MIDEAST: Flowers, Strawberries, and Missiles

Just 300 yards from the hidden eyes in the Israeli tank, Ahmed Felfel picks his strawberries. But it isn't the Israelis in the tank who worry him as much as those others who will not let him sell them.

EGYPT: Can&#39t Wait a Generation to Eat

A World Bank official said this month it could take as long as "a generation" for the effects of Egypt's recent economic growth to be felt by the poorest segments of the population. But as "neo-liberal" economists urge patience, retail prices for essential foodstuffs continue to skyrocket, stretching many household salaries to breaking point.

LEBANON: A Devastated Town Recovers, In A Way

Ali Mohanna lives in a two-room cinderblock structure with his wife and brain-damaged son. By the side is a small, freshly ploughed tobacco field and the plot of rubble he once called home.

LEBANON: Children Learn That Religion Excludes

From East to West, the Arab region is afflicted with mounting religious divides that are increasingly affecting the well-being of the region's children. Lebanon's constitution, which splits power equally between Muslims and Christians, is no exception to this growing chasm.

MIDEAST: Israel Strengthens Hamas Some More

If Israeli leaders had hoped that their blockade of Gaza and the military's early March incursion into the coastal strip might undermine support for the leadership of the Islamic Hamas movement in power there, then they will have been disappointed with the findings of a recent opinion poll.

LEBANON: Hopes of Peace from Lords of War

The pages of Lebanon's history are drenched in blood. And, more than 30 years after the start of the 1975 civil war, Lebanese factions are still pitted against each other in a confrontation with a recurring sectarian dimension amidst a volatile regional context.

IRAQ: Syria Now Home to a Million ‘Pillow Drivers’

More than a million Iraqis in Syria cannot find work. For their idleness, they have come to be called the "pillow drivers".

MIDEAST: Egypt Renews Ceasefire Attempt

In the wake of a series of deadly Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip early this month, Egypt has stepped up efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between Palestinian resistance groups and Tel Aviv.

MIDEAST: The Son Who Did Not Die, The One Who Did

The family had been mourning for 16-year-old Ahmed Abu Salamah. What was left of what was thought to be his body had been buried. After two weeks of mourning, they found Ahmed alive in the intensive care unit at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital.

MIDEAST: In Prison, Who Knows Why

You would think the baby boy named Yousef has his life ahead of him. But who knows, with a child born to Palestinian parents from Gaza. What's more, Yousef was born in an Israeli prison.

POLITICS-IRAN: "The Government Suffers From Delusions"

If your grandfather was the founder of the first Islamic Republic of Iran, you would probably expect to have a very comfortable life in the land of Ayatollahs, where Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is president and Khomeini&#39s successor has absolute power. But you would be wrong.

DEATH PENALTY-MOROCCO: Abolitionists Resigned To Long Wait

The Moroccan ruling and political establishment continue to give conflicting signals about the future of the death penalty, leaving human rights activists now convinced that a behind-the-scenes decision has been made to keep the death penalty on the statute books for the foreseeable future.

LEBANON: Farmers Struggle to Stay on Their Land

"I think the biggest challenge is to stay in the village," says Ibrahim Sayyed, a 28-year-old municipality accountant from the beleaguered farming town of Aitaroun, situated barely a mile from the heavily patrolled Blue Line and Israel beyond.

EGYPT: Opposition Squeezed in Local Elections

Last week, the time period for registering candidates in Egypt's upcoming local council elections officially came to an end. But while spokesmen for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have lauded the electoral process as a paragon of political plurality, opposition groups are crying foul.

MIDEAST: More Settlements, More Unsettled

The decision this week by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allow resumption of the construction of hundreds of housing units in a West Bank settlement is yet another blow to already faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

LEBANON: Political Crisis Set to Worsen

Soon after the U.S. destroyer USS Cole was deployed off Lebanon's shore Feb. 28 to "preserve political stability", a group of young men gathered around in the embattled agricultural town Qana in south Lebanon, and voiced their fears.

EGYPT: U.S. Sends Mixed Signals Over Rights

While in Egypt last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the release of 100 million dollars in suspended financial assistance to Egypt. The monies - part of an annual U.S. foreign aid package - were frozen in December following Israeli claims that Cairo had failed to secure its border with the Gaza Strip.

MIDEAST: An Uneasy Calm Descends

Israeli troops and tanks have left Gaza and are poised on the border of the coastal strip. Hamas militants have largely ceased bombarding southern Israel with their rockets.

LEBANON: The Lights Are Going Out in Beirut

Sporadic gunfire erupts, breaking the silence of the night. A few police cars speed up, heading east. Their lights flashing in the dark and their sirens echoing across the shanty neighbourhoods, they rapidly cross the run down metallic Basta bridge in the direction of the shootout.

IRAQ: Childhood Is Dying

Iraq's children have been more gravely affected by the U.S. occupation than any other segment of the population.

MIDEAST: No Day Is a Woman&#39s Day in Gaza

Mahasen Darduna suffers in ways the world recognises; her suffering comes at the hands of the Israelis. But there are many Palestinian women whose suffering the world does not see, because their hell is inflicted on them by Palestinians.