Category: Middle East

Middle East Overview

News on Syria? Why Are Left Activists Falling For Fake News On Syria?

Posted on

‘
On Rising Up with Sonali April 18, 2018: After President Donald Trump declared “Mission Accomplished” in Syria in the wake of US air strikes last week, the question about the veracity of reports on the chemical attack in Douma has taken on a new urgency. Inspectors with the Organization For the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are still awaiting access to the sites of the attack. Is it possible to accept that Syria’s government really did attack civilians and still be against U.S. militarism in Syria? Dr. Zunes posits it absolutely is.

Interview: Stephen Zunes Explains AAR panel cancellation and Trump’s Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

Posted on

Global Journal of Peace Research and Praxis
Volume 2, Number 1 (Spring 2018)
Dr. Stephen Zunes discussed his views on the abrupt cancellation of a panel he was scheduled to participate in at the 2017 American Academy of Religion’s annual conference. President Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has thrown the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians back into the American public’s consciousness. Those who study this conflict, or have a personal connection to it, realize that in terms of foreign policy and academia, the relevancy and divisiveness of this issue never waned…

Trump’s actions on Jerusalem come with Democratic support

Posted on

San Francisco Chronicle December 7, 2017:
President Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the United States formally recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy would be moved to that multiethnic and multifaith city once again places the United States at odds with the rest of the international community. No other government in the world formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital or has its embassy there, instead basing their diplomatic offices in nearby Tel Aviv.

Both Parties Pushed Trump Toward Reckless Action on Jerusalem

Posted on

[Full Article] Published in The Progressive, Huffington Post,
Common Dreams & Transcend Media Service:
President Trump’s plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there risks a violent and destabilizing reaction targeting U.S. interests globally. The 1947 UN partition plan was to divide Palestine between a Jewish and Arab state, with Jerusalem and surrounding areas designated as an international territory under U.N. administration. Instead–as a result of the first Arab-Israeli War–by 1949 Israel had annexed the western part of the area and Jordan the eastern part, but the international community refused to acknowledge either claim. Following the Israeli conquests of 1967, Israel annexed Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem and surrounding lands as well…

Banning Palestinian Speaker at Friends Central School

Posted on

Sa’ed Atshan is generally considered one of the most highly-respected young Quaker scholars in the United States. A graduate of Ramallah Friends School and Swarthmore College with a doctoral degree from Harvard, he is currently an assistant professor in Swarthmore’s Peace and Conflict Studies program. A committed pacifist, he serves on the board of Pendle Hill, is an active member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting and has worked with a wide range of organizations in conflict resolution and reconciliation. [More links about this]

Resistance Builds to Proposed Israeli Boycott Bill

Posted on

The Progressive & Huffington Post August 1, 2017
   A disturbing number of Congressional Democrats have joined their Republican counterparts in co-sponsoring a bill (S. 720/H.R. 1697) effectively criminalizing support for boycotts against Israel or companies doing business in the country or its occupied territories. If passed, the legislation would make it a crime to support or even furnish information about a boycott directed at Israel or the Israeli occupation supported by any entity of the United Nations, the European Union, or other “international governmental organization.” And the penalties are draconian…

Interview: How Syria Divides the Left

Posted on

Truthout July 10, 2017: Daniel Falcone Interviewed Dr. Zunes
SZ: “Most credible academics and journalists on the
left, while varying to some degree in their analyses, generally agree
that the Syrian regime is horrifically repressive and not particularly
progressive by any measure.  There is also a consensus that the bulk of
the armed opposition is dominated by reactionary Salafist
extremists and that the largely nonviolent movement that first emerged
in 2011 had strong progressive and democratic elements, but has largely
been crushed. Further, the U.S. and other outside powers (Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, Qatar, Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Britain, France, etc.) should
not be bombing, sending arms, providing troops or contributing to the
carnage….”

Erdogan Can Celebrate the Turkish Referendum—For Now

Posted on

Declaring victory in the recent plebiscite granting him extraordinary powers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan consolidated his authoritarian rule. A new constitutional amendment abolishes the country’s parliamentary system and gives the once-weak executive almost unlimited authority. It passed in the midst of a state of emergency imposed after last year’s coup attempt. [This item’s no longer available]