Middle East

An Iranian festival, Yalda, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, with pomegranates, poetry and sacred rituals

By Pardis Mahdavi | – As the days become shorter and the nights become longer and darker, we are reminded that indeed winter is coming. As a child I would dread this time of the year. Not only was there was less time to play outside, but there was a string of holidays that my […]

Israel/ Palestine

No Steady Electricity, Little Potable Water – Palestinian Gaza under Israeli Occupation is a Place of Slow Death

Middle East Monitor

By Rasheed Hassan | – Without explanation or premise, I must stress that the situation in the Gaza Strip is no longer bearable; that our two million people there have lost the ability to tolerate their plight and have patience; and that the resistance factions are no longer able to maintain the truce on the […]

Human Rights

Abusive and Discriminatory Policing by Israel of Palestinian-Israelis in Lod During May Hostilities

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Jerusalem) – Israeli law enforcement agencies used excessive force to disperse peaceful protests by Palestinians in Lod (al-Lydd) during civil unrest in the city in May 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. At times the police appeared to act half-heartedly and unevenly to violence against Palestinian citizens of Israel committed by […]

Israel/ Palestine

What does Liberation Mean for Israeli-Occupied Palestinians: A Vision of Health and Education

Al-Shabaka

By Yara Asi | – ( Al-Shabaka ) – The Palestinian health and education sectors have been neglected by Palestinian authorities and the donor community. How can Palestinians collectively develop these sectors with a vision for liberation? Al-Shabaka’s US policy fellow, Yara Asi, examines this question and offers recommendations based on interviews she conducted with […]

China

Rejecting Biden pressure to distance itself from China, Emirates suspends $23 bn F-35 Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Arab Emirates, the fabulously wealthy set of oil states at the head of the Gulf, has frozen its $23 billion deal to buy advanced stealth F-35 fighter-jets and unmanned drones from the United States. The Abu Dhabi local press delicately explained that the freeze was for “technical reasons.” […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israel’s expansion of Squatter-Settlements on Palestinian Land?

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – Israeli media have been pointing out that the Biden administration in Washington is not too bothered about the occupation state’s illegal settlement expansion. There is little reason to doubt the veracity of the claim. So far, US President Joe Biden has managed to maintain a fine balance between his agenda […]

Afghanistan

The Pentagon lost the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, so why are we upping its Funding to $778 billion?

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Where are you going to get the money? That question haunts congressional proposals to help the poor, the unhoused, and those struggling to pay the mortgage or rent or medical bills, among so many other critical domestic matters. And yet — big surprise! — there’s always plenty of money for the […]

Featured

Spike in Violence in 2021 by Israeli Forces, Squatters, toward Palestinian Children: Defense for Children, UN’s Bachelet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Defense for Children International-Palestine reports that 2021 was the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in seven years, with 78 killed by Israeli troops or militant Zionist squatter-settlers. The bulk of these deaths came from last May’s indiscriminate Israeli bombardment of densely-populated Gaza. Israeli forces also […]

Iran

To Succeed in US Foreign Policy, Biden needs a clean Break with Trump

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it’s not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed–or even infuriated. There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama’s New START Treaty with Russia and […]