· May, 2008

Stories about Middle East & North Africa from May, 2008

Lebanon: Palestinian Children's Exhibition

  31 May 2008

Lebanese Rania Masri writes about a photography exhibition by the children Palestinian refugees, living in camps in Lebanon. “500 cameras were placed in the hands of 500 children in all the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon,” she explains.

Syria: Golan Cherries for Export

  31 May 2008

From Syria, Sasa writes: “Syrian farmers living under Israeli occupation have asked Israel to allow them to sell their cherries inside Syria. Living under occupation means they can not travel to Syria or visit their families, and they certainly can't send shipments of their produce into Syria.”

Lebanon: The Doha Agreement

  31 May 2008

Lebanese political leaders who met in Doha under the patronage of the Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani reached an agreement last week. The full text of the agreement was posted by Blogging Beirut among others. As a result of the Doha Agreement the Lebanese parliament convened...

Bahrain: Car Respect

  30 May 2008

From Bahrain, Flymenian writes about superficial people judge people based on the value of cars they drive.

Egypt: On the Hijab

  30 May 2008

Egyptian Arima shares her ideas on a controversial post on the Islamic headscarf worn by women.

Egypt: Strike Number Three

  30 May 2008

Egypt is gearing up for its third strike in a row on June 5, writes Zeinobia. “People in Egypt are extremely angry from the Government's latest economic decisions to escalate prices in oil and taxes,” she adds.

Egypt: On Caramel

  30 May 2008

Egyptian Arima has just watched Caramel – and has good things to say about the movie about five friends in Beirut, Lebanon.

Armenia: Bigoted Journalism

Blogian comments on the misrepresentation of the words of a journalist partly of Turkish descent speaking in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, by the local pro-opposition A1 Plus news agency. The blog says that a combination of factors such as anti-Turkish sentiment and sexism might have something to do with what...

From the Diary of a Sinister Egyptian Spinster

  29 May 2008

Egyptian women have their own set of challenges, ranging from the right to marry themselves off to inequality in marriage and divorce rights. Marwa Rakha sheds light on the thoughts and writings of Eman - a self-confessed spinster.

Egypt: Torture Acceptable

  28 May 2008

Egyptian blogger Mostafa is surprised that some of his friends find torture as an acceptable form of extracting confessions from people being interrogated – after an experiment he conducted on Facebook.

Bahrain: A Tourist at Home

  28 May 2008

Bahraini Khalid shares his experience as a tourist in his own country – when college friends from abroad came for a one-day visit.

Bahrain: The Ideal Woman

  28 May 2008

From Bahrain, The Girl with No Face says she will go through a surgical procedure to help her reduce weight and adds: “I’ve given up that one day someone will love me for me. I have to mold into the ideal woman. The ‘ideal’ woman that has no fat on...

Bahrain: Sectarian and Xenophobic

  28 May 2008

“It seems that Bahrain (as in government and MPs) are just not content with being called sectarian but are now adding a new adjective to their resume- xenophobic,” writes Bahraini blogger Yagoob, after MPs called for banning Bangladeshis from working in Bahrain.

Bahrain: When sect determines your spouse

  28 May 2008

Coolred38 is an American Muslim living in Bahrain, and she often finds herself frustrated at examples of what she sees as bad and even harmful behaviour being justified by religion. She recently posted about a ‘scandal’ in the family of a friend of hers: Long story short…Sunni girl and Shiite...

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Mariam A.
Mariam A. is the editor for the Middle East & North Africa. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.