Tag Archive for Arab Spring

| December 16, 2014
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Analysis: After 4 full years of ‘Arab Spring’, nothing is blooming

This current phase in Mid-East history is dark, with so much suffering, blood & pain, having many saying the results of the Arab Spring have only been devastating & negative.

By Ksenia Svetlova

 

Al-Qaida on the Israeli-Syrian border, the fanatics of the Islamic state running their own mini-Caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Libyan weapons streaming into Africa and Middle East, beheadings from Raqqa to Sinai and many, many shattered dreams of a better future – this is the picture of the Middle East four years since the start of the phenomenon known as the Arab Spring.

Tahrir Square demonstration in Cairo, August 2011 ( AFP )

Tahrir Square demonstration in Cairo, August 2011- Photo: AFP

The wave of Arab revolutions began in flames with Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi burning himself to death (on December 17, 2010), and as time goes by the flames rise higher. Continue Reading »

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| November 21, 2013
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U.S. Sec. of St.: Muslim Brotherhood ‘stole’ Egyptian revolution

The youth at Tahrir Square were not motivated by any religious ideology, commented Kerry in remarks most likely to please Egypt’s military.

By

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday accused Egypt’s well-organized Muslim Brotherhood of having “stolen” the revolution that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Anti-Morsi protesters In Cairo's Tahrir Sq.

Anti-Morsi protesters In Cairo’s Tahrir Sq. – Photo: AFP

 

Speaking at the State Department to leaders of multinational American firms, Kerry said the Islamist group had appropriated the revolt against Mubarak from young people who started it in large part through social media in response to what they saw of other mass protests around the Arab world. Continue Reading »

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| June 26, 2013
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Jordan’s king: Palestinians may launch Arab Spring if peace talks don’t resume

London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reports King Abdullah II warning of ‘new intifada or a new cycle of violence and counter violence’ if Palestinians feel prospects for a peaceful settlement of their conflict with Israel have reached a dead end.

By Reuters

Jordan‘s King Abdullah believes that Palestinians could launch an Arab Spring-style revolt if they felt prospects for a peaceful settlement of their conflict with Israel had reached a dead end, a pan-Arab newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Jordan's King Abdullah speaks in Amman, February 20, 2011.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II – Photo: Reuters

He welcomed efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but warned of a narrowing window for peace due to Israeli settlement building, according to the report in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Continue Reading »

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| May 21, 2013
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Qatar: Arab Turmoil makes Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement more pressing

Gulf state’s emir tells Doha

 Mideast

Forum, “Our region will not see peace unless we see a resolution to the Palestinian issue.”

By Reuters

Qatar’s emir, who has thrown his state’s riches behind Arab uprisings, said on Monday that the emergence of ‘people power’ had put Arabs in direct confrontation with Israel and made a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more pressing.

קרי במסיבת עיתונאים עם ראש הממשלה א-תאני (צילום: AP)

Qatari PM Al Thani (L) and Kerry during press conference – Photo: AP

“We heard in the past that reform (in the Arab world) must wait until a peaceful settlement with Israel is achieved, but everybody should realize that such belief is now unfounded after the Arab Spring revolts,” Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told a conference in the Qatari capital. Continue Reading »

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| October 5, 2012
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Islamists by the thousands hit the streets to demonstrate in Jordan

Hours after Jordan’s King Abdullah II dissolves parliament, thousands of Islamists demonstrate in central Amman to demand reforms.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Thousands of Islamists demonstrated in central Amman to demand reforms on Friday, just hours after King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early polls without any major political change, AFP reported.

King Abdullah II

King Abdullah II
AFP/File

“We demand constitutional reform before the people revolt. The people want to reform the regime,” the demonstrators chanted in the demonstration held outside Al-Husseini mosque in downtown Amman.

AFP correspondents estimated the crowd to number 15,000.

“Democratic electoral law, constitutional changes, parliamentary governments, independent judiciary, constitutional court, effective anti-corruption efforts and preventing security services from interfering in political life,” read a large banner carried by protesters spelling out their demands. Continue Reading »

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| June 3, 2012
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Seven killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Assad groups in Lebanon

Clashes in northern Lebanese city of Tripoli raise fears of an escalation of sectarian tensions in Lebanon.

 

Gunbattles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded 22 on Saturday, security officials said, as activists reported fresh shelling in a region in central Syria where a massacre last week left more than 100 people dead.

The clashes were the latest to hit the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Repeated outbreaks of violence in the city, the country’s second largest, are seen as spillover from the conflict in neighboring Syria and have raised fears of an escalation in sectarian tensions in Lebanon. Continue Reading »

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| June 2, 2012
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Egypt’s Mubarak sentenced to life in prison

Former Egyptian president found guilty of ordering killing of protesters during uprising that swept him from power; former interior minister also receives life sentence.

CAIRO – Deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison on Saturday for ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising that swept him from power last year.

Presiding judge Ahmed Refaat also sentenced his former interior minister, Habib el-Adli, to life in prison on the same charge.

Mubarak was wheeled into court on a hospital gurney to hear the verdict in his trial on charges of graft and complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising that ended his 30-year rule.

Continue Reading »
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| May 5, 2012
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Israel should not fear an Islamist Middle East

The rise of Islamist regimes proves that an honest enemy is better than a false friend.

As a result of the increasing power of the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more extreme Salafi parties, the outcome of the ongoing Egyptian elections is looking grim and many westerners are deeply concerned.  Although Khairat el-Shater of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hazem Salah Abu Ismail of the Salafi Al Nour party have now been disqualified, the Muslim Brotherhood nevertheless has 105 seats in the Shura Council and together with the Salafi Islamic Bloc’s 45 seats, they occupy a majority of the 270 seats. In the People’s Assembly, which will draft the new constitution, they have 235 seats and together with the Salafi Bloc’s 123, they completely dominate the 508 seat Assembly. Continue Reading »

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