Pyramids may rise above the recession
CAIRO (IPS) — When tourism officials met at the start of the year to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on Egypt's tourism industry, the prognosis looked bleak. But now, three months into 2009, a better picture is emerging — and some experts believe the battened-down sector can weather the storm. "Everyone has...The Middle East’s first theme park opens in Kuwait
JAHRA, KUWAIT — More than 700 guests were invited to enjoy the grand opening of THE 99 Village theme park conducted under sunny skies and moderate temperatures that seemed designed to welcome Kuwait's newest family entertainment venue. Ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of The 99 Village theme park. In addition...
Israeli soldiers expose atrocities in Gaza
March 21st, 20090 JERUSALEM (IPS) — Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers who took part in the recent war in Gaza, Israel is being confronted directly with the serious charge that permitted rules of engagement allowed for the killing of Palestinian civilians and widespread destruction of Palestinian property. A Palestinian boy stands in...Israelis using ‘excessive’ force against protesters
RAMALLAH (IPS) — The critical wounding of a U.S. activist has highlighted the excessive use of force by Israeli forces. The activist, Tristan Anderson, 38, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the Palestinian West Bank last week. He remains in intensive care in Tel...
Iraq: Pulling out or digging in?
March 14th, 20090 A lot of Americans who voted for candidate Barack Obama because of his promises to end George Bush's war in Iraq are feeling dismayed, or even betrayed. Iraqi policemen frisk tribal sheikhs before entering a reconciliation meeting in Baghdad March 8, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen During the election campaign, Obama vowed to...
In ruins for 18 months, a Palestinian enclave languishes in disrepair
March 14th, 20090 NAHR ALBARED REFUGEE CAMP, LEBANON — Rebuilding Gaza isn't the only effort under way to improve the Palestinians' plight. Eighteen months after it was wrecked in fighting between the Lebanese Army and Islamist militants, this impoverished refugee camp is just beginning to be put back together again in a project hampered by a...Mini-summit pledges Arab unity
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Kuwait have pledged to work together to advance the causes of their region. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (L-R), Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah walk together at Riyadh airport March 11, 2009....Did Clinton sabotage a Palestinian reconciliation?
An end to the schism between the resistance and the elected but internationally-boycotted Hamas government on the one hand, and the Western-backed Fatah faction on the other, seemed within reach. But the good feeling came to a sudden end after what looked like a coordinated assault by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,...
International tribunal begins work
March 7th, 20090 BEIRUT — A potentially explosive murder investigation which has gripped the Middle East for four years moved from Lebanon to the Netherlands this week with the launch of a landmark international tribunal. Supporters of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon, visit his grave in Beirut. The tribunal, established...Ethnic cleansing goes on in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israel plans to demolish 88 homes in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, to make way for a new archaeological park, adding new fuel to the slow-burning dispute over Jerusalem. Palestinian boys play soccer in the Arab neighbourhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem February 24, 2009 REUTERS/Ammar Awad A...Palestinian landowners kept in dark over Efrat settlement expansion
BETHLEHEM — An Israeli military tribunal has issued a decision that could pave the way for the expansion of the West Bank settlement of Efrat without informing a group of Palestinians who were petitioning to save their land. Local youths hold candles during a protest against the presence of illegal Jewish settlements in the...
Palestinian factions meet in Cairo
February 28th, 20090 Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei (sitting 3rd L) reads out a statement during a news conference in Cairo, February 26, 2009. A dozen Palestinian groups launched a long-awaited dialogue on Thursday and laid out a plan to tackle key issues that could reunite Palestinians after 18 months of schism between Gaza and the West Bank....Hamas won’t give in to blackmail
RAMALLAH (IPS) — At the eleventh hour, just as a permanent ceasefire painfully mediated by the Egyptians after weeks of intensive shuttle diplomacy was about to take effect, Israel suddenly changed its preconditions for a settlement with Hamas. This has left the Palestinians, especially Gazans, the Egyptians, the Hamas leadership and...Divided we stand awaiting elections
On Feb. 14, supporters of the March 14th anti-Syrian movement thronged in time-honored tradition to Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut to commemorate the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri four years ago — a show of strength that has become a fixture of Lebanese politics. Saad Hariri at a Beirut...Iraq’s Sunnis joining Shi’a pilgrims
BAGHDAD — Sheikh Mohammad al-Ethawi, resplendent in his gold-trimmed robe and white headdress, hands out oranges to Shi'a pilgrims walking by a striped tent on the main route to the holy city of Karbala. Shi'a and Sunni 'Sons of Iraq' guard force lay down their rifles to serve Shi'a pilgrims on their way to Karbala south of......
Kerry first American official to visit Gaza after Hamas takeover
February 21st, 20090 U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) speaks with a Palestinian man (L) during his visit to the destroyed American International School in the northern Gaza Strip February 19, 2009. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem The U.S. will not change its stance towards Hamas, John Kerry, the former democratic U.S. presidential candidate, has said during a tour...Window closing for a two-state solution
WASHINGTON — Two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Palestinians warm themselves by a fire, as others take cover from the rain, under the ruins of their destroyed house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip February 17, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem When the "two-state solution" became the...Regional deals won’t harm Lebanon
BEIRUT — U.S. Sen. John Kerry said on Wednesday that the new administration will press Syria to help disarm Hizbullah as it forges ahead with a fresh diplomatic approach in the region. John Kerry, Chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee (L) shakes hands with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the...Thousands rally in Beirut on Hariri assassination anniversary
BEIRUT – A massive crowd of flag-waving Lebanese filled Martyrs' Square on Saturday to remember slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri — an occasion his supporters used to rally the public before parliamentary elections in which they are struggling to stay in power. Tens of thousands of Lebanese attend a rally near the......
The PLO: Why an alternative and why the panic?
February 14th, 20090 Left: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in June 2008. Right:Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal speaks in Tehran in May 2008. REUTERS When Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared before a cheering crowd in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 28, the need for a new leadership, his words generated panic amongst leaders of the West Bank-based...Arabs, stay in the street
Commentary I will sum up the transition in U.S. foreign policy as follows: in the Bush era, since September 2001, U.S. foreign policy entailed the orchestration of crisis that played on the twin themes of the "war against terror" and "those who aren't with us are against us." The Barack Obama era opened with the two central chords,......
Egypt hinders investigations into Gaza war
Egypt has refused entry into the Gaza Strip to members of an international committee in charge of investigating Israeli war crimes. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set up the committee. Four French and Norwegian lawyers comprise the committee. The ICC had earlier started preliminary analysis into alleged...Kerry to meet Assad in Syria
U.S. Senator John Kerry U.S. Sen. John Kerry will meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad next week in Damascus. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be part of a congressional delegation visiting both Israel and Syria, according to media reports. Kerry's spokesman said the Assad meeting would be......
