Just eight weeks before the American presidential elections, Palestinians are furious over comments by Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The private remarks were made in May to wealthy donors but released only now.
It started with a routine border crossing. The Turkish border guard at the Bab Al-Salama crossing point glanced at my passport, pounded a few keys on his keyboard and tossed the travel document back at me.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the key target of nine days of socio-economic protests throughout the West Bank, responded on Tuesday to some of the demands that have been prominent during the course of demonstrations that have become increasingly violent in recent days.
Many Gazans have long lamented that there’s not much to do in the Gaza Strip. There are no movie theaters, pool halls or bowling alleys — all of which are seen as “un-Islamic.” And it’s not getting any better. In fact, now, curbs are being extended further – to the Internet.
In the restive city of Qatif in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the older Shiites are quiet. They had once cheered the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and had hoped their time had come for greater equality in the kingdom. But that dream has faded.
When a popular uprising started in Tunisia less than two years ago, it took the world by surprise. Not many observers had anticipated the outbreak, let alone the success, of popular uprisings in a region far better known for the longevity of its tyrants and despots.
As the violence worsens in neighboring Syria, what began as a trickle of refugees into Jordan has turned into a flood. The United Nations estimates there are now 150,000 refugees in Jordan, and the Jordanian government, struggling with an economic crisis, has been hard-pressed to help them.
Egyptian troops have launched the largest operation in the Sinai desert peninsula since the 1972 war with Israel, killing at least 20 terrorists believed to be responsible for Sunday’s attack on an Egyptian border post that left 16 soldiers dead. Six of the attackers died when they drove across the Israeli border in a commandeered armored car and were hit by Israeli air missiles.
The participants gather outside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city for a group photo. They look like any group of college students visiting Jerusalem on a summer trip. The photographer counts to three. “Free Palestine!” they yell in unison, and laugh.
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