Behind The News

"Sustainable peace is impossible without deliberately engaging women" writes Leigh Cuen

In the aftermath of Israeli violations at Al Haram Al Sharif in East Jerusalem on Wednesday such as the obstruction of prayers and the arrest of the Grand Mufti, Jordan has taken immediate action to try and hold Israel responsible for its actions.

Videos of brutal public executions have become increasingly common in Egypt. Experts say lynching phenomenon could spread to major cities.

A nuclear ambitious Iran surely won't stand alone against a possible US-Israeli strike

Gulf countries always fail the freedom of the press test, as seen with the 2013 World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders. Although these countries are wealthy and boast the trappings of modern states, they continue to rank at the bottom.

On the eve of Israeli President Shimon Peres' visit to Italy, Palestinian Christians delivered an open letter to Pope Francis urging him to oppose the potential construction of a barrier through the lands of Beit Jala in Bethlehem

Russian intelligence services secretly recorded phone calls between Tamerlan and his mother, in which he vaguely discussed jihad

US President Barack Obama's declaration that evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria would be a "game changer" could soon be tested, after the French, British and Israeli governments claim they have seen evidence

Negotiated by Jordan, Palestine, Israel and the US, the deal will allow UNESCO experts into the Old City of Jerusalem to investigate the status of conservation and heritage

In some countries you can be executed for being an infidel apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytization remain on the books in many Arab countries. In Saudi Arabia for example, a person who renounces Islam, an apostate, can be executed for his or her “crime.”

As the Sunni-Shia divide becomes increasingly more pronounced in the conflict in Syria, and sectarian violences regularly flares up in Iraq and Bahrain, what is the future of the two branches of Islam and the Middle East?

Campaign to "stop the heritage drain" is fighting to keep Egypt's priceless antiquities where they belong

According to an article by the Times newspaper, the military scientists have collected soil samples as evidence.