CAIRO (IPS) - Hosni Mubarak’s speech Thursday night in which he refused to quit only provoked anger and sparked further unrest. Massive demonstrations, and pitched battles between pro-democracy protesters and the regime’s security forces, have already been intensifying in every corner of the country. Read more about Egyptian labor joins the uprising 

Criticism has mounted in recent months around the Israeli civic service program, a volunteering program aimed at individuals otherwise exempt from military service, which individuals say conditions their inalienable rights, such as equal access to education and the job market. Read more about Israel's discriminatory civil service program challenged 

“I still cannot believe my eyes as I see the machines of our new factory, scattered to all corners,” said Rabah al-Hatto as he surveyed the rubble of his recently-established plastic water tank factory in northeast Gaza, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes early yesterday. Read more about New Gaza factory, jobs destroyed in Israeli attack 

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - Despite ongoing protests calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation, petrol is once again flowing through the tunnels from Egypt into Gaza after supplies were cut for a week due to the unrest, according to the Palestinian General Petroleum Corporation. Read more about Groups warn of humanitarian consequences of Gaza closure 

RAFAH, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, cans of meat and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side. Read more about Palestinians in Gaza feed Egyptian troops 

CAIRO (IPS) - Over recent years, Egypt has witnessed mounting tension between its Muslim majority and its sizeable Coptic Christian minority. But in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of ongoing mass protests against the ruling regime, members of both faiths chant in unison “Muslim, Christian, doesn’t matter; We’re all in this boat together!” Read more about Muslim-Christian unity characterizes Egypt's uprising 

While all eyes are on the people’s revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, ongoing efforts to form a new government in Lebanon have garnered little media attention. But the collapse of the Hariri government in Lebanon was another major blow to US interests and the standing of its long-time Israeli and “moderate” Arab allies. Read more about Meet the Lebanese Press: the end of Hariri or of Harirism?  

Economic dependency and an oppressive security state is the recipe that many dictatorial, one-person, or one-party regimes apply across the region. This model was followed by the once American-supported, and then American-deposed Saddam Hussein, to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, who was first a pariah in the West and then became its darling, to Tunisia’s Zine El Abedine Ben Ali who was overthrown by his people, among others. While the Egyptian people stand steadfast in an effort to overthrow their own Pharoah, a similar “pharoah regime” is steadily being built for Palestinians in the West Bank. Read more about The ascent of the Palestinian pharaoh 

With today’s technology, every person on the street with a cell phone can be a reporter and the entire world can bear witness almost in real time to what happens in the dark alleyways and secret corners of a police state. Yet even this has its risks. Read more about Egypt's revolution through a million eyes 

In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah last weekend, security forces belonging to the Palestinian Authority attempted to pacify a protest of 2,000 persons. Read more about Despite PA repression, Palestinians rally for Egypt