances to the contrary, a defining struggle is taking place within the Palestinian Islamic movement, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The New Colony - Balochistan
Assed Baig comments on US initiatives to gain access to a previously ignored mineral rich area of the globe... [read more]
The Zionist reaction to the death of 10 Palestinian children in a bus fire
A video was taken earlier this week when 10 Palestinian children were killed and 20 were injured while travelling on a bus that caught fire in a horrific collision between the bus and an Israeli truck east of Ramallah, writes Iqbal Tamimi.
... [read more]
BDS: Power of the People at Work
The recent University of Pennsylvania BDS conference, organized by student group, PennBDS, was the latest example to illustrate both the effectiveness of the global movement and also of the real worry felt by supporters of Israel in the US, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Israel Vying for War: Attacking Iran Will Not Repeat History
One would think that the years between 1991 – the first war on Iraq - and 2003 would have been enough to convince US-led Western allies that economically besieged, politically isolated and war torn Iraq had no capacity for producing WMDs, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Hurrah for Egypt!
Uri Avnery has warm words for the new democratically elected Egyptian parliament... [read more]
Anti-Semitism and Israel’s Inherent Contradictions
In a recent article, columnist Yaniv Halili described British author Ben White as 'anti-Semitic'. He also denounced Arab Knesset member Hanin Zoabi for writing a forward to White's latest book, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy, writes Ramzy Baroud.
... [read more]
The Blockbusters
Uri Avnery shows how the differences that exist between the different cultural blocs in Israeli society are a barrier to peace ... [read more]
Saudi judge demands extreme action against female journalist
Following her description of the religious police as "ex-convicts and drug addicts", a Saudi judge has demanded withdrawing the nationality of a female journalist, writes Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
Waiting for False Prophets: The Puzzling Matter of the Israeli Liberals
Regardless of who may rule Israel, little change ever occurs in the country’s foreign policy, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Stolen War
Uri Avnery shows how Hamas' decision to make peace with Israel scuppers plans for war... [read more]
Saudi Princess becomes a 'journalist'
Earlier this month BBC World interviewed Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Saud bin Abdul Azizas, however Arab journalists were surprised to hear the Saudi Princess addressed as a journalist, observes Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
Shukran, Israel
If Islamist movements come to power all over the region, they should express their debt of gratitude to their bête noire, Israel, states Uri Avnery
... [read more]
Palestine: Those Who Inspired Us in 2011
2011 had its share of tragedy. Human lives were lost in Palestine. But hope was also sustained by the sacrifices of numerous ‘ordinary’ people, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Letter to a Soldier of the IDF
John Wight writes a letter in commemoration of the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, Israel's military assault on Gaza, it is written in the form of a letter to an IDF soldier.
... [read more]
Embellishing the Iraq War: Moral Victory, and Selective Body Counts
Someone ought to let mainstream news producers know that the nearly 4,500 US soldiers killed in the Iraq war were not the only victims. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also been killed as a result of the US invasion, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Masked in Gaza: The Untold History of Palestinian ‘Militancy’
It really doesn’t take much to kill a ‘militant’ in Gaza, argues Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
The Bible of the revolution and its Quran
The 2011 revolution of the people of Egypt shocked the international community on many different levels, says Iqbal Tamimi.... [read more]
The King's speech
Uri Avnery discusses the implications of a parliamentary bill that would seek to push the Palestinian population out of the West Bank and into Jordan... [read more]
Assassinating Egyptian Dreams
Ahmed Amr reveals how the Egyptian military are suffocating the spirit of the Tahrir square revolution... [read more]
On Freedom and Imperialism: Arab Spring and the Intellectual Divide
The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries, says Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
'Zero-Problems' Foreign Policy No More: Turkey and the Syrian 'Abyss'
Ramzy Baroud notes the U-turn in Turkey's foreign policy towards its neighbour Syria.... [read more]
The War on Libya: Behind Appearances - Part 3
An in-depth critique and analysis of the beginnings of the civil war in Libya and what was at stake for all parties involved in the final conflict, split into three parts. (Part 3)... [read more]
Signs of resistance to NATO-installed government in Libya
One month after the official “liberation” of Libya was declared, the authority of the National Transition Council remains tenuous at best and the country remains in a state of chaos, says Derek Ford.... [read more]
Telling the Players with a Scorecard
How politics is manifested as economics and economics as politics should concern us right now, argues Steven Colatrella.... [read more]
The War on Libya: Behind Appearances - Part 2
An in-depth critique and analysis of the beginnings of the civil war in Libya and what was at stake for all parties involved in the final conflict, split into three parts. (Part 2)... [read more]
Weimar Revisited
Uri Avnery explains how the three main pillars of Israeli democracy - the courts, the media and the human rights organisations - are under threat from the political right. ... [read more]
The War on Libya: Behind Appearances - Part 1
An in-depth critique and analysis of the beginnings of the civil war in Libya and what was at stake for all parties involved in the final conflict, split into three parts.... [read more]
Gaza Boats Seized, but ‘Freedom Waves’ Will Continue
Despite the Israeli government’s continued aggression towards humanitarian aid ships sailing to Gaza, Ramzy Baroud shows how the aid flotillas show no sign of giving in to intimidation.
... [read more]
Empty words from Israel?
Uri Avnery casts a close eye on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's threat of an attack against Iran... [read more]
This time he went too far: On Norman Finkelstein
Matt Hill takes a look at recent rhetoric from acclaimed author and historian Norman Finkelstein... [read more]
Everybody's son
Uri Avnery comments on the recent Israel-Palestine prisoner swap and the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit... [read more]
Iranian 'assassination plot': Cooked up to further U.S. aim of regime change?
Mazda Majidi dissects US allegations of an Iranian plot to assassinate a Saudi diplomat on American soil.... [read more]
The More Enemies, The More Honor
Uri Avnery reflects upon Israel's faltering relations with its allies.... [read more]
Russian and Chinese Opposition to Intervention in Syria a Welcome Development
John Wight considers the decision by China and Russia to veto a recent UN Security Council Resolution condemning Syria... [read more]
'Illegal settlements' to be destroyed - just the wrong ones
Matthew Hill takes a look at the plight of the Bedouin living in the Negev desert-a minority within Israel's Arab minority.... [read more]
Interview: Behind the Lines
Hussein Al-Alak speaks with a Jordanian based activist involved in helping Iraqi refugees who have fled to Jordan.... [read more]
Are U.S./NATO powers aiming to make Syria into Libya 2.0?
Mazda Majidi asks whether the NATO attack on Libya was just a dress rehersal for a future invasion of Syria... [read more]
The Roma of Iraq- a forgotten community
Iqbal Tamimi considers the fate of the Roma women of Iraq: from dancing and prostitution before the US invasion of Iraq to harassment and begging on the streets afterwards.... [read more]
Blog: Lies Lies Lies
outRageous! - Lies about the recent gunplay in Kabul and the stuff no one wants you to know.... [read more]
Schism opens in Israel
The spreading of the Arab Spring marks a change in Israel’s ability to continue its policy under the Netanyahu government of intransigence and refusal to negotiate a fair settlement with the Palestinians and the Obama administration in good faith, argues John Wight.... [read more]
Over 300 U.S. troops dead in Afghanistan in 2011
Kevin Baker shows how the US administation cares little for the lives of American soldiers. Many troops dying in Afghanistan today were 8 years old when the 9/11 attacks happened. ... [read more]
The Traitor of Baghdad
Hussein Al-Alak sheds light on prominent Iraqis who helped pave the way for the imperialist invasion of their nation.... [read more]
'Social justice' requires ending Israeli apartheid
Sarah Carlson looks at the growing social protest movement in Israel and discusses the need for the Israeli working class to combat not only the economic policies of their government but also its colonialist policies.... [read more]
The Return of the Generals
Uri Avnery discusses how a recent resurgence of hostilities between Islamic militants and the Israeli army could undermine a growing social protest movement within Israel, playing right into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s hands.... [read more]
The New Anti-Semitism
Uri Avnery, Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement, offers a warning from history as he examines a modern form of racism taking root across Europe.... [read more]
Leon Panetta in Iraq: More lies, more war
Michael Prysner, reveals how the newly appointed American Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, is bringing back Bush-era rhetoric and pushing to extend the occupation of Iraq.... [read more]
Welcome to Gaza: Revolution and Change at the Rafah Border
Ramzy Baroud on how the new Egyptian government is signifying a welcome change to the border with Gaza.... [read more]
The Changing Face of the Egyptian Media
Iqbal Tamimi considers the challenges facing the Egyptian media in light of the recent political upheaval in that country. ... [read more]
The Egyptian Revolt is Coming Home
John Pilger reflects on Egypt and the revolution and what it means to leaders in the west.... [read more]
From Tiananmen Square to Tahrir Square
Steven Colatrella on the nature of uprisings against the state in the wake of revolution in Tunisia and Egypt.... [read more]
Any Egyptian Demonstration Must Be A Riot
Ahmed Amr relates his experience from the front line of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations and considers culpability of the US in what happened. ... [read more]
Tunisia: How We Got Here and the Task Ahead
Ramzy Baroud reflects on the causes of the popular uprising and where we go from here.... [read more]
Another Baghdad Massacre: Iraqi Christians Are Already at Home
Media rhetoric over the struggles of Iraqi Christians represents classic 'divide and rule' imperialism, writes Ramzy Baroud.... [read more]
Such is the Peace Process: Obama as a Salesman
Ramzy Baroud reflects on the mood of pessimism emanating from the latest round of peace talks in the Middle East.... [read more]
Obama's Next War Project
For all its rhetoric on Iraq, history suggests the Obama administration is likely to embark on a new war, says Rhoderick Gates.... [read more]
Arab Journalism and Egypt’s’ claimed control over UK’s mosques
Iqbal Tamimi on the ego-fuelled misrepresentation of facts by the Arab press.... [read more]