The Quartet was originally set up to persuade a recalcitrant Israel to allow the United Nations to have a role in the peace process. It was also an oblique American token recognition of Russia’s vestigial Great Power status, which allowed it a squeaky wheel in the peace process, if not an actual hand on the helm. Comprising the European Union, …

Book By Karim Alrawi, illustrated by Bee Willey, Crocodile Books, 2011, hardcover, 32 pp. List: $16.95; AET: $14. Reviewed by Andrew Stimson   Acclaimed Egyptian playwright and free speech activist Karim Alrawi retells an ancient Egyptian folktale of simple kindness repaid a thousand-fold. Born in Alexandria, Alrawi studied creative writing at the University of Manchester, England, as well as the …

Abigail Disney, philanthropist, filmmaker and great-niece of the legendary Walt Disney, has publicly forsaken her share in her family’s profits from an Israeli enterprise she claimed is exploiting “occupied natural resources”. She donated her profits and funds equal to the worth of her shares in Ahava, the Dead Sea minerals cosmetics firm, to “groups working to end this illegal exploitation”. …

The United States has blamed Hamas for the failure of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel on Friday, and accused it of launching a “barbaric” attack to apprehend an Israeli soldier. “This is an outrageous action and we look to the rest of the world to join us in condemning it”, Tony Blinken, House Deputy National Security Adviser, said in …

Latin American nations have vehemently denounced the Israeli aggression in Gaza, and several of them have taken actions to that effect, including recalling ambassadors and offering support to Palestine. Eco Morales, President of Bolivia and one of the far-left leaders from Latin America, put deemed Israel as a “terrorist” nation and removed its visa waiver program with Israel. Brazil’s President …

Israel has ended its three-day truce with Hamas on Friday only hours after it had begun, saying that it fears an Israeli soldier was captured in Gaza. The peace ended when intense shelling struck southern Gaza, killing several dozens of people in the process. Hamas had accused Israel of ending the truce, while Israel has said that it was responding …

On Friday, a fierce battle between extremist group Islamic State (IS) and federal forces caused the deaths of seventeen Iraqi soldiers, while bombing in and around Baghdad killed 16 others. The clashes in the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, a settlement situated alongside the Euphrates River and a road that links Sunni militant strongholds to Shi’ite holy sites to the south …

The Iraqi army raided several insurgent targets on Monday in the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, some 60 kilometers to the southwest of Baghdad, on Monday, killing 17 people, including 3 civilians, during the raids. According to local tribal sources, the raid targeted that Fadhiyya district at 01:00 a.m. local time, and a child and two women were among those killed …

US President Barack Obama’s call for an “immediate, unconditional” humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza has strained Israeli-US ties and put Israeli Prime Minister in a spot of bother among hardliners in his government. According to analysts, Obama’s call for a ceasefire on Sunday was seen as an ultimatum to Netanyahu, as the death toll due to the Israeli violence in Gaza …

On Monday, several thousands of Palestinians gathered at that Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to pray and stand in support of Gaza as the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr began. Police reports suggest that over 45,000 people were at the mosque, with many dressed in black T-shirts with “Gaza, supporting you is our Eid” and “We are all Gaza” written …