the middle east

From Jordan and Syria to Egypt and Iran, openDemocracy writers track the issues behind the headlines. Gilles Kepel takes the temperature of the Muslim world after 9/11, Daniel Swift examines the deeper currents of Egyptian ‘democracy’, and Ali Shukri assesses the dilemma for Syria after the overthrow of the fellow Ba’athist regime in Iraq.

Thursday 19th January

Sanctioning Iranian oil

Reyhaneh Noshiravani, 19 January 2012

With increasing geopolitical instability in oil producing states and the barriers that stand in the way of reaching a multilateral policy, the threat of sanctions in Iran only serves to intensify uncertainty surrounding oil price forecasts for 2012

Thinking about war with Iran

Michael Doliner, 19 January 2012

The real Iranian threat is not its nuclear capacity but its independence. If Iran continues to stand as a model of defiance for increasingly poverty-stricken and restless populations of family fiefdoms in the Gulf, the current US-backed setups will either fall or be forced to democratise. These potentially catastrophic losses of empire go a long way to explaining the rising beat of war drums in the region.

Tuesday 6th December

Taxation: Bahrain's alternative path to political reform

Hasan Tariq Alhasan, 6 December 2011

Bahrain's uprising was curtailed by a brutal crackdown. Could the rising sectarianism and tense Sunni-Shia divide be reversed through taxation?

Tuesday 3rd May

The India-Israel relationship: what it means for secularism

Pratyush, 3 May 2011

India's relationship with Israel has the potential to shift the broader Middle Eastern narrative, affirming India's commitment to pluralism.

Monday 14th March

A new window for academic freedom in Egypt

Florian Kohstall, 14 March 2011

The end of Mubarak’s thirty years reign may mark an opportunity to revive the Egyptian universities’ founding ideals as autonomous institutions seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

Rafiq al-Hariri's murder: why do Lebanese blame Syria?

Hazem Saghieh, 14 March 2011

The assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister on 14 February has sparked fury in the country and confusion in the region. Lebanese journalist Hazem Saghieh investigates what really happened.

(This article was first published on 21 February 2005)

Tuesday 28th September

Thoughts on the Jewish boat to Gaza

Lynne Segal, 28 September 2010

Lynne Segal comments on the significance of an all-Jewish aid boat to Gaza that has been intercepted by the Israeli navy today and receives a message of hope from inside Gaza.

Friday 2nd July

Struggling with Gaza power

Sameh Habeeb, 2 July 2010

As darkness descends on more and more parts of Gaza, and temperatures soar, another kind of darkness is creating havoc with people’s equilibrium

Monday 28th June

Tunnels of Opportunity

Sameh Habeeb, 28 June 2010

Our correspondent in the Gaza Strip visits a car workshop that has just got going again

Friday 7th May

Waiting for the word in Armenia

Ara Iskanderian, 7 May 2010

The WW1 massacre of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks remains a source of great contention, writes Ara Iskanderian. While there has been some recent reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey on government level, use of the “g” word is still firmly off limits.

Thursday 18th February

Beirut and contradiction: reading the World Press Photo award

Mai Ghoussoub, 18 February 2010

The writer and Saqi publisher died on 17 February 2007. Her last article - on Beirut - is here. Plus: memory trio, and life journey

Wednesday 5th August

Damascus: on the road to peace?

Stephen Starr, 5 August 2009

Syria is now being courted by the US as the key to unlocking peace in its troubled region

Wednesday 22nd July

Women choosing to be

Rana Shubair, 22 July 2009

Have women’s lives in Gaza been constrained by a patriarchal ideology under the rule of Hamas? One Gazan resident says no: quite the reverse.

Sunday 12th July

Checkpoints and counter spaces

Nadera Shalhoub Kevorkian, 12 July 2009

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian talked to Jane Gabriel about her latest book ‘Militarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Zones in the Middle East'. A Palestinian case-study. In which she analyses Palestinian women's agency and the many different ways in which they create counter spaces to the militarization of their daily lives.

Monday 25th May

How Do We Cope?

Fadi N.Skaik, 25 May 2009

As summit follows summit, the fate of the Gazan people once again hangs in the balance and reconstruction is still on hold

Wednesday 11th March

The Left and Hamas

Nadine Rosa-Rosso, 11 March 2009

Misreading resistance in the Middle East, the European Left risks consigning itself to irrelevancy

Friday 13th February

Musawah: there cannot be justice without equality

Cassandra Balchin, 13 February 2009

Muslim scholars and activists from forty eight countries are today launching a global initiative insisting that in the twenty first century "there cannot be justice without equality" between men and women.

Thursday 12th February

Home truths in the Muslim family

Cassandra Balchin, 12 February 2009

Sky rocketing rates of women's employment in Muslim countries and recent scholarship that has developed a vision of Islam that insists on equality between men and women, mean that the global pressure to reform Muslim family law is mounting, writes Cassandra Balchin.

Sunday 4th January

A message from Israeli women's organisations: the time for women is now

4 January 2009

Statement by Israeli Women's Organizations

We women's organizations from a broad spectrum of political views demand an end to the bombing and other tools of death, and call for the immediate start of deliberations to talk peace and not make war. The dance of death and destruction must come to an end. We demand that war no longer be an option, nor violence a strategy, nor killing an alternative. The society we want is one in which every individual can lead a life of security - personal, economic, and social.

Thursday 1st January