Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
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Does Britain have a secret travel ban against Arabs?
Britain stands accused of operating a secret travel ban against Arabs after it emerged that a large number of internationally renowned academics, religious leaders, musicians, artists and performers from the Middle East have been refused visas to enter the UK. All were booked to appear or perform at the...
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Disbelief is growing as Scotland's First Minister backs Israel's dark arts
Scotland has a proud record of standing up with persecuted minorities, including those who are targeted purely for their faith, ethnicity or culture. It is the only European country where there is no history of Jews being persecuted or threatened by state institutions. From the Middle Ages to the...
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The hemline that hit the headlines: it could only happen in Saudi Arabia
To say that the Middle East is in turmoil is a major understatement when you consider the suffering and hardship endured by millions of ordinary Arab men, women and children right now. From East to West, though, they appear to have been abandoned in terms of news coverage. The headline...
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Opposing Zionism is not racism, rules Scottish court
In yet another landmark legal victory, members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign emerged from court victorious today after being accused of racism. Their “crime”? Standing up to Zionism. The trial ended three years of speculation and pressure for SPSC members whose robust defence of their actions won the day...
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The Palestinians can learn from the blockade of Qatar
There are many lessons that the Palestinians can take from the crisis in the Gulf which has seen four Arab states impose an air, land and sea blockade on the tiny state of Qatar. The first is to recognise how fickle friendships actually are among supposedly Arab brothers, and how...
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Qatar is giving Saudi and the UAE a masterclass in international diplomacy
When it comes to international diplomacy, Saudi Arabia and its friends in the Gulf have the grace of a ballerina wearing hobnailed boots. Weighed down by their own sense of self-importance, these petulant male-dominated regimes are used to getting their own way and few will stand up to them....
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Pity the poor, and pity the poor Palestinians
Here in Britain, the horrific tower block blaze which proved to be the deadliest in London since World War Two is still making front page headlines one week after the flames were finally doused. There has been an overwhelming reaction to the blaze from across society, and rightly so; a...
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Invisible Qataris trapped in no man's land
A family of eight are trapped in no man’s land between warring neighbours Qatar and Saudi Arabia, it emerged last night. Conditions for members of the Al-Marri family are reaching critical point as they remain stranded without food, shelter or basic provisions while the war of words escalates between...
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The Saudis may have bought our weapons, but should not have bought our silence
We need to talk about Saudi Arabia. We won’t, though, because this is something that both the British and American governments refuse to do, although they will talk endlessly about, and berate, their respective Muslim communities for “not doing enough” to tackle extremism. Now it has emerged that there is...
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Do you know who is talking to your son?
I am haunted by the Manchester bomb attack. Like many other people I’m angry, sad and confused, and have endured a rollercoaster of other emotions as I try to work out why a young British man would carry out such a revolting and savage act in the city where...
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An online hate campaign is trying to get a Palestinian cultural festival cancelled
An unprecedented hate campaign has been unleashed on the social networks aimed at wrecking a ground-breaking two day event to celebrate Palestinian life and culture. Palestine Expo 2017 is billed as the biggest ever social, cultural and entertainment event of its kind in Europe; however, there are those calling...
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Football fans and players everywhere demand justice for Palestine
Football is a beautiful game; full of passion, it is a sport which has ingrained itself in many national cultures bringing out the very best in human nature, and sometimes the worst. As I write this article I’m reminded of another aspect of the beautiful game because I’m looking down...
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Dubliners flag up Israel’s problems with their gesture of Palestine solidarity
Dublin Council flies Palestinian flag over city hall in 'gesture of solidarity'...
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Marwan Barghouthi is beginning to look very like Palestine’s own Mandela figure
Israel might hate the comparison, but the truth is that prisoner Marwan Barghouthi is beginning to look very like Palestine’s own version of the late, great Nelson Mandela, and possibly the only hope for a peace deal that the Zionist state claims to want so much. No one doubts...
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That barbecue outside a hunger strike prison exposes Israeli settlers’ blind hatred
In their blind hatred, some Israelis have a tendency to score some spectacular own goals and I’d like to bet that the bizarre barbecue held outside a prison where Palestinian political prisoners are on hunger strike is one of them. Members of the far right party National Union said...
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Fans try to rock Radiohead's conscience
The rock band Radiohead is being urged to cancel a performance in Israel and support the Palestinian people’s campaign for justice instead. Thousands of the band’s fans around the world were dismayed to learn that not only had Radiohead agreed to perform in Tel Aviv, but also that the...
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Caged birds can't fly, Mrs May
British Prime Minister Theresa May is one of the most powerful women in the world at the moment. As I write, she is visiting one of the most misogynistic Arab regimes where human rights and women’s rights hang on the whim of a king. Somewhat deluded, May has said that...
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Sitting on the fence over Israeli Apartheid is no laughing matter
There is an old English idiom dating back to the 15th century which says that you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. To give it a 21st century spin, it’s a bit like telling a comedian that he can’t perform for laughs with the Israelis...
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The Arab League represents nothing but missed opportunities
More than 20 of the world’s most powerful men have come together in Amman for the annual Arab League summit. On paper, these kings, emirs and dictators have the authority to use their influence and petro-billions for the betterment of the Arab world; indeed, of the whole world. Expectations,...
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The disgraceful scenes witnessed in Holland may yet lead to something positive
Referendums are in the news, greeted by equal measures of loathing, hysteria and support whenever they are announced. This fact notwithstanding, it looks as if the western media has gone into overdrive in condemning the referendum promoted by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Open racism has been on display,...
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The return of the Pharaoh and his sons
By the time you read this, disgraced President Hosni Mubarak will be well on the way to being a free man, making a mockery once again of what passes for justice in Egypt these days. Mubarak’s brutal dictatorship ended abruptly when he was overthrown in the January 2011 Revolution...
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Do black lives matter less in Lancashire than in Apartheid Israel?
A few days ago, a British university cancelled an event planned as part of “Israeli Apartheid Week” on the grounds that it was anti-Semitic. Naturally, the cancellation by the University of Central Lancashire was greeted with dismay by pro-Palestinian campaigners who saw the ban as an attempt to stifle...
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Your move, Erdogan tells Tehran
Turkey’s rise on the world stage will no doubt be credited by many to be a direct result of the turmoil and chaos in the Middle East. That, though, would be a serious underestimation of a regional power that makes every move with the precision of a chess grand...
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Multi-millionaire Tony Blair sells fool's gold to despots around the world
The breathtaking financial rise of Tony Blair can only be matched by his equally spectacular downfall into the sordid gutter of sleazy politics at home and abroad. However, the former Middle East Peace Envoy could have achieved neither financial peak nor political trough without the help of his despotic...
