"Nothing goes off suddenly; even the earthquakes set in motion from the depth of the earth to the rooftops of villages."

This line from a poem I had written two decades ago jumped into my mind when the youth of Tunisia turned their ruler from a mighty dictator into a frightened rat looking for a place to hide and, in a month of civilian protests, managed to change history.

As I write these words now, images are coming from Cairo where the anti-Mubarak…

Palestinians around the world and all their supporters watched in shock, but not total surprise as secret documents, "The Palestine Papers", detailing carefully the years of so called peace negotiations were released by the news network Al-Jazeera during the last few days. While Palestinians are struggling to win back their rights to their homes and lands, some in the un-elected leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA) were making offers to give away these rights.



The…

The UN and EU stand accused of "cowardice" for claiming to tackle human rights abuses in places like China through soft diplomacy, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report.

Highlighting its claim, the report on global human rights violations was issued in Brussels the same day the European Union hosted controversial Uzbek President Islam Karimov amid protests.

The New York-based NGO's executive director Kenneth Roth lambasted "the failure of the expected champions of human…

The Israeli occupation authorities have barred West Bank Al-Jazeera Net correspondent Awad Alrjoub from travelling to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border. The occupation forces offered no explanation to Alrjoub as to the reason for the restriction.



Alrjoub travelled to the Allenby Bridge intending to attend Al-Jazeera's International Conference for Electronic Press in Doha, from the 19th-20th of January 2011. On arrival at Allenby, Alrjoub was surprised by the Israeli…

Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to allow Israel to annex all but one of the settlements built in occupied East Jerusalem in the most far-reaching concessions ever made over the bitterly contested city. The offer was turned down by Israel's then foreign minister as inadequate.

Palestinian Authority leaders also privately discussed giving up part of the flashpoint Arab neighbourhood…

Tunisia's interim prime minister promised to quit politics after elections, a pledge intended to appease protesters demanding remnants of the old guard leave a unity coalition formed after the overthrow of the president.

Mohamed Ghannouchi, who until a week ago was premier under ousted strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, hosted cabinet-level meetings on Saturday morning at his office. Police had rolled out barbed wire around it, bracing for a repeat of protests, which seemed to rattle…

The statement, "Stand by the toiling people of Tunisia!" is issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey.



The Communist Party of Turkey declares its solidarity and support to the ongoing popular revolt against the dictatorship of Zain Al‑Abidin Bin Ali and his regime based on unemployment, poverty, political oppression and state terror.



The Communist Party of Turkey stands by the revolt, which calls itself the "intifada of the poor", and the…

 “Break my heart but don’t come near my bread,” goes an old Arabic proverb. Failure to observe it has often come at a high political price.



Just ask Tunisian president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who has now fled.

For weeks his countrymen had protested against high unemployment, endemic corruption and political repression. They also decried the high cost of staple food items such as wheat, sugar and milk, whose prices rose about 25 percent in the first week of…

Evictions and house demolitions are a growing humanitarian concern for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).



The consequences for families can be devastating: In addition to losing their homes, their main source of physical and economic security, families are faced with high legal bills, fines and charges, including the cost of their own eviction.



Jerusalem Municipality says it has the right to…

The average rate of execution is one person hanged every eight hours since the beginning of the year, a rights group monitoring the Islamic republic says.

"The Iranian judiciary is on an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies," Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, has said.

A statement by the New York-based group said at least 47 prisoners had been hanged since January 1, including a reported Kurdish…

The Hamas resistance group praised the recent Tunisian uprising, calling it a "milestone in contemporary Arab history", and asserting that injustice can only be countered with sacrifice.

"We believe this uprising is a milestone in contemporary Arab history, an assurance of their aspirations for freedom and dignity, and an imposition of the people's will."

"What occurred in Tunisia confirms that the path of dignity and confronting injustice, aggression and tyranny is not by…

The Tunisian uprising, which succeeded in toppling Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian president, has brought down the walls of fear, erected by repression and marginalisation, thus restoring the Arab peoples' faith in their ability to demand social justice and end tyranny.



It is a warning to all leaders, whether supported by international or regional powers, that they are no longer immune to popular outcries of fury.

A model of…

Left Israeli MK Nitzan Horowitz, a member of Mertz Party, disclosed the new suggestions made by the McCarthyite Knesset Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Organizations.

According to Horowitz, the commission is now considering the following measures:

• New bills and regulations restricting the entry to Israel of anyone who may be affiliated with left activity. This may take place without the need for court.
• Putting an end to foreign citizens status, including…

The restriction of human rights websites is part of a well-orchestrated assault carried out by the Israeli government and  …

The graves of hundreds ofmissing people in Bitlis are waiting to be unearthed, the Human RightsAssociation, or İHD, has claimed following the excavation of a mass grave inthe southeastern province earlier this week.

Relatives of the missingpeople are aware of the graves’ locations and more will be opened soon, BitlisİHD branch head Hasan Ceylan told the Hürriyet Daily News &…

Austria announces plans to exhume graves containing the remains of 220 suspected victims of Nazi Germany's (and Austria’s) infamous euthanasia programme after building workers unearthed a mass of human bones in the groundsof a psychiatric hospital.

The discovery of what are thought to be some of the last hidden graves containing the remains of the tens of thousands of…

When the Iraqi army fell beforeinvading US and British troops in 2003, the latter's mission seemed to beaccomplished. But nearly eight years after the start of a war intended to shockand awe a whole population into submission, the Iraqi people continue to standtall. They have confronted and rejected foreign occupations, held their ownagainst sectarianism, and challenged random militancy and senseless…

Forty-eight Knesset members have signed a petition calling for the boycott of Israeli companies involved in building the new Palestinian city of Rawabi.…

It is no surprise that Sudan, blighted by unceasing years of loud civil war, has the largest population of internally displaced people in the world: perhaps as many as 6

million. But which country has the second? Colombia, right smack in the middle

of the western hemisphere, has an estimated 4 million.

The main reason so many Colombians have been uprooted is because, over the past 25 years,…