Samira Shackle

How far should artists and academics be held accountable for the actions of their government? The question was powerfully raised when the Israeli national theatre group, Habima, performed at...

Perhaps understandably, the US is secretive about its drone programme. But over the last decade, thousands of unmanned drones have been deployed in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia as part...

The BBC is well-used to accusations of bias from many quarters, not least on its coverage of the Israel-Palestine issue, where it appears unable to please anyone. More than...

The 2008 financial crash brought down most of the UK's banks, which were forced to turn to the government for huge cash hand-outs to avoid pulling the rest of...

The protests in Turkey have dominated international media coverage for several weeks now. Starting with a local protest over plans to bulldoze a park to make way for a...

In July, plans to block European Union money from reaching Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory became official. The ban will make institutions and entities in the settlements –...

When Mohammed Morsi was deposed by the Egyptian military on 3 July, the international community was unsure how to react. The US held back from referring to events as...

Israel's settlements – civilian communities built on land occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War – are widely accepted to be illegal under international law. They have been...

Tunisia was the country that kick-started the Arab Spring. In December 2010, a desperate young man set himself on fire, and the ensuing protests led to the fall of...

The Nile holds special significance in Egypt – as the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, "Egypt is the gift of the Nile". The river provides sustenance to the country as...

Things are not looking good for Mohamed Morsi. Egypt's president – the first to be democratically elected in six decades – is floundering after days of mass protests have...

In 2011, protests in Egypt felled a military dictator, Hosni Mubarak. The mass protests of the 25 January Revolution were a rejection of the corruption and repression engendered by...

On Friday, in Egypt's largely lawless Sinai Peninsula, a drone strike killed at least four suspected Islamic militants and destroyed a rocket launcher. The attack, which came one day...

Wednesday's events in Rabaa, Egypt, have shocked the world. An estimated 464 people are dead – with the death toll growing – in the greatest loss of life on...

As the bloodshed in Egypt worsens, the country's economic situation has been consigned to a postscript in most news coverage, while death tolls, political grappling, and western intervention make...

In the aftermath of the military coup in Egypt on July 3, 2013, comparisons to other countries came thick and fast. For the optimists, there was Turkey, where the...

When Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the Egyptian military on 3 July, Saudi Arabia was one of the first nations to express its support for the new regime. The...

One of the most iconic moments in the American civil rights movement took place in Alabama in 1955, when Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her...

Israel imposes two parallel legal systems across the occupied West Bank. Illegal Jewish settlers who commit a crime face the mainstream Israeli courts, with in-built legal rights and safeguards....

Today is the 65th anniversary of the massacre at Deir Yassin, a village near West Jerusalem. Early in the morning of 9 April 1948, around 120 members of the...

In the age of the internet, it's impossible to delete anything – as Al Jazeera discovered this week. Last Tuesday, Al Jazeera English published a long comment piece on...

After more than two years, the conflict in Syria shows no sign of abating. If anything, the situation appears to be getting more intractable, as different foreign interests support...

It has now been nearly three weeks since Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president in decades, was ousted by the military on 3 July. The army intervention came...

As the eyes of the world turn to Syria, the Egyptian crisis is continuing. This week, it was announced that deposed president Mohammed Morsi and 14 of his Muslim...

In March last year Israel became the first country ever to sever ties with the UN Human Rights Council. The decision came after the body decided to investigate Jewish...

Since the US withdrew from Iraq in 2011, the country has slipped off the political and media agenda in the west. But bloodshed in the country is steadily mounting....

Saudi Arabia is home to Makkah and Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims complete the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah; one of...

The relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia is hardly characterised by friendly cooperation. The two countries do not have any diplomatic relations, and Saudi Arabia has always supported the...

After 18 months, Israel is to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Last March, it became the first country to sever all ties with the international body,...

Joining the army is not optional for Israeli teenagers. At the age of 18, Israeli men face three years of mandatory service in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF); in...

During his tenure as Secretary of State, John Kerry has placed an emphasis on the Israel-Palestine peace process – or, more accurately, on restarting the peace process, which has...

Since the election of Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani last year, there has been a significant thaw in relations with the country's old adversary, the US. This diplomatic shift...