Latest Mideast

• el-Fetouh: Will Massive Lebanese Demos end the Country’s Era of Corruption?

  This state has failed in fulfilling its duties and granting the rights of its citizens. The conflict will not end until the people have a non-failing state, a state of justice governed by law rather than families and gangs
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  Cole: As Netanyahu Era Ends in Israel, Anti-Arab Racism Causes Political Deadlock

  Former Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the far right Likud Party, has failed to form a government. His rival, former general Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, will now get a chance
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  Cook: Israel prepares to turn Bedouin citizens into refugees in their own country

  The barely concealed aim is to impose on the Bedouin such awful conditions that they will eventually agree to be confined for good in the townships on Israel’s terms
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  Kelly: Death, Misery and Bloodshed in Yemen

  A true strike for creativity, necessarily challenging militarism and greed, will help prevent the hellish process of destroying Yemen
• Manasrah: How Palestinian women successfully defended their village from demolition

  One year after Israel gave the green light to demolish Khan al-Amar, the small Bedouin village survives thanks to a bold and creative women-led campaign
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  Cockburn: US has cleared a new breeding ground for Isis

  For a moment, it looked as the Syrian conflict was finally producing clear winners and losers. But now another front has opened up – and the return of one of the conflict’s most violent players is in the offing
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  Zunes: This Isn’t the First Time the US Has Abandoned the Kurds

  Given the history of repression by the Turkish armed forces against Kurdish civilians, Trump’s support for further Turkish intervention in Syria could have utterly tragic results
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  Falk: In Praise of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire

  Kamila Shamsie teaches us by her artistry to understand better the worlds we so unknowingly inhabit. We should also pause long enough to notice her way of living, feeling, and acting as if humanity was her true native country
• Sarican: Turkish Invasion Raises Fear of Kurdish Genocide & ISIS Resurgence

  Interview on the implications of Turkey’s assault
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  Cole: Not Just Ethnicity

  Turkey v. Kurds and the Great Divide over Political Islam v. the Secular Left
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  Cockburn: Kurdish Fighters Always Feared Trump Would be a Treacherous Ally

  But the scale of his betrayal is terrifying
• Gökay: Rojava: Millions of civilians in northern Syria threatened

  On October 6, the White House declared US troops would be withdrawn from northern Syria and no longer be in the immediate area ahead of a Turkish military operation
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  Baroud: Administrative Torture

  Free Heba al-Labadi, a Jordanian Citizen in Israeli Prison
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  Cole: Winners and Losers from Trump throwing Syrian Kurds under the Bus

  The reasons for which the Washington Establishment is appalled at Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of US special operations troops from northern Syria are not necessarily the right ones
• Schwarz: U.S. Betrays Kurds for the Eighth Time

  The White House announced Sunday night that the United States is giving Turkey a green light to invade northern Syria, with the U.S. troops there now apparently pulling back to another area of the country
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  Fisk: Lebanon’s economy

  The US is still trying to destroy the Assad regime in Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Is this what underlays the frightening economic undertow?
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  Falk: Iran’s Gulf Peace Proposal: HOPE

  The plan outlined by President Rouhani should be further developed by the government in Tehran. It should be presented to the world as a serious and constructive proposal
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  Cockburn: “A Shakespearean Act of Betrayal”

  Trump Agrees to Let Turkey Invade Kurdish-Controlled Syrian Area
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  Fisk: A year on from Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

  Saudi Arabia is lurching towards hysterical chaos
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  Cole: US Press Horrified by Trump but ignore Israeli Snipers

  The Jupiter-sized blind spot of US media, however, managed to report on all this with horror without mentioning that this procedure, of shooting people massing on the border in the legs has over the past 18 months become the routine Israeli policy
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  Baroud: The Africa-Palestine Conference

  Why South Africa Must Lead the Way
• Baskin: A Jewish and democratic state

  If Israel is to be a democratic state, it is imperative to pass a Basic Law promising real equality for all of Israel’s citizens
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  Falk: Will Confronting Iran Lead to War or Peace?

  The magnitude of this attack on Saudi oil facilities makes the situation more dangerous even if it is considered as nothing more than a quantitative escalation of Iran’s response to US sanctions and other provocations
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  Hallinan: How Saudi Oil Field Attack Overturned America’s Applecart

  The Americans may have overwhelming military force in the Middle East, but using it might tank world oil prices and send the West—as well as India and China—into a major recession
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  Bennis: Israel’s occupation is the problem, not its leader

  For the growing social movements for human rights and equality in all the lands now controlled by Israel, the problem is U.S. support for Israeli occupation and apartheid — regardless of who presides over the Knesset