Siriel-Media

MIDEAST: Pessimistic About Peace, Yet?	more
As President Obama on Wednesday initiates the ninth U.S. attempt in the last 30 years to bring about a final Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, expectations are low and pessimism is high.
MIDEAST: Netanyahu Ignores President, and Wife	more
Thousands of Israelis have protested in a central park here demanding that their government revoke its decision to deport 400 children of migrant workers.
EGYPT: Military Court Sentences Civilian Workers	more
An Egyptian military court handed down sentences Monday in the trial of eight civilian factory workers who led a protest against deteriorating safety conditions in an army-owned factory. Rights groups say the trial should never have taken place.
MIDEAST: Bureaucracy Limits Rights of Palestinian Women	more
As Hamas cracks down on the rights of Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip, their sisters in the occupied West Bank are slowly gaining ground. But a bureaucracy, that is sometimes supported by foreign aid, is crippling these advances.
MIDEAST: 'McCarthyism' Rises in Israel	more
Rightwing Israeli groups financially supported by Jewish and fundamentalist Christian groups from abroad are on a campaign to undermine free thought in Israeli universities. Collaterally, a move is under way by right-wing parties in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to limit the freedom of action of civil and human rights-minded NGOs.
MIDEAST: This Math Class May Figure Out Israel	more
In a bright and spacious classroom, with plants overflowing in the courtyard outside, six students lean forward at their desks looking at the 10-digit addition they are asked to make. One student stands before the numbers on the chalkboard and a red and yellow-beaded abacus. But her attention is on the abacus she visualises in her mind.
MIDEAST: Palestinian Patients Suffer From Political Rivalry	more
Cancer patient Ahmed Abu Fuad needs chemotherapy to survive. Muhammad Subeh needs an eye-transplant while paramedic Alaa Sarhan desperately needs surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. But these Gazans are unable to leave the area to seek the required medical treatment elsewhere, and it is not because of the Israeli siege.
MIDEAST: Darkness Dawns at Ramadan	more
"It's been days without electricity and water. We can't do anything, and it's unbearably hot now." Abu Fouad, 83, speaks of the power cuts plaguing all of the Gaza Strip.
ISRAEL-LEBANON: U.N. Treads Cautiously in Probe of Border Firefight	more
Three weeks after a fatal exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon along the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has yet to make recommendations on easing tension at the border.
MIDEAST: Stitching Together a Living, Somehow	more
Just off Omar Al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza City's main thoroughfare, in a narrow, sandy alley way is a little second-hand clothing shop. In the dimly lit store, with only intermittent electricity for some hours a day at best, sits a single battered and aging sewing machine.
New Book Assembles Eyewitness Accounts from Mavi Marmara	more
A growing number of activists is contradicting the claims of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) regarding the Gaza Freedom Flotilla debacle in May, including a large faction of both Israeli and U.S. Jews.
MIDEAST: Barriers Rise Between Ramadan Gatherings	more
For seven years Majda Abdul Qader Sheikh, 38, has not been allowed to visit the home of her parents, just a few hundred metres from her house.
MIDEAST: Uprooted Villagers Hold Fast During Ramadan	more
On the eve of the start of Ramadan last week, Israeli police demolished the Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert. It was the third time within two weeks that the village had been razed.
MIDEAST: Towards 'D�j� vu All Over Again'	more
"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Sometimes, the nonsensical quote of the legendary New York Yankees baseball catcher Yogi Berra has a real message. It can pointedly be applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on peace with the Palestinians.
Arab-Israeli Orchestra Spreads Message of Peace in Latin America	more
"The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra has proved that music can break down barriers previously considered insurmountable," its Argentine-Israeli conductor, Daniel Barenboim, told IPS on a visit to Ecuador.
MIDEAST: God Grant Us a Permit to Pray	more
For Muhammad el-Baradiyeh, 38, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a blessing.
Food Cartels Feast on Ramadan Profits	more
Opportunistic food traders have been blamed for soaring food prices across the Middle East that have added a financial burden on families observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli Generals and Intel Officials Oppose Attack on Iran	more
Pro-Israeli journalist Jeffrey Goldberg's article in "The Atlantic" magazine was evidently aimed at showing why the Barack Obama administration should worry that it risks an attack by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran in the coming months unless it takes a much more menacing line toward Iran's nuclear programme.
White House Questions Suspension of Military Aid to Lebanon	more
Several powerful members of Congress have worked to suspend U.S. military aid to Lebanon's military after a deadly skirmish on the Lebanese-Israeli border last week which left two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and one Israeli officer dead.
U.N. Chief May Be Heading for Showdown with Israel	more
When the Israeli government gave its blessings to a U.N. panel of inquiry probing the military attack on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May, there was widespread speculation that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon may have struck a backdoor deal over its mandate.
MIDEAST: Homeless Take On Israeli Forces	more
A bruising battle of will is taking place between Israeli security forces and Palestinians recently made homeless after two Palestinian villages were razed and hundreds left homeless.
MIDEAST: Injured Workers Man Battered Services	more
Outside the battered Civil Defence station in northern Gaza's Jabalia region, Mohammed Zidan, a seven-year veteran of fire-fighting and rescue services, stands on crutches in front of battered Civil Defence vehicles.
ISRAEL: Kibbutz Returns With Moneyed Communism	more
It was an idea that became an institution, and that became the moving spirit behind the creation of the State of Israel. These were people who wanted to change the world. Now, they're content to live a life of carefree irrelevance. That's the Kibbutz today.
MIDEAST: On the Freedom Flight From Gaza, For a While	more
I tasted freedom for the first time in three years. After being stuck in Gaza since 2007 I travelled to Malaysia for a holiday. It was like visiting another planet. Being treated like a human being and being able to experience what many young people around the world take for granted, was a miracle.
MIDEAST: On the Freedom Flight From Gaza, For a While	more
I tasted freedom for the first time in three years. After being stuck in Gaza since 2007 I travelled to Malaysia for a holiday. It was like visiting another planet. Being treated like a human being and being able to experience what many young people around the world take for granted, was a miracle.
Dictators Guard Their Death Switch	more
Abolition movements are gaining momentum in North Africa, but authoritarian regimes appear reluctant to remove capital punishment from the penal code.
Iran Benefits from Arab Disillusion with Obama	more
U.S. President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Thursday.
MIDEAST: Hamas Slowly Islamising Gaza	more
Gazans are caught between a rock and a hard place. While Israel continues to apply a crippling siege on the coastal territory, Gaza's Hamas government is cracking down on civil and political liberties in what appears to be a campaign to slowly Islamise Gaza.
Despite Iraq Withdrawal, Greater Mideast Not Looking Good	more
While President Barack Obama Monday touted the continuing U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq as a key marker in the success of his regional policies, the latest news from the Greater Middle East, as well as a new public opinion survey, is far less encouraging.
U.N. Names Panel to Probe Israeli Killings on Gaza-Bound Ship	more
Despite initial misgivings, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received the tacit approval of the Israeli government to establish an international panel to probe the widely-condemned killings of nine Turkish civilians onboard a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May.