Middle East Near You

Standing in front of a map of what both no doubt hope will one day be Greater Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair have today given a practical demonstration...

It is often assumed that Israel was on the defensive in the Six-Day War of June 1967. That is testimony to the success of its propaganda, because the reality...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making familiar noises about Hamas and “terrorism” in the wake of the announcement of the Palestinian unity government. “I call on all responsible...

The language used by politicians and the media colours and determines the way that we see things; it forms opinions. Thus, Western governments have refrained from calling the military...

The speaker was a Palestinian woman, a refugee from Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Syria; she is now a double refugee living, if that’s the right word, in northern Jordan....

Yet again, we hear that President Mahmoud Abbas has more or less conceded the lawful right for Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. Last year he told Israelis...

The real surprise this week was not that the British House of Commons voted against the government’s plans to attack Syria, but that people were surprised that elected MPs...

Visiting South Africa is always a pleasure, but when the purpose is to attend a conference there is usually something extra special to look forward to. The Afro-Middle East...

By Ibrahim Hewitt When concern about the after-effects of Israel’s aggression against the civilian population in Gaza was still high, Time magazine described Palestinian refugees in Lebanon as “A...

By Ibrahim Hewitt In his classic 1963 song The times they are a-changin’, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote, “For the loser now will be later to win, for the...

By Ibrahim Hewitt This week saw the first anniversary of the Israeli assault on Gaza, but only one anniversary really matters in 2010: it is now almost 62 years...

Boycotts don’t work. At least that’s what we are told by Israel’s apologists whenever the topic of a cultural, academic or trade boycott is mentioned. It was with great...

The current rise in tension – or breakdown of the close relationship, take your pick – between the US and Israel is taking up a lot of news space,...

The importance of the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be stressed enough. The high profile the issue has across the world illustrates its key status in world affairs. All the more...

In the wake of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the international community called for the siege of Gaza to be lifted. US President Obama called it “unsustainable”...

Israel, we are told frequently, is “the only democracy in the Middle East”. This is the “Get out of Jail” card used against critics whenever the argument is swinging...

I popped over to Gaza last weekend to see how things are, only it wasn’t that simple. Nobody can just “pop over” to Gaza these days; it requires a...

This quote from an international aid worker in Jerusalem prefaces a new briefing paper from Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre. Written by Dr. Jason Hart and Claudia Lo Forte,...

Reports that the headquarters of the Palestinian Journalists Union in Gaza have been shut down by Hamas security forces should concern everyone with an interest in hearing the truth...

A conference in Beirut last week focussed on the shift of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from “Relief and Works...

A conference in Beirut focussing on “European Foreign Policy towards the Palestinian issue” has attracted participants and speakers from across the Middle East and Europe. Organised by Al-Zaytouna Centre...

A conference in Beirut focussing on “European Foreign Policy towards the Palestinian issue” has attracted participants and speakers from across the Middle East and Europe. Organised by Al-Zaytouna Centre...

At a fund-raising event raising money for the Palestine Legal Aid Fund, I was greeted very warmly by a friend who told me excitedly that she had just returned...

The brutal killing of an unarmed Palestinian as he lay asleep in his own bed has been “regretted” by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). I am sure that the...

As the people of Palestine come to terms with the apparent betrayal of their rights by the people appointed to negotiate with the Israelis on behalf of the Palestinian...

As events in the Middle East unfold, one interesting aspect of the people-power discussion is the reticence of western pro-democracy governments in the face of real democracy on the...

For anyone relying on the mainstream media for information about the rest of the world, the knowledge they receive builds up into a flavour-of-the-month approach to history. Correspondents flock...

We will probably never really know if, as Israel’s Prime Minister claimed, Iran and Syria orchestrated the Nakba demonstrations which led to the deaths of at least 12 Palestinians...

The sun is shining, the beach is filling up and the squeal of car tyres and screech of car horns is pervasive. I could be in Beirut or any...

Thousands of words have been written about the scandalous arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah by the British government in what is being seen as an attempt to silence him...

The ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza has prompted much media focus on the flotilla and “flytilla” attempts to break the blockade over the past week or so. The Israelis...

The Jewish Chronicle’s Martin Bright has revealed details of “a secret meeting between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority” alleged to have...