Middle East

Syrian Women Working for Peace and Political Action

October 21, 2014

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Syrian women filled the conference room and lobby of a hotel in this border city for one week in late August this year. They were the focus of a “Space for Collaboration” workshop, providing networking and training to women working on political solutions to the Syrian civil war. A majority of …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Women

Cynthia Enloe, Damma, Free Syrian Army, gender equality, Geneva II peace talks, International Republican Institute, Monica McWilliams, Sabah al-Hallak, Space for Collaboration workshop, Syrian Center for Civil Society and Democracy, Syrian women activists, Syrian Women's League, Syrian Women's Peace Talks, Women's Democracy Network

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Lakhdar Brahimi: When Will the US Learn From Its Mistakes in the Middle East?

September 26, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

More than two decades of American naivety or misunderstanding of Arab and other regional societies, astonishingly poor planning and post-conflict miscalculations that undercut claims of success have left a deep mistrust and lack of confidence in the United States in the Middle East, in the view of the United Nations’ most experienced and savvy …

Asia, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, US Foreign Relations

Lakhdar Brahimi, UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, US-Middle East relations

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US to Convene a Summit at UN on Stopping Extremists

September 3, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

President Barack Obama will hold a summit late this month in the United Nations Security Council to try to counter the surging power and strength of the Islamic terrorists that have seized parts of the Middle East this summer and other violent extremists worldwide. The summit, to convene on Sept. 25, will occur during …

General Assembly, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Security Council, Uncategorized, US-UN Relations

ISIS, Samantha Power, UN General Assembly debate

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Women’s Voices Must Stay ‘Alive’ in ISIS-Controlled Regions

August 31, 2014

by Yermi Brenner

The extremist Sunni militant group called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which recently declared a caliphate in parts of the Middle East, now controls an area of 13,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Testimonies coming out about daily life in the ISIS-controlled region depict an agenda of fear and intimidation being imposed, …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East

Hivos, ISIS, Jetteke van der Schatte Olivier, Kurdistan, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women, violence against women in conflict, Wavin, Women on the Frontline

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

UN Security Council Sanctions Six Terrorists Operating in Iraq and Syria

August 17, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

If there is one anarchic group that every member of the United Nations Security Council currently finds abhorrent it is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which has seized large regions of Iraq this summer, astonishing most of the world. So, all 15 council members — including Russia and China — passed …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda sanctions regime, Chérif Mahamat Zène, Gary Quinlan, ISIS, Mark Lyall Grant, Samantha Power, UN Counter-Terrorism Center, UN Security Council, UN Security Council Resolution 2170

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The Syrian Refugee Crisis Poses Ethical Questions for the UN and Others

July 28, 2014

by Alexander Brotman

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, 2.9 million people have fled the country to refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and beyond. This has not only destabilized many Middle Eastern countries, but it has also caused continuous public debates inside nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations over what the …

Middle East, Refugees

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Maria Calivis, Syrian civil war, Syrian refugee crisis, The Lancet, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN resettlement program, US humanitarian aid, Zaatari refugee camp

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Israeli Settlements: A Timeline From 1967 to Now

July 11, 2014

by Irwin Arieff

Here is a comprehensive, up-to-date timeline charting the nearly 47-year campaign of Israeli settlement development in territories occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War, along with a graph tracking the years and population. This timeline accompanies “The Limits of Diplomacy: Israeli Settlements” by Irwin Arieff. 1967 June 5-10: The settlements have their origins in …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East

"land for peace" treaty, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Arab League, Ban Ki-moon, Camp David Accords, Condoleezza Rice, East Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Gaza, Golan Heights, Hagai Ben Artzi, Hebron, Israeli 1967 War, Israeli Labor Party, Israeli settlements, Knesset, Kofi Annan, Middle East peace plan, Middle East Road Map, migrations to Israel, Oslo Accord, President Anwar El Sadat, President Barak Obama, President Bill Clinton, President George H. W. Bush, President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Quartet, Saeb Erekat, Second Intifada, Secretary of State James Baker, Security Council Resolution 1397, Security Council Resolution 1515, Security Council Resolution 242, Security Council Resolution 252, Security Council Resolution 267, Security Council Resolution 298, Security Council Resolution 338, Security Council Resolution 446, Security Council Resolution 465, Sinai, Six-Day War, Tzipi Livni, US-Israeli policy, West Bank, Yasser Arafat, Yom Kippur War

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The Limits of Diplomacy: Israeli Settlements

July 10, 2014

by Irwin Arieff

Many Israelis reacted with surprise and dismay when United States Secretary of State John Kerry blamed Israel’s seemingly insatiable appetite for settlements for the collapse of the latest round of Middle East peace talks. The negotiations were already on hold when Israel announced it was opening the door to yet another 700 new housing …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council

Article 49 Geneva Convention, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Hamas, Israeli settlements, Land for Peace resolution, Middle East peace talks, Middle East Quartet, Palestine-Israeli relations, Security Council Resolution 242, Six-Day Arab-Israeli War, UN Security Council, Uri Ariel, US Secretary of State John Kerry, US-Israeli relations, West Bank, West Bank outposts, Yitzhak Shamir

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How the Chemical Weapons Removed From Syria Will Be Destroyed

July 1, 2014

by Alexander Brotman

Although Syria has turned over all of its declared chemical weapons stockpile to international authorities, defying expectations that it would not meet a June 30 deadline, the next hurdle is securely destroying the material outside the country. Danish and Norwegian vessels have been tasked with removing the majority of the chemicals from the Syrian …

Disarmament, Middle East

Ahmet Uzumcu, Cape Ray, Chemical Weapons Convention, chemical weapons destruction, Ellesmere Port, Gioia Tauro, Latakia, National Journal, OPCW, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Priority 1 chemical weapons, Ralf Trapp, Syria chemical weapons

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Graphic Photos Reveal Syria’s Deadly Mix of Torture and Starvation

April 22, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

Systematic widespread torture and starvation of prisoners held by the Syrian government has been documented by a team of forensic pathologists and confirmed by international legal experts using evidence provided through a former Syrian military official, according to a recent presentation held by France at the United Nations. High-resolution images projected on a screen …

Middle East, Security Council

Carter-Ruck, Christian Science Monitor, David M. Crane, Desmond de Silva, Dr. Stuart J. Hamilton, Geoffrey Nice, Gerard Araud, ICC, Slobodan Milosevic, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Syrian National Movement, Syrian regime torture, Syrian torture report, UNOHCHR paper on Syrian torture

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Iraqi Women, Insisting on Their Innocence, Dealt Severe Rights Abuses

February 26, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

There can be no other region in the world now as broad as the swath of Middle Eastern and North African nations where so many women are living in violence, extreme vulnerability and a corrosive foreboding about their future. These deprivations are occurring from Tunisia or Egypt — where women struggle to keep the …

Human Rights, Middle East, Women

abuse of women in Iraq, Arab Spring, Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, Human Rights Watch, Iraqi women, Nuri al-Maliki, UN Assistance Mission in Iraq

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UN Security Council Votes a Surprising ‘Yes’ on Syria

February 22, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach

The United Nations Security Council approved a breakthrough resolution to demand humanitarian-aid access in Syria, after debating the language of the text for at least a week, as Russia lobbied hard for changes to soften wording or delete passages as well as tried to postpone the vote while the Olympics are taking place in …

Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Security Council

Bashar al-Assad, Gary Quinlan, Humanitarian aid in Syria; UN Security Council resolution on Syria

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Parliamentary Group Warns of Political Perils as 2014 Elections Loom

January 23, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

A committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union met in mid-January, as a busy year of elections globally was beginning, to confront the human-rights violations and sometimes lethal abuse suffered by 262 members of national legislatures in countries that often call themselves democracies. From Jan. 13 to 17, the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s committee on the human …

Africa, Asia, Governance, Middle East

2014 elections, Aam Aadmi, Arvind Kejirwal, Bangladesh elections, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, India Congress Party, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Isaias Afewerki, Mesfin Hagos, Narendra Modi, National Democratic Institute, Rahul Gandhi

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Syrian Women Win Active Role in Geneva Peace Conference

January 22, 2014

by Dulcie Leimbach and Maurizio Guerrero

The United Nations-led peace talks in Switzerland to begin the laborious discussions to end the war in Syria have officially started, but Syrian women activists who have been demanding to sit at the crucial peace-talks table on Jan. 24 in Geneva did not know until the last minute whether any women would be involved. …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Women

Assad al-Bashar, Bouthaina Shaaban, Daniel Nielson, gender equality, Geneva communique, Geneva II, Hivos, Islamic women, Jetteke van der Schatte Olivier, John Kerry, Lakhdar Brahimi, Luna al-Shebl, Mark Lyall Grant, National Syrian Coalition, Rima Fleihan, Robert Ford, Sabah Al Hallk, Syrian peace talks, Syrian Women's Initiative for Peace and Democracy, UN Women, Women Lead to Peace Summit, Women on the Frontline, Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality

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At Geneva II Talks in January, It Is Not Enough to ‘Add Women and Stir’

December 26, 2013

by Dulcie Leimbach

The campaign to ensure women’s equal participation at the peace talks on Syria in January has become more urgent, as certain parties recognize that women are vital in rebuilding and reconciling Syrian society. Yet only a few weeks before the talks are scheduled to start, no commitment has been made as to whether women …

Middle East, Secretary-General, Women

Ban Ki-moon, Center for Civil Society and Democracy in Syria, CodePink, DemocraShe, Dr. Abigail Ruane, European Union, Flavia Pansieri, gender equality, Geneva II talks, Human Rights Watch, Islamic women, Khawla Mattar, Lakhdar Brahimi, League of Arab States, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, PeaceWomen, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Syrian National Coalition, Syrian Women's League, Syrian Women's Network, UN Resolution 1325, UN Security Council, UN Women, Women Lead to Peace Summit, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

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Middle East

Syrian Women Working for Peace and Political Action

Lakhdar Brahimi: When Will the US Learn From Its Mistakes in the Middle East?

US to Convene a Summit at UN on Stopping Extremists

Women’s Voices Must Stay ‘Alive’ in ISIS-Controlled Regions

UN Security Council Sanctions Six Terrorists Operating in Iraq and Syria

The Syrian Refugee Crisis Poses Ethical Questions for the UN and Others

Israeli Settlements: A Timeline From 1967 to Now

The Limits of Diplomacy: Israeli Settlements

How the Chemical Weapons Removed From Syria Will Be Destroyed

Graphic Photos Reveal Syria’s Deadly Mix of Torture and Starvation

Iraqi Women, Insisting on Their Innocence, Dealt Severe Rights Abuses

UN Security Council Votes a Surprising ‘Yes’ on Syria

Parliamentary Group Warns of Political Perils as 2014 Elections Loom

Syrian Women Win Active Role in Geneva Peace Conference

At Geneva II Talks in January, It Is Not Enough to ‘Add Women and Stir’

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