Tag Archives: people

By Ramzy Baroud Whenever the word ‘refugee’ is uttered, I think of my mother. When Zionist militias began their systematic onslaught and ‘cleansing’ of the Palestinian Arab population of historic Palestine in 1948, she, along with her family, ran away from the once peaceful village of Beit Daras. Back then, Zarefah was six. Her father died in a refugee camp …

Amer Zahr Two weeks ago, I was in Jerusalem. I stayed in the Jerusalem Hotel, one block from the largest entrance to the Old City. I ventured through the city’s storied alleys, ancient stairways, and vibrant markets over and over during my few days there. I ate hummus, visited holy sites, and bought souvenirs. When I did make a purchase, …

By Ramzy Baroud “This is not who we are. This is not how we operate,” were the words of President Barack Obama commenting on the grisly findings of a long-awaited congressional report on the use of torture by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). But what if this is exactly who we are? The report is difficult to read, not …

The UN on Thursday requested for $8.4 billion so that it can provide emergency aid and more permanent help to almost 18 million people in Syria and its neighbors affected by the Syrian civil war. The appeal includes funding for shelter, food, humanitarian aid and developmental support. UN agencies had initially asked for$2.9 billion to help 12.2 million people in …

By Max Fisher There’s a certain ritual that each and every one of the world’s billion-plus Muslims, especially those living in Western countries, is expected to go through immediately following any incident of violence involving a Muslim perpetrator. It’s a ritual that is continuing now with the Sydney hostage crisis, in which a deranged self-styled sheikh named Man Haron Monis …

Since May, over 22 people have left Switzerland to fight abroad as foreign militants, including eight in the past two weeks, Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), said on Monday. According to the agency, 61 Swiss nationals have left to fight overseas since 2001, including 37 who left to Iraq and Syria, and 25 to Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The …

After slamming the Canadian government for not doing enough to help Syrian refugees, critics took Conservatives to task for being selective in picking the refugees who will get asylum. Parliamentary secretary for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Costas Menegakis faced several questions from the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the House of Commons on Friday – Menegakis was unrepentant …

A new report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Poverty and Human Rights Centre has suggested that the absence of a human rights commission in British Columbia has led to a “gaping hole” in the province’s human rights protection system. In “Strengthening Human Rights”, authors Gwen Brodsky and Shelagh Day note that British Columbia is the …

By Ramzy Baroud Raed Mu’anis was my best friend. The small scar on top of his left eyebrow was my doing at the age of five. I urged him to quit hanging on a rope where my mother was drying our laundry. He wouldn’t listen, so I threw a rock at him. I didn’t mean for the rock hit him, …

International rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday accused the Israeli military of committing war crimes during the Gaza offensive this past summer, and urged an investigation into the issue. The destruction of multi-story building during the final four days of the offensive violated international humanitarian law, Amnesty International said in a report. “All the evidence we have shows this large-scale …