Ahed Tamimi freed from Israeli prison pledge to continue resistance
July 30th, 20180 WEST BANK - Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager released by Israel on Sunday after completing a prison term for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier said she wanted to become a lawyer so she could continue her struggle against the occupation of her country. Tamimi, 17, became a hero to Palestinians after the incident last December...
Gaza artist takes on Trump despite disabilities
July 13th, 20180 GAZA — How can an artist capture the anger of a people when the most powerful politician in the world tries to discard their rights? Mahmoud al-Moqayad may have succeeded in doing just that. After Donald Trump delivered a grave insult to Palestinians by announcing that the U.S. was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,...
Jewish American BDS activist denied entry into Israel
July 6th, 20180 WEST BANK — A Prominent Jewish American activist, Ariel Gold, was denied entry into Israel on Sunday, July 1, over her activism in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Gold was prevented from entering Israel when she landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport Sunday afternoon. She was held until 11 p.m....
Four Arab states support U.S. ‘deal of the century’ in the Middle East
July 1st, 20180 AMMAN/WASHINGTON — Four Arab states have backed the U.S. plan for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, regardless of the position of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, an Israeli newspaper reports. The Israel Hayom daily interviewed officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan who...
Palestinian hit in face by tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldier in Gaza protests
June 12th, 20180 GAZA - A Palestinian hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by an Israeli soldier, was on life support in a Gaza hospital on Friday. Israel says it uses tear gas as a non-lethal measure against Gaza border protests. But the projectile, launched by a soldier on the Israeli side of the frontier, hit Haitham Abu Sabla in...
Lebanon working for return of thousands of Syrian refugees
June 5th, 20180 BEIRUT — Lebanon is working with Damascus for the return of thousands of refugees who want to go back to Syria, a Lebanese official said on Thursday. As the Syrian army, backed by Iran and Russia, has recovered territory, Lebanon’s president and other politicians have called for refugees to go back to “secure areas” before a...
Israel’s premature celebration: Gazans have crossed the fear barrier
May 25th, 20180 Sixty Palestinians were killed in Gaza on May 15, simply for protesting and demanding their Right of Return as guaranteed by international law. Fifty more were killed since March 30, the start of the “Great March of Return”, which marks Land Day. Nearly 10,000 have been wounded and maimed in between these two...
Pompeo lays out U.S. demands on Tehran, Khamenei sets condition for EU to stay in deal
May 25th, 20180 The nuclear deal: List of U.S. demands vs list of Iranian condition WASHINGTON/TEHRAN — on Monday, the Trump administration demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face "the strongest sanctions in history" as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after President Trump's decision to withdraw...
Young Arab American on track to becoming a professional author
May 25th, 20180 By Sarah Kominek DEARBORN - Maya Audi, a 15-year-old sophomore at Dearborn High School, has her eyes set on becoming an author. In April 2016, Audi and her mother entered her story “The Raven Gem” in the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Big Read Dearborn, hosted by the Dearborn Public Library. In partnership with...
International court’s prosecutor warns Israel on Gaza violence, expresses “grave concern”
May 16th, 20180 AMSTERDAM - The office of the prosecutor of the world’s permanent war crimes court on Wednesday expressed “grave concern” about escalating violence in Gaza against Palestinian civilians and said alleged crimes could be subject to an investigation. Dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire during protests on Monday,...
France says Middle East is ‘explosive,’ criticizes U.S. policy and unjustified Israeli violence
May 15th, 20180 PARIS - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday described the situation in the Middle East as “explosive” and criticized the United States for unilateral acts in the region and Israel for what he said was an unjustified level of violence. Thousands of Gaza residents turned out on Tuesday for the funerals of...
Palestinians hold protest in Cannes against Israeli killing in Gaza
May 15th, 20180 CANNES, France - Hollywood actor Benicio del Toro joined Palestinians at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday in a demonstration against the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinians on the Gaza border. Sixty people were killed on Monday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, by Israeli gunfire or tear gas, in what Palestinian...
Pro-Trump pastor who claims Islam is a “cult” picked to lead prayer at opening of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem
May 14th, 20180 WASHINGTON - An anti-gay, pro-Trump pastor from Dallas will give the opening prayer Monday night at the introduction ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem. Pastor Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor and supporter of President Donald Trump, will add to the controversy surrounding the diplomatically awkward event. Jeffress,...
Israeli occupation forces kill dozens, injure hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza
May 14th, 20180 GAZA - Israeli occupation forces killed dozens of Palestinians taking part in mass protests on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. The U.S. move fulfilled a pledge by President Donald Trump, who has recognized the holy city as the Israeli capital, but it has fired Palestinian anger...
Hezbollah allies gain seats in Lebanon parliamentary elections
May 7th, 20180 BEIRUT - Hezbollah and its political allies won just over half the seats in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, unofficial results showed, boosting an Iranian-backed movement fiercely opposed to Israel and underlining Tehran’s growing regional clout. Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called it a “political and moral......
Israeli forces kill Palestinian near Gaza border
March 3rd, 20180 GAZA - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said that a“suspect had approached a restricted area in the southern Gaza Strip.” Soldiers then“fired warning shots into the air, and when the suspect...
State Department: U.S. ready to open Jerusalem embassy in May
February 25th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States said on Friday it will open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem in May, a move from Tel Aviv that reverses decades of U.S. policy and is bound to trouble U.S. allies who have already objected. President Trump announced last December that the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,...
U.S. State Department designates Hamas leader as “terrorist”
January 31st, 20180 WASHINGTON - The State Department said on Wednesday it had designated Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas Movement, as a "terrorist". The State Department said in a statement that Haniyeh, along with two active groups in Egypt and one in the Palestinian territories, were listed as specially designated "global terrorists". It...
Protests erupt in response to Bassil’s slur of Berri, Aoun urges forgiveness and stability
January 30th, 20180 BEIRUT - President Michel Aoun on Tuesday called for forgiveness and stability in Lebanon after a political row involving his son-in-law triggered street protests and deepened a rift with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Gebran Bassil called Nabih Berri “a thug” in a video that went viral on social media in Lebanon. Berri......
Frustrated Palestinians snub Pence, tell Trump Jerusalem is not for sale
January 26th, 20180 DAVOS, Switzerland — President Trump threatened on Thursday to withhold aid to the Palestinians if they did not pursue peace with Israel, saying they had snubbed the United States by not meeting Vice President Mike Pence during a recent visit to the region. Arab Israeli parliamentarians protest Pence speech Earlier, Palestinian...
Amena Khan loses her L’Oreal gig after 2014 tweet calling Israel a “child killers” unearthed
January 24th, 20180 LONDON - Just days into her role, a British Muslim model has quit a major beauty brand's campaign after right-wing media outlets published her tweets from 2014, in which she criticized Israel's war in Gaza. Amena Khan, who runs the Pearl Daisy fashion blog, became L'Oreal's only hijab-wearing model to front its haircare campaign,......
Trump administration to provide $60 million in Palestinian aid, withhold $65 million
January 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States will give a U.N. agency $60 million in aid for Palestinians but will withhold a further $65 million “for future consideration,” a U.S. official said on Tuesday. In keeping back some of the aid, Washington appeared to carry out a threat made by President Trump in a Twitter post on Jan. 2 in which he...
Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil criticized over Israel comments, claims TV distorted his interview
December 28th, 20170 BEIRUT - Lebanese politicians on Thursday criticized Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil over a television interview in which he was shown saying that Lebanon did not have an ideological problem with Israel and was not against it having security. The comments, made to al-Mayadin satellite channel during a long interview on Tuesday, had......
