Civilisations Find Alliances

Gaza Farmers Find Canadian Support

By Eva Bartlett
“From the coast to eight miles out, the sea is like a desert: it's sandy and there are no fish.” Mohammed Al-Bakri traces a thick line on the wall map before him, following the lines of Gaza's eastern and northern borders, continuing south from three miles off the coast.

Strained East-West Relations Dominate General Assembly Opening

By Lawrence Del Gigante
Addressing the 67th General Assembly at the United Nations in New York Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama accused the Iranian government of propping up the dictatorship in Syria and supporting terrorist groups abroad.
ramallah

For Palestinian Workers, the Enemy Is the Hope

By Walter García and IPS Correspondents
Hassan Hader’s application for a permit to work in Israel has been rejected four times. Now waiting to hear back from the Israeli authorities on his latest attempt, the 52-year-old father of five said he has no choice but to keep applying.

Assad and Opposition Both Losing

By Zak Brophy
Two floors have been ripped from the top of an apartment block in Aleppo in northern Syria. A lone man stands amidst the rubble four stories up after a missile from one of his own government’s fighter jets smashed into the building that morning. With his arms crossed, the solitary figure surveys the destruction around him.

New Generation of Arab Leaders to Address World Body

By Walter García and Thalif Deen
When world leaders heading politically shaky authoritarian regimes lead their country’s delegations on overseas visits or attend international conferences, including the annual U.N. General Assembly sessions in September, there is always a lingering fear of either an insurrection or an attempted military coup back home.

Saving Libya From its Saviours

By Walter García and Rebecca Murray
The dark rain clouds and circling military helicopter accentuated the mood of the small, sombre crowd gathered in Tripoli’s Martyr’s Square to commemorate Libya’s dead heroes.

OP-ED: Arab Democracies and the West

By Emile Nakhleh
Anti-Western protests across the Arab Islamic world denouncing the anti-Islam video, reportedly produced in the United States, is a serious test for the new democratic governments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere.

Egyptian Christians in Uneasy Safety

By Walter García, Adam Morrow, and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
Many of Egypt's Coptic Christians met the recent assumption of the presidency by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi with trepidation, even panic – some even made plans to leave the country. Almost three month's into Morsi's term, these fears, say some experts, appear largely unfounded.

Palestinian Authority Faces Fiscal Crisis, As World Bank Blames Israelis

By Walter García and Jim Lobe
With a shortfall of some 400 million dollars this year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) faces a “deepening fiscal crisis", according to new reports released here Wednesday on the eve of a critical donors’ conference by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Separated, And Cohabitating For Now

By Walter García and Pierre Klochendler
“See the bullets from the 1948 and 1967 wars,” Badr Abu Ad-Dula says, showing the scars of the old frontline on the outer walls of the building where he and his family of 13 live. “Here’s the Jordanian outpost.” The elderly Palestinian points at a loophole, now a bedroom window.

Amid Tension in Islamic World, U.N. Chief Pleads for Harmony

By Walter García and Thalif Deen
Amidst growing political tensions in the Islamic world over a video caricature of the Prophet Muhammad originating in the United States, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is making an “urgent “plea for political harmony worldwide.

U.S.-Egyptian Ties Appear to Survive Crisis

By Walter García and Jim Lobe
While Tuesday's killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other U.S. officials in Benghazi dominated the headlines here last week, the larger concern for most foreign policy experts here was focused on neighbouring Egypt and specifically how the government of President Mohamed Morsi was dealing with anti-U.S. protests.

U.S., Israeli Attacks Unlikely to Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Programme

By Walter García, Jim Lobe, and Jasmin Ramsey
While U.S. or Israeli air strikes may delay the building by Iran of a nuclear weapon, they are unlikely to prevent it altogether and could well prove counter-productive, according to a major new report signed by nearly three dozen former top U.S. foreign-policy makers, military officers, and independent experts.
Said Mechichi. Credit: UNDP

Q&A: “The More Difficult Task Came After the Revolution”

By Walter García and Lawrence Del Gigante
Following the revolution that culminated in the ouster of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, Tunisia embarked on a transitional justice process with the intention of addressing the gross human rights violations of the dictatorship.

Despite War Anxiety, a Cooperative Mood in Iran

By Yasaman Baji
More than three years after the contested 2009 presidential election, many Iranians continue to mistrust their government. But rather than stand on the sidelines, they are still trying to better the conditions in the country.

Peace in Afghanistan, the Civil Society Way

By Giuliano Battiston
More than a decade after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is still in the midst of an irregular war. Talking peace is difficult because no one quite knows who to talk to.

U.S. Ready to Cut Egypt’s Debt

By Walter García and Carey L. Biron
As reports surfaced Tuesday that U.S. negotiators, in Cairo for the past week, are closing in on an agreement to cut a billion dollars from Egypt’s bilateral debt, the State Department here announced that a record-sized U.S. business delegation would travel to Egypt later this week.
Immagine__

Palestinian and Israeli Kids Play a Serious Game

By Walter García and IPS Correspondents
On a sunny summer afternoon, kids start arriving with their parents at a park near Ein Rafa, a Palestinian village in the south of Jerusalem. The Arabic speaking kids stay in one cluster at first, and the Hebrew speaking kids chat among themselves. Soon a ball appears, and before long all the kids intermingle in a fast-paced game of Chinese football.

Donors Turn Their Backs on Taliban

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
For the past five years Sharifullah Shah, a local doctor from the conflict-ridden North Waziristan province in Pakistan, has handed over 500 dollars to the Taliban during the month of Ramadan. But this year, he is putting his money straight into the Edhi Welfare Centre, where he knows it will reach those in need.

Equal Parts Tolerance and Extremism in Indonesian Islam

By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti
Scattered across 17,000 islands on the Indian and Pacific oceans, the world's largest Muslim country has found its own blend of Islam: equal parts religion, secularism and contradictions.
A makeshift girls

Pouring Edible Oil on Pakistan’s Troubled Areas

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR,  Jul 28 2012 (IPS) -Taking turns to lug a heavy can of edible oil, Mushtari and Sheema Gul, twin sisters aged nine, trip home happily from their school in Ghareebabad village in Pakistan’s troubled Bajaur Agency.
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