Full Coverage: Middle East

31.01.2006 The Sudanese refugees remaining in detention in Cairo will not be deported, an Egyptian official has said. They were detained shortly before the New Year after police violently evicted them from the protest camp they had erected in a Cairo neighborhood to support their demands for resettlement to a third country.

31.01.2006 Military Families Against the War says that the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq yesterday will be marked by protests in towns across the country.

31.01.2006 Aid to the Palestinian government will be reviewed in light of a number of conditions, including recognition of Israel and a commitment to non-violence, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in London in a statement on behalf of the "diplomatic Quartet", which also includes Russia, the European Union and the US.

30.01.2006 Bahrain will introduce e-voting technology in its next election. Election and referendum director Shaikha Muneera bint Abdulla Al Khalifa described the e-voting in Bahrain as a genuine experiment of democratic transformation to the horizons of the 21st century.

30.01.2006 Hamas should announce publicly and immediately that it will not carry out attacks that target civilians or cause them indiscriminate harm, a leading rights organisation said today in a letter to the winners of the Palestinian parliamentary elections.

27.01.2006 The diplomatic ‘Quartet’ on the Middle East congratulated the Palestinian people on holding free elections, while emphasising that armed activities stand in contradiction to the democratic process.

26.01.2006 Hamas politicians--who appear to have won a surprising victory in Wednesday's Palestinian parliamentary elections--say they are inspired by, but not in lock step with the group's militant core. Though considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel, Hamas is also known at home for providing social services.

26.01.2006 International development and rights activist Walden Bello explains how military interventions for 'humanitarian reasons' can cause further human rights violations, be corrupted by political goals, and set a dangerous precedent for the disregard of national sovereignty.

26.01.2006 Palestinians streamed into more than 1,000 polling stations on Wednesday in the first parliamentary election in a decade, one that will determine the shape of future prospects for returning to peace talks with Israel.

25.01.2006 The pressures of occupation and poverty are undiminished, but the Palestine election is an opportunity for activists to promote a vision of change, finds Eóin Murray.
* Also, read OneWorld UK's Palestine Guide

24.01.2006 The Iraqi body politic is shattered, with little hope now of avoiding an all-out civil war. That, says Robert Dreyfuss, is the only conclusion that can be reached by looking at the results of the Iraq election, the official returns of which were announced on Friday.

20.01.2006 The Iraq Body Count - a small volunteer team started that methodically counting all non-combatants killed in the invasion and military occupation of Iraq - is running out of funds and appealing for money. It currently puts the toll at between 28,069 and 31657.

19.01.2006 George W. Bush is playing defence on the war in Iraq — accusing critics of giving "aid to the enemy", says David Corn.

19.01.2006 Terrorism and bombing campaigns, lawlessness, kidnapping and targeted killings continue to wreak havoc on Iraqi civilians, with the rights of women, children, detainees and religious leaders grievously violated, according to a new United Nations report.

18.01.2006 While West Bank unemployment hovers near 30%, some women are finding that small-scale economic initiatives offer a better future, including some 20 young women harnessing the fruits of abundant olive trees to produce and market value-added products--from soaps to cooking oil--around the world.

16.01.2006 Egypt on Sunday approved the transit through the Suez Canal of a decommissioned French aircraft carrier with 45 tonnes of asbestos that is en route to India to be dismantled, official news agency MENA reported.

15.01.2006 NEW YORK, Jan 15 (OneWorld) - U.S.-based humanitarian groups are urging the administration of President George W. Bush to compensate the families of innocent Iraqi citizens killed as a result of aerial bombings by the U.S. military.

13.01.2006 Greenpeace activists intercepted and boarded the French aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau, on Thursday raising the stakes in the international row over the decommissioning of the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which has been sent to India for decommissioning despite widespread outrage at the high levels of asbestos and other hazardous materials it contains.

13.01.2006 Greenpeace activists intercepted and boarded the French aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau, on Thursday raising the stakes in the international row over the decommissioning of the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which has been sent to India for decommissioning despite widespread outrage at the high levels of asbestos and other hazardous materials it contains.

12.01.2006 The Digital Education Enhancement Project (DEEP) is exploring how information and communications technologies (ICTs) can improve the quality of teacher education and learning. Research looks at primary schools in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province and in Cairo, Egypt.