Category Archives: Middle East
ISIS: Battling for Land, not Religion.
Nine centuries after the bloody crusades, Christians fought Muslims in the Bosnian War of the 1990s. But it wasn’t for religion that they fought. It was for control of Yugoslavia, broken up after the fall of communist control. When a new [Continue Reading]
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For Land, not Religion – The Israeli and Palestinian Struggle Reignites with Tragic Consequences.
Israelis vs. Palestinians. This is a battle over the control of land. Once the nine-month Peace Talks between them ended last April, both sides dug in and it was only a matter of time before the Intifada (Arabic for rebellion) exploded between [Continue Reading]
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Palestine calls upon the Pope for help.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited Pope Francis to visit the Middle East and, specifically, the West Bank. Since his election in March, Francis has often spoken of the common ground shared by different religions and has asked all [Continue Reading]
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Giant Jesus statue erected in Syria.
Although terrible news from Syria is all that we’ve heard recently, a new symbol of hope will tower over the country. Last month, a 40-foot statue of Jesus was erected on a Syrian mountaintop over which, in ancient times, pilgrims crossed [Continue Reading]
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Saudi Arabia rejects a UN Security Council Seat.
Saudi Arabia stunned the world this month when it refused the coveted two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council it was elected to. Although the General Assembly of the UN has 193 nations as its members, the real power [Continue Reading]
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Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu warns the world about Iran and lowers expectations for peace with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu doesn’t trust Iran. Last month, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, surprised the world by requesting peaceful relationships with the West. Rouhani insisted that Iran does not want nuclear weapons and offered to open his country up to United Nations inspectors. [Continue Reading]
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Violence only breeds more violence.
Studies at an Israeli university have proven that Israeli teens exposed to Palestinian rocket attacks in southern Israel are more violent and vengeful in later life. This may be the root of the Palestinian conflict, as Israelis and Palestinians both [Continue Reading]
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A rattled week in the Middle East: Israel/Palestine peace talks off to an unsteady start, massacre in Egypt, and Iran accelerating its nuclear program.
Just days before the Israeli and Palestinian peace talks started, Israel provoked the Palestinians with the announcement of 1,200 new Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The United Nations has deemed all Israeli settlement in the West Bank illegal, but [Continue Reading]
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Israel and Palestine agree to new peace talks, but they will be difficult.
After six visits by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Israel and the West Bank over the past five months, he finally got both sides to agree to a resumption of peace talks. It will be the first such [Continue Reading]
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Perhaps this 12-year-old should be Egypt’s next president.
A middle-school student gave a concise report on Egypt’s latest revolution. Amid the chaos, this young boy remains steadfast and knows what is needed for his country to thrive. “We protest the confiscation of the Egyptian constitution by one party. [Continue Reading]
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