Full Coverage: Middle East

30.03.2005 Would U.S. troop withdrawl mean chaos or civil war for Iraq? Will the rest of the world mistrust the United States if it leaves Iraq? The Washington D.C.-based Council for a Livable World is answering questions they commonly receive on U.S. policy towards Iraq. Readers are encouraged to send in additional questions that they may have as well.

29.03.2005 Israel insists on continuing with construction of the controversial wall. Christian Aid says this will jeopardise and pre-empt efforts by the new Palestinian government to resolve the conflict.

24.03.2005

22.03.2005 The moving personal account of her captivity in Iraq and the tragic final taxi journey with Nicola Calipari, by the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena.

21.03.2005 Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in cities and towns across America over the weekend to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and to demand that U.S. troops stationed there be brought home.

21.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 21 (OneWorld) - Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in cities and towns across America over the weekend to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and to demand that U.S. troops stationed there be brought home.

21.03.2005 On the 40th anniversary of the first teach-in on the Vietnam War, eminent thinkers and activists in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Ann Arbor will discuss how to end the military and economic occupation of Iraq.

18.03.2005 This week was "Energy Week" at the World Bank in more ways than one. In addition to holding an energy summit of government officials, academia, and civil society representatives, the Bank also got a new leader (presumptively), who's as steeped in oil as anyone, says longtime Bank observer Jim Vallette. The irony: the Bank itself has declared that oil projects do not promote development and should be phased out.

18.03.2005 Arab countries are notorious for governmental control of media. The advent of blogging opens a new era in the battle between free expression and censorship.

17.03.2005 While the U.S. government has assisted investigations into cases of U.S. citizens killed by Palestinian armed groups, it has failed to do so in cases involving Israeli forces, said Amnesty International Wednesday on the second anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, a U.S. peace activist crushed by a bulldozer while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.

17.03.2005 President Bush's newest request for money to fund the Iraq war would bring the average household's share of the war cost to $2,000, yet he has still not presented a strategy for success--and ending the war--says foreign policy expert Erik Leaver.

17.03.2005 Grassroots organizations are preparing to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq with rallies, demonstrations, and vigils around the country this weekend. The largest gatherings are expected at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina and in Washington, D.C., but hundreds of vigils will take place in localities all over the United States. Find out what's happening in your area, or how you can host a vigil.

16.03.2005 Demonstrations in Lebanon, structural reforms in Egypt, and relatively "free and fair" elections in Palestine. How much of this represents a movement towards true democracy and how much is a game of smoke and mirrors being played by pro-U.S. factions and trumpeted by their Bush administration champions? Middle East expert Phyllis Bennis separates progress from propaganda.

12.03.2005 Contrary to the popular image of Hariri as responsible for rejuvenating the Lebanese economy, alternative interpretations suggest that his reforms contributed to Lebanon's trade deficit of $7.7bn and the likelihood of a major debt crisis.

12.03.2005 Children from poor families in Lebanon are dropping out of education, according to research. In addition to problems of poverty associated with large families, socio-economic constraints include child labour and gender inequality.

11.03.2005 Taking a cue from student protestors in the Ukraine and their predecessors in Georgia and elsewhere, peaceful demonstrators in Lebanon may have undone Syria's longstanding domination of the their country. Protests against the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri have led to the resignation of the pro-Syrian government.

10.03.2005 A new report from Amnesty International exposing Syrian human rights abuses against the minority Kurdish population does not come at a good time for the beleaguered country.

08.03.2005 Syria may be pulling back its troops but Lebanon has no shortage of problems. The vacuum may create a risk of civil war, not helped by hesitant moves to appoint a new government. And worst of all is the feeling that events are being driven by US and Israeli agendas.

08.03.2005 "The corporate media here in the U.S. has done quite an amazing job of allowing Iraq to fall right off the radar screens of the news since the election. The impression...is that, 'well, they've had these elections so things must be better in Iraq.' The reality is that things couldn't be further from being resolved there," says Dahr Jamail, one of the few unembedded American reporters, just back from Iraq.

08.03.2005 Whenever news emerges that paints the U.S. or its allies in a negative light, they roll out the "Unfortunate Incident Protocol," a predictable series of steps to deflect the bad press and assign blame elsewhere, according to clinical psychologist and Christian author Teresa Whitehurst. It's already been launched in the case of the Italian journalist killed by U.S. soldiers under questionable circumstances last Friday.