14 mars 2011

            Palestinians have been urged to hold mass rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday as part of a campaign aimed at exerting pressure on Hamas and Fatah to end their dispute. The campaign, which was first initiated by various youth groups on Facebook, has been endorsed by several Palestinian political factions, which called on their supporters to take to the streets to join the demonstrators. The campaign has been inspired by the current wave of popular... [Lire la suite]

             The governments of the Middle East and North Africa dug deep into their pockets last year to stock up on weapons, according to the annual study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Experts doubt the current wave of political turmoil will do much to change that. This year, the region’s security forces have been aiming their weapons mostly at their own citizens, but during 2010 countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) as... [Lire la suite]

           Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war. Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia that concessions by the country's monarchy could inspire the conservative Sunni kingdom's own Shi'ite minority. About 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered Bahrain to... [Lire la suite]

            Iran has intensified its crackdown on opponents as well as executions of drug traffickers, political prisoners and juvenile criminals, the United Nations said on Monday. In a report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also voiced concern at floggings, amputations and the continued sentencing of men and women to death by stoning for alleged adultery. Journalists, bloggers and lawyers have been arrested or had their work impeded, and allegations of torture and unfair... [Lire la suite]

            Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that a diplomatic tsunami could hit Israel in six months. Addressing the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv Sunday night, Barak said there is an international movement to recognize a Palestinian state in the pre-1967 borders by September. He said this is an attempt to deligitimize Israel and push it into the same corner that apartheid South Africa once occupied. The defense minister said the government must come... [Lire la suite]