Peacemakers Swim Against the Tide

Although politicians seem to have put the peace process on ice, there are many different groups in Israel and the Palestinian territories that still believe in reconciliation. They call on the world not to believe in stereotypes. "The minute you choose sides, you become part of the conflict."

MIDEAST: Settlers See New Support from Obama

The leader of Israel’s most right-wing government since the establishment of the Jewish state 63 years ago, has returned to Israel with his popularity surging since talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

Fresh Fatalities as Syrians Brave Crackdown

At least three people have been killed in Qatana, a suburb of the capital Damascus, after Syrian security forces used live fire to disperse hundreds of anti-government demonstrators, activists say.

EGYPT: Political Punch with a Religious Thrust

More than three months since the fall of the Mubarak regime, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement is well on its way to forming its first official political party since its inception in 1928. But while the nascent party is to be based on "the principles of Islamic Law and respect for freedom of belief," some critics see this as a contradiction.

Syrians Running Out of Refuge in Lebanon

Syrians from the border town Tell Khalakh have been fleeing a wave of violence over recent weeks to cross into neighboring Lebanon. But those seeking refuge now face an uncertain fate.

MIDEAST: Israel’s Cornered ‘Slaves’ Speak Out

A new Israeli law that would bind migrant workers in nursing or care-giving professions to their employers is raising alarm amidst human rights groups and legal experts, who say that the law infringes upon the workers’ right to dignity and freedom.

Gunbattle in Yemen as Saleh Remains Defiant

Yemeni forces loyal to entrenched president Ali Abdullah Saleh have faced off with opponents in a gunbattle that left six people dead, medical sources said.

MIDEAST: ‘Open’ Borders Do Not Open Economy

Despite the Egyptian revolution, which ousted Israeli ally and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and despite Israel’s claim to have eased the blockade on Gaza following last year’s bloody clashes on the ill-fated Mavi Marmara flotilla, the coastal territory’s economy remains crippled thanks to both countries.

EGYPT: Secularists Unite to Take On Islamists

Liberal and secular Egyptians at the core of mass protests that toppled the regime of Hosni Mubarak are scrambling to form a unified political front ahead of critical parliamentary elections in which they will face the better-organised Islamists.

OP-ED: The Fate of Minorities in the Arab Spring

From the shores of the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, women and men in many Arab-Muslim countries are demanding that their rulers democratise, and that dictators monopolising power and national wealth for their own profit step down.

Yemen Rivals Fail to Sign GCC-Brokered Deal

Yemen's president has for a second time backed out of a Gulf- sponsored deal to transfer power.

MIDEAST: When Talks Fail, Try Belly Dance

"Hop-a-li, Hop-a-la!" On the stage of the Arab-Hebrew Theatre established in the ancient Arab port of the vibrant Jewish metropolis, a troupe of Israeli men and women interlaces, belly dancing to a frenetic Hafla tune.

Egypt Hunts Down the Right to Love

Abeer Fakhry, a young Christian woman, had only wanted to live with a man who would love and respect her, and not with her abusive husband. But within months of trying to escape her marriage, and her faith, Abeer finds herself chased by her family, by the Orthodox Christian Church, by the fundamentalist Islamic Salafi Group and, lately, by Egypt’s top army generals.

Israel Prepares to Confront Historical Shifts

Back in August 2000, just weeks after the failed Camp David peace summit and weeks before the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifadah uprising, Marwan Barghouthi, leader of the Fatah armed forces, laid out his alternative strategy for ending the Israeli occupation.

Yemen Faces Older Birth Pangs As Well

An estimated 2,555 women in Yemen die annually during childbirth because they do not have access to proper health facilities or experienced medical professionals.

MIDEAST: Nakba Anger Points to Third Intifadah

Israeli confidence that Nakba day, marked by The Great March on May 15 in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel and neighbouring Arab countries, would remain under control, has backfired badly.

MIDEAST: Music Runs Into Walls

In the West Bank, dissident voices questioning the Palestinian Authority's increasingly authoritarian rule have become rare. But a young musician in Ramallah refuses to hold his tongue.

MIDEAST: Opening a Border, Ending an Era

In a dramatic policy shift late last month, Egypt's post-revolutionary government announced plans to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. And on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians amassed in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand the decision be carried out without delay.

OP-ED: Secularism to the Rescue of the Arab Spring

Spring has come early this year to the Arab world. Climate change has awakened the once comatose Middle East from the stupor of singular leaderships. A new dawn of democracy and freedom is sprouting from Morocco to Oman. Or so we are told.

Fatah and Hamas’ Honeymoon Could Face Problems

Despite the euphoria surrounding the recent signing in Cairo of the groundbreaking unity accord between Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas, ending their four-year feud, numerous obstacles remain which could impinge on the implementation of a unity government.

MIDEAST: The Indigenous Become Squatters

As plans to demolish a Palestinian Bedouin village to make way for a new, Jewish-only town move forward in Israel’s Negev desert, the Bedouin residents have submitted a motion for the right to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court.