11 March 2011
On 2 March Israel announced the complete closure of Karni, the principal commercial crossing into the Gaza Strip, prompting protests by Palestinian traders who rely on the crossing to bring goods into the territory. Read more about Gaza truckers protest Israel's closure of commercial crossing
11 March 2011
VIENNA (IPS) - Female Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel are often denied legal representation and medical care while being housed in squalid conditions that can include sharing cells with rodents. Read more about Interview: Palestinian women prisoners shackled during childbirth
10 March 2011
Dutch opposition parties boycotted a parliamentary delegation to the Middle East in February after parties supporting the right-wing government insisted on going ahead with the visit despite an Israeli government ban on allowing the lawmakers to visit the besieged Gaza Strip. Read more about Dutch opposition boycotts parliamentary delegation to Israel
9 March 2011
CAIRO, Egypt (IPS/Al Jazeera) - This week has been a very disappointing one for women and women’s rights activists across Egypt — when just one woman was included into the newly sworn-in cabinet. Read more about Women fight for rights in post-Mubarak Egypt
9 March 2011
CAIRO (IPS) - The much-feared secret police and intelligence service that protected the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak by arresting, torturing, and even killing opponents has started a wave of burning documents and evidence that could incriminate them, as calls escalate for abolishing the force altogether and bringing its officers to justice. Read more about Egyptian activists move to shut down infamous secret police
7 March 2011
BAGHDAD, Iraq (IPS/AJ) - Hundreds of people have converged on Baghdad’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square on 4 March for an anti-government demonstration despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital. Read more about Anti-government protests erupt across Iraq
7 March 2011
SOHAR, Oman (IPS/AJ) - Fresh protests have taken place in the Gulf sultanate of Oman, following a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations across the Arab world. The unrest in Sohar has been a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally calm sultanate of Oman. Read more about Pro-democracy protests spread to Oman
3 March 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya (IPS) - The walls outside the al-Jalah Hospital in downtown Bengazi are covered with posters of missing persons, mostly teenagers and young men who disappeared after the protests began. Inside, hundreds of gunshot victims recover from the street battle between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and Benghazi’s citizens. Read more about Casualties mount as battle for Libya continues
3 March 2011
CAIRO (IPS) - Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak portrayed himself as a paradigm of stability in a country he once described as a “powder keg” of sectarian unrest. Yet far from promoting stability, his regime may have actually been the source of much of the religious strife it claimed to suppress. Read more about Mubarak regime source of sectarian unrest
2 March 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya (IPS) - As the defectors from the Libyan army organize the weapons they have recovered from Muammar Gaddafi’s strongholds in the region, thousands of Libyan men are volunteering to join the soldiers in a possible attack on Tripoli to oust Gaddafi from power. Read more about Libyan opposition prepares for offensive against Gaddafi