Geography Archives: Middle East

DAMASCUS, May 18 (RIA Novosti) The Syrian opposition’s calls to hold a general day-long strike on Wednesday have been largely ignored, Aljazeera reported. The Syrian opposition called for a general strike as the government denied reports that it has been burying anti-government protesters in mass graves. “Wednesday will be a day of punishment for the […]

  Hassan Hijazi, a Syrian-Palestinian youth, is as surprised as the Israeli police.  Hassan, who is a civil servant in the Education Ministry of Syria, had never imagined, even in his wildest dream, that one day he would be able to stroll on the streets of Jaffa, a city annexed to Tel Aviv.  “My parents […]

  Question: Today, Clinton stated that the US considered it necessary to step up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  How can you comment on this? Foreign Minister Lavrov: No one is happy when in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as in all other states there are disturbing developments, with blood […]

“We say to the Israeli establishment in the name of each and every one of us: I am not a stranger in my homeland, I am not a hostage to your ideas, I am free, despite your accusation, I am the owner of this land, despite your oppression.” — Omar Siksik, 14 May 2011 Cf. […]

Scores of protesters in Cairo clash with Egyptian security forces in front of the Israeli embassy. They were gathering to urge Egypt to cut ties with Israel and also show support for the Palestinians’ Third Intifada. As tensions grew, security forces used live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. According to Egyptian officials over 10 protesters were injured and 30 arrested.

“There must constantly be an intifada.  I am for the one state solution, so there must be an intifada in Palestine.  The liberation of Palestine is a part of every one of these Arab revolutions.  Now, even after the revolution, the [Egyptian] army is banning these peaceful convoys [to Gaza] and this show of solidarity […]

  “It is forbidden to mourn on the founding day of the state.” — Israel 2011 Tel Aviv, Israel, 9 May 2011 Zochrot is an NGO whose goal is to introduce the Palestinian Nakba to the Israeli-Jewish public, to express the Nakba in Hebrew.  This is in order to promote an alternative memory to the […]

Two months after the disasters of March 11, most of the rhythms of everyday life have returned to Tokyo.  Although dimmed city streets remain as daily reminders of the critical nuclear situation 140 miles north, the university campuses that were deserted over an extended spring break have refilled.  Although the earth still shivers, the anxious […]

With the release of some detainees, the Syrian government has met at least partially one of the demands of the Syrian opposition, according to Reuters, which interviewed Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria on Thursday. Hassan Abdel Azim, who is 81 years old, and Hazem al-Nahar were released on Monday.  […]

  The sun had not yet risen in Cairo, as the Stay Human convoy began to prepare the departure for Gaza.  The journey about to be embarked upon was one filled with expectations and hope.  The importance of crossing the border at Rafah following the protests that brought down the Mubarak regime was on the […]

Jamaa Al-Yad, an artists’ collective located in Beirut, in coordination with representatives from various Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations, is providing a collection of materials (posters, flyers, handouts, stickers, stencils, etc.) to be used to publicize “The Return to Palestine March” and related activities scheduled for May 15 throughout the world.  These materials are […]

  Moscow against UN Security Council Taking Up Syria — Source MOSCOW, May 11 (Interfax) — Moscow is against the Syria issue being put before the UN Security Council, a Russian Foreign Ministry source said on Wednesday. “Syria mustn’t be discussed in the Security Council, that is obvious,” the source told Interfax. China Calls on […]

Coptic anger turns on the army after bloody sectarian violence gripped Cairo.  The clashes between Muslims and Christians in Imbaba left at least 12 dead.  Two churches were torched.  It’s the latest in a string of sectarian incidents since Egypt’s revolution, which left the army in interim charge of the country.  Now the Coptic community […]

In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of public sector workers were going to work every day, helping the people in the DMV, hospitals, health care centers, public transportation, teachers, fire fighters, and clerical workers.  Then, on February 11, 2011 Republican Governor Scott Walker introduced a bill, with a Republican majority in the legislature, that would virtually […]

Intervention in the Name of Stability Professor Noam Chomsky recently delivered an important address in Amsterdam entitled “Contours of the World Order.”1  A large part of the speech was devoted to the role of the United States in defending its area of absolute hegemony.  According to Chomsky’s excellent analysis, the US relates to all countries […]

  Excerpt: On January 11, 2006, the United States signed into law the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which entered into force between the United States and Bahrain on August 1, 2006.  In light of the ongoing brutal repression of peaceful protest carried out by the police and armed forces of Bahrain and the Gulf […]

  The Lebanese newspaper Al-Bana’a reports that, according to sources close to the decision-making circles in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad will soon announce the amendment of Article 8 of the Constitution, which limits the country’s leadership to the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, so as to include all parties affiliated with the Progressive National Front in […]

  On December 24th, 2010, a publishing house in Turkey was raided by the police.  Without any prior warning, its office’s electricity was cut off, and special operations teams surrounded its building.  Walls were rammed, doors were torn apart, and people working for Ozan Publishing were arrested and tortured. Not satisfied with that, the police […]

The trajectory of the democratic movement in the Arab world was never going to be a straight line with clear goals and objectives.  The Arab regimes are not homogeneous; they have medieval Islamist monarchies, as in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, and secular but completely authoritarian regimes, both Western puppets like Mubarak and […]

I’ll be talking about the relationship between food and the uprisings.  I call them uprisings, I don’t call them revolutions, for a multitude of reasons that I will address. . . .  One of the most common assertions is that these uprisings were triggered, at least partly, by high food prices.  I would like to […]