Why I blew the whistle about Palestine | Ziyad Clot

Israel’s attack on Gaza and the disastrous ‘peace talks’ compelled me to leak what I knewIn Palestine, the time has come for national reconciliation. On the eve of the 63rd commemoration of the Nakba – the uprooting of Palestinians that accompanied t… Continue reading


Why I blew the whistle about Palestine | Ziyad Clot

Israel’s attack on Gaza and the disastrous ‘peace talks’ compelled me to leak what I knewIn Palestine, the time has come for national reconciliation. On the eve of the 63rd commemoration of the Nakba – the uprooting of Palestinians that accompanied t… Continue reading


Ed Miliband’s Libya response shows he is no longer ‘son of Gordon Brown’

After his criticism of the Iraq war, the Labour leader can approach challenge of a new intervention from first principlesJames Callaghan, as a defeated Labour prime minister, was asked how he thought his successor, Margaret Thatcher, was handling the F… Continue reading


Qatar’s decision to send planes to Libya is part of a high-stakes game

The tiny Gulf state is keen to gain influence out of proportion to its size through diplomacy and al-JazeeraIn an air-conditioned room down an alley in the old market of Qatar’s capital Doha, enthusiasts of “damah” gather most evenings. The ancient boa… Continue reading


Libya: the morality of intervention | Bernard Kouchner

The Libyan crisis has shown how a united Europe can be used as a force for common goodCould we leave Colonel Gaddafi’s victims to die in full view of our TV cameras? I think not. It is quite understandable that the UN’s courageous decision to reso… Continue reading


Libya: Military coalition continues attacks on Gaddafi – in pictures

Latest scenes from Benghazi and Tripoli as rebels take advantage of the continued bombing campaign Continue reading


Germans voice disquiet over absence from Libya military action

Commentators warn Germany ‘lost credibility’ by abstaining from UN security council resolution but opinion poll backs decisionGermany’s decision to join Russia and China in abstaining from the UN security council resolution authorising military action … Continue reading


Turkey and France clash over Libya air campaign

Tension mounts over military action as Ankara accuses Sarkozy of pursuing French interests over liberation of Libyan peopleTurkey has launched a bitter attack on French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s and France’s leadership of the military campaign agains… Continue reading


Libyan plane shot down after Hague tells MPs no-fly zone established

Statement to MPs comes shortly before ABC News report that French fighter jet had shot down Libyan aircraftWilliam Hague faced mild embarrassment when he told MPs Libyan military aircraft were unable to take to the air as news emerged that French fight… Continue reading


Sub-Saharan Africa is not Egypt, Hague | Blessing-Miles Tendi

In suggesting Zimbabwe and others are ripe for an Egypt-style revolution, William Hague overlooks realities unpalatable to himWilliam Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, declared this week that “we are only in the early stages of what is happening in n… Continue reading


Sacked ambassador stokes Russian tension over Libya

Returning diplomat revives clash between Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medevedev over likening of UN intervention to CrusadesRussia’s former ambassador to Libya has stoked new tension between President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, the prime minister… Continue reading


Libya frees news agency journalists

Two Agence France-Presse journalists and a Getty Images photographer who were arrested in Libya on Saturday have been released.As the above video shows, they walked into a Tripoli hotel to greet other journalists after being freed by the Libyan governm… Continue reading


Arabic, phlegm and the battle of Tarf al-Ghar | David Shariatmadari

Western commentators struggling with Arabic pronunciation might find a solution in their own languageAz Zawiyah. Sana’a. Benghazi. Over the last few months, western commentators have had to get to grips with an array of confusing new words. We can assu… Continue reading


Tripoli ‘military base hit’ as allied air strikes pound Libya – video

Libyan television footage shows a serious fire after allied air attacks on what the TV report said was a military base in the capital, Tripoli, badly damaging military vehicles Continue reading


Was intervention in Libya right?

More people in authority should be willing to admit that there is no certainty in warIs it the Arab spring, like the Prague spring of 1968? Is it the Middle East’s Year of Revolutions, like Europe’s Year of Revolutions in 1848? Are these the sort … Continue reading