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The arrest reportedly occured when Jaar arrived to file a complaint against a Palestinian officer, alleging that the officer assaulted him following Israel’s airstrike on Tulkarm. Laith Jaar, a West Bank correspondent for the Qatari state-owned media giant Al Jazeera, was arrested and allegedly beaten by Palestinian Authority security forces this week, according to Arab media reports. The arrest reportedly occured when Jaar arrived to file a complaint against a Palestinian officer, alleging that the officer assaulted him following Israel’s airstrike on Tulkarm, which resulted in the deaths of 18 people, including a Hamas commander in the city. According to...

On top of all the challenges Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett already faces in trying to hold an unlikely, ideologically-diverse ruling coalition together, analysts say he also has to deal with a concerted attempt by his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage the government’s work and bring it down. On June 13, Israel’s parliament swore in a new eight-party coalition government – led by right-wing nationalist Bennett – featuring an alliance of left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties, as well as a party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. ----snip Netanyahu and Likud are determined to undermine the ability of this government...

Analysis: Military sources say Pentagon's assessment of Shujaiya shelling alarmed even Secretary of State John Kerry August 27, 2014 4:00AM ET by Mark Perry @markperrydc The cease-fire announced Tuesday between Israel and Palestinian factions — if it holds — will end seven weeks of fighting that killed more than 2,200 Gazans and some 69 Israelis. But as the rival camps seek to put their spin on the outcome, one assessment of Israel’s Gaza operation that won’t be publicized is that of the U.S. military. Still, even though the Pentagon shies away from publicly expressing judgments that might fall afoul of...

Many Middle East press commentators view what they dub the "fall" of US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as symbolic of the perceived failure of US policy in Iraq as a whole. Several predict that his resignation will be the first of many members of the Bush administration. Commentary by Sana' al-Sa'id in Egypt's AL-USBU Yes, the Bush administration is beginning to fall... The first sign of this fall is the removal of Rumsfeld, the wolf who brought defeat to America. The fall of Rumsfeld heralds the fall of the agenda of the Bush administration in Iraq. Rumsfeld is gone...

Scott Ritter is a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-1998) and Marine Corps intelligence officer. He is the author of "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the U.N. and Overthrow Saddam Hussein," published by Nation Books. He is speaking at Town Hall, Eighth Avenue and Seneca Street in Seattle, at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Guest columnistIraq: a solution to nothingBy Scott Ritter As the United States and Iraq approach the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it might do all Americans well to take some time out and reflect on how we...

Most of the Arab media has been taken by surprise about the earlier announcement of the handover in Baghdad. The follow up of the activities of Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabyiah, Abu Dhabi and some others indicates that they put and prepared huge Anti-Iraqi & Anti-American propaganda on the 30 June 2004. The earlier took over of power was a big blow indeed for such propaganda. Their papers dispersed all over by the new time All the Arab media appaeared confused and in disarry while trying to set out propaganda in hurry. They tried their best to get some of the pro-Wahabi mullahs...

I posted this to another thread yesterday and can't for the life of me, get it out of my mind. What was this kid thinking about? Recaption it if you can (I'm about speechless) or, in the alternative tell me what is going on in the minds of kids today?? James Keen, a 19-year-old from Scottsville, Ky., shows off his spilt tongue at his home Wednesday, May 7, 2003. James got his tongue split in December by a piercer after a surgeon declined to do it for him. He says the piercer used a scalpel heated by a blow torch...

The Wall Street Journal Online Al-Jazeera went live early yesterday with its English-language Web site -- and the Qatar-based satellite network immediately assumed a posture likely to provoke Western readers. The site (english.aljazeera.net) has promised to offer a different perspective than those of Western media and has stuck to its word. Its graphic photos of dead U.S. soldiers, pointed headlines and opinionated articles -- many of them without reporters' bylines -- will provide plenty of fodder for critics of the Middle Eastern news organization. The content is produced separately from its Arabic-language counterpart. The al-Jazeera Arabic satellite channel, which drew...