Middle East

With celebrations and tears of joy, the Palestinian prisoners reunited with their families and friends on Sunday in Gaza and West Bank.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered outside the Palestinian Presidential compound in Ramallah in order to welcome the 509 released Palestinian prisoners and celebrate the great moment.

In a new attempt to tighten the siege on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupation Forces have imposed a sea border at 3 nautical miles away from Gaza’s seashore by placing large floats with big lights signs in order to restrict fishermen’s work and ban them from crossing this border as well as imposing a new buffer zone similar to the one along Gaza’s eastern and northern border

Despite predictions that liberal, leftist and secular forces would be the main rivals to the FJP (Freedom and Justice Party), a combination of factors led to a disappointing performance.

Reporters Without Borders roundly condemns the two-year jail sentence that the supreme military court of appeals in Cairo imposed today on Maikel Nabil Sanad, a blogger who has been held since March on a charge of insulting the military in a blog entry.

World without Wars and Violence has been observing the dramatic events taking place in Syria in recent months with profound concern. It is clear that the non-violent popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt were not taken as models in the case of Libya.

The Israeli prison service announced on Wednesday the names of the
detainees who will be released in the second phase of the swap deal which is
planned to be concluded next Sunday.

The first phase was implemented on Oct 18, and witnessed the release
of 447 Palestinian prisoners in exchange of the former captured Israeli soldier Gila’ad Shalit.

Dr Ibrahim Nahel Othman (alias Khaled Al-Hakim, member of Damas Doctors coordination committee), was killed last Saturday by security forces of Bachar Al-Assad in a northern village of Syria. He was helping the wounded activists protesting each day against the Syrian regime.
(from «la Mort en Vienne», Ossama Mohamed syrian filmmaker, Vienna
international film festival 2011)

Cairo – ”You proved that you are right, that we were wrong. You are catalysts for reforms. Recognise your capabilities for changing the world”, said Qatar’s first lady Sheikha Moza in Doha to 400 “leaders of tomorrow” from 100 countries.

A Palestinian man and his daughter were injured on Sunday after an Israeli airstrike hit Gaza Strip. Palestinian medics said. A local source added that the two were hurt in their home after a raid targeted a close building in Al-Zaitoon neighborhood south of Gaza City.
The source confirmed that at least two missiles hit the building and
caused a total destruction for it.

23 Reasons Why We Should be Careful About Uncritically Accepting Western Views of the Syrian Insurrection.

As insurrection in Syria lurches towards civil war, the brakes need to be put on the propaganda pouring through the Western mainstream media and accepted uncritically by many who should know better.