Middle East

UN’s IPC: Gaza out of Famine for Now, but Severe Malnutrition Continues, as Newborn dies of Hypthermia

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, on which the United Nations depends to determine the level of nutritional crises around the world, delivered the good news on Friday that Gaza is now no longer in famine. While that report is welcome, the situation that Israel is imposing on […]

Displaced and Refugees

1/4 of Syrian Expat Refugees Have Returned, but many to Destroyed Homes, Land Disputes

The Conversation

By Sandra Joireman, University of Richmond (The Conversation) – Close to 1.5 million Syrian refugees have voluntarily returned to their home country over the past year. That extraordinary figure represents nearly one-quarter of all Syrians who fled fighting during the 13-year civil war to live abroad. It is also a strikingly fast pace for a […]

Israel

Israel’s Airstrikes on Lebanese Reconstruction Equipment, Factories are War Crimes

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – The Israeli military’s repeated attacks on reconstruction-related equipment and other civilian facilities in southern Lebanon throughout 2025 violate the laws of war and are apparent war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Residents and local municipal authorities told Human Rights Watch that the attacks have hampered reconstruction efforts and […]

Artificial Intelligence

From Sykes-Picot to Silicon Valley: Why Middle East Fault Lines now run through American Tech

Jasim Al-Azzawi

( Middle East Monitor ) – In 1916, the Middle East was partitioned by its rulers with ink between Britain and France. A hundred years later, with borders drawn by the Sykes-Picot Agreement, territories continue to contend with claims to legitimacy, sovereignty, and foreign intervention. The Middle East holds a reset, but not in a […]

Academic Freedom

Trump Administration Concedes U.S. Researchers may Talk with Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Despite Sanctions

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association of North America | – ( MESA Press Release ) – WASHINGTON—In response to a letter sent by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Treasury Department last week confirmed that a scholarly organization—the Middle East Studies Association (MESA)—may hold an event with U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese even […]

Academic Freedom

Protesting the U of Arkansas for Removing Middle East Center Director over her Condemnation of the Bombing of Iran

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the University of Arkansas regarding the removal of Professor Shirin Saeidi as director of the King Fahd Center President Jay B. Silveria The University of Arkansas chancell@uark.edu Dear President Silveria, Chancellor Robinson and Dean Raines: We write […]

al-Qaeda

Syrian-Australian Muslim halts Indian-Australian ISIL Attack on Jewish Australians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The gruesome and terrifying attack on a Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, left 15 people dead, including a rabbi, a ten-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor. Some 24 are in hospital. The perpetrators were apparently Australian Muslims of Indian origins, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, […]

Israel/ Palestine

Soaring West Bank Violence is Fueled by Official Israeli Surrender to Settlers

The Conversation

By Arie Perliger, UMass Lowell (The Conversation) – Owais Hammam was walking near his home in Khirbet Bani Harith in the West Bank on Dec. 3, 2025, when, according to media reports, he was kidnapped by Jewish settlers. Over several hours at a nearby settlement, the 18-year-old Palestinian is alleged to have endured repeated beatings, […]

Academic Freedom

Rebuking UC Berkeley over Suspension of Lecturer for Palestine Advocacy

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the University of California, Berkeley, expressing concern about the suspension of Lecturer Peyrin Kao Chancellor Rich Lyons Office of the Chancellor University of California, Berkeley chancellor@berkeley.edu Benjamin Hermalin Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost University of California, Berkeley hermalin@berkeley.edu […]