Global Issues News Headlines for “Middle East”

Gazans Dying to Enter Israel:

2013-05-23T10:54:00-07:00

RAMALLAH, May 23 (IPS) - Israel's crippling blockade of the coastal territory of Gaza is pushing desperate young Palestinians to ever more extreme measures in the search for livelihoods, despite an agreement granting Gazans greater access to their agricultural land.

When It Comes to Syria, Israel Frequently Redrawing Red Lines:

2013-05-20T20:15:15-07:00

JERUSALEM, May 20 (IPS) - Israel is being drawn into Syria's quagmire as it threatens to act further on transfers of "game-changing" weapons to hostile protagonists involved in Syria's civil war, be they Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, Jihadist Sunni rebels, or loyalist forces of President Bashar al Assad.

Living in Hell, Iraqi Christians Dream of Paradise:

2013-05-20T19:22:04-07:00

BASHIQA, Iraq, May 20 (IPS) - Luis Shabi nostalgically recalls his nine years of novitiate in Rome and a "fantastic road trip through Europe" before returning to Iraq in 1969. "Those were the good times," sighs the Chaldean Archbishop of Baghdad from a bunker in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

Q&A: Crisis Escalates as International Community Fails Syria:

2013-05-18T23:10:04-07:00

ATHENS, May 18 (IPS) - With no end in sight for the ongoing two-year war in Syria, the ensuing humanitarian crisis continues to escalate, with over 1 million refugees having fled to neighbouring countries and at least another 3 million displaced within Syria.

Civil Society Under Attack Around the World:

2013-05-17T16:32:43-07:00

JOHANNESBURG, May 17 (IPS) - In December 2011, 159 governments and major international organisations recognised the central role of civil society in development and promised to create an "enabling" operating environment for the non-profit sector.

Walking Tours Connect Palestinians to Their Past:

2013-05-17T13:50:25-07:00

DEIR GHASSANEH, Occupied West Bank, May 17 (IPS) - A reddish-brown dome sits atop an ancient stone house, used hundreds of years ago for prayer. It peeks out from the surrounding trees as the rolling green valleys and hills of the central West Bank stretch out into the distance.

Tribes Keep Uneasy Peace in Southern Libya:

2013-05-17T12:56:31-07:00

SOUTHERN LIBYA, May 17 (IPS) - Kaltoum Saleh, 18, is elated to graduate from her overcrowded high school in the remote Saharan town of Ubari, near the Algerian border.

Arab Magazine Challenges Attitudes About Arab Women:

2013-05-17T06:47:48-07:00

NAZARETH, Northern Israel, May 17 (IPS) - With a subtle blend of colour and shadow, 20-year-old Sumoud Farraj prepares for a photo shoot. Next month, along with three other young Arab women, she'll appear in a designer miniskirt on the cover of Lilac, an Arabic-language women's magazine.

Against Push for Peace Talks, Outposts Continue Israeli Land Grab:

2013-05-16T13:45:33-07:00

ASIRA AL-QIBLIYA, Occupied West Bank, May 16 (IPS) - Ibrahim Makhlouf reaches for two wooden planks lying in the hallway and places them expertly in an L-shape along the seams of his front door.

U.N. General Assembly Condemns Syria as Sceptics Multiply:

2013-05-15T23:18:09-07:00

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (IPS) - When the 193-member General Assembly voted Wednesday to condemn the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, there was an increase in the number of sceptics who neither supported nor opposed the tottering regime in Damascus.