News stories by Jody Williams

As the world watches the "Arab Spring" unfold in the Middle East -a reaction against decades of oppression and suppression of civil society- there are disturbing signs that Israel is stealthily moving to dismantle some key civil rights and quiet the voices calling for justice and equality for the Palestinians, write Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines and Rachel Giora of the Coalition of Women for Peace, based in Tel Aviv.

One could be forgiven for thinking that democracy is busting out all over Burma. After all, the military junta that runs the country is making a big show of handing over power to Parliament, and declaring a victory for General Than Shwe’s much-touted ‘roadmap to democracy’, write Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize 1997 and Tin Tin Nyo, General Secretary of the Women’s League of Burma.

On March 4 the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The very next day Bashir expelled international and national aid organisations from Darfur. And it has been four weeks since Arab leaders, knowing all of this, in their words, "stressed our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the ICC decision," writes Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for her work to eliminate landmines and Chair of the Nobel Women's Initiative.