Palestinians Face Large Cuts in U.S. Aid

With a vote on the Palestinians' status at the United Nations scheduled for next week, the Barack Obama administration has made its opposition to any upgrade of Palestinian status in the world body quite clear.

U.N. Racism Meet to Reaffirm Durban Declaration on Palestine

When a landmark world conference against racism adopted a historic political declaration in the South African port city of Durban back in 2001, the 62-page document covered virtually every conceivable act of racism, xenophobia and racial intolerance worldwide.

U.S.-SAUDI ARABIA: Agreeing on Less and Less

Accumulating strains between the United States and Saudi Arabia are steadily weakening one of the world's longest lasting and most effective bilateral alliances, according to observers here.

TURKEY: War of Words Lost in Translation

Bellicose dialectic between Turkey and Israel reached a new height last week and has precipitated the deteriorating relationship between the two former allies to new depth. But it is for the moment unclear whether Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threats to cut the Israeli navy's perceived power and presence to size in Eastern Mediterranean represent a true tactical decision in Ankara's strategy to expand its influence in the Middle East, or a mere coup-de- theatre for domestic and Arab consumption.

At the U.N., Palestinians Keep Cards Close to the Chest

When the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly opened Tuesday, one of the key questions lingering in the minds of most delegates was the state of Palestine - literally and metaphorically.

PLO to Seek Full U.N. Recognition

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) will go to the United Nations Security Council and seek full membership in the world body next week, despite the looming threat of a U.S. veto, a Palestinian official said.

U.S. in a Bind Over Palestine’s Bid for U.N. Recognition

The Palestinian drive for statehood status at the United Nations injects new uncertainty into an already volatile Middle East, threatening to further isolate Israel and diminish already dwindling U.S. influence in the region.

IRAQ: Fight for Women’s Rights Begins All Over Again

When a middle-aged mother took a taxi alone from Baghdad to Nasiriyah, about 300 kilometres south earlier this year, her 20-year-old driver stopped on the way, pulled her to the side of the road and raped her. And that began a telling legal struggle.

MIDEAST: Anti-Israel Tsunami ‘One Door Away’

"Only one door" separated the vengeful throng of demonstrators from the six Israeli embassy guards. Chief security officer ‘Yonatan’ was on the phone from the besieged representation. On the other side of the line was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

MIDEAST: Not School Time Yet for Bedouin Girls

For mother of five Shimaa al-Aasam, providing her children with the opportunity to complete their education despite a severe lack of classrooms in their Bedouin community is of prime importance.

LEBANON: Cluster Bombs Could Kill for Years

Even in the summer heat, the hills of South Lebanon are an impressive sight - a patchwork of green, brown and red fields interrupted only by sleepy villages, rock formations and dirt tracks.

OP-ED: Double Standards: the Case of Itamar Awarta

Last March, a vicious crime occurred in the occupied Palestinian territories. Five members of an Israeli settler family were slain in their home in Itamar, a settlement in the northern West Bank. A mother, father, two young children and a three-month-old were all stabbed to death.

U.N. Racism Meet Threatens North-South Confrontation

A high-level meeting on racism, scheduled to take place later this month under the auspices of the General Assembly, is threatening to split the world body and trigger a North-South confrontation.

LIBYA: New Chapter Opens After Gaddafi

Libyan children will go back to school without Muammar Gaddafi’s ubiquitous presence, despite a lack of new books.

ISRAEL: Netanyahu Besieged, From Within and Without

More and more Israelis seem to realise that the only policy that causes bad luck is bad policy. In a fortnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself politically besieged from within and from without.

EGYPT: Mubarak Faces Court Without the Circus

With the trial of Hosni Mubarak set to resume Monday, attorneys representing the families of protesters killed during Egypt’s uprising are trying to cut out the deadwood in their midst.

Flotilla Report Leaks, Turkey Expels Israeli Ambassador

A highly anticipated and controversial report on Israel's May 2010 interception of an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip and subsequent killing of nine civilians and wounding of many others was finally leaked on Thursday, as diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey continued to deteriorate.

MEDIA-IRAQ: ‘Protection’ Law Offers Little Safety

When Ali Sumerian, an editor for Al-Sabah newspaper, and three local media colleagues sat down for a restaurant meal after reporting on a demonstration in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Feb. 25 this year, security forces detained them. "We were accused of encouraging an anti-political process," says Sumerian. It was only after their arrest triggered a media outcry, he says, were they released 12 hours later. The four were just some of the journalists attacked and arrested that day.

MIDEAST: Israelis Stage an Investigation Act

Israeli soldiers and security forces have conducted a string of arrests and violent raids over recent weeks, at Jenin’s renowned Freedom Theatre, in their investigation into the murder of actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, the theatre’s former director and co-founder, earlier this year.

OP-ED: Language Becomes a Political Weapon in Israel

Speaking to the U.S. congress in May, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu boasted that his country is a beacon of freedom in the Middle East and North Africa, that it is the only place where Arabs "enjoy real democratic rights".

ISRAEL: Children Facing Deportation Find Friends

After Israel’s Interior Ministry attempted to deport the first migrant workers’ child educated in the Israeli school system, human rights groups are calling on the Israeli government to develop a clear immigration policy and an official protocol that will minimise the psychological impact of detaining and deporting young children.