Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Photo of the Year by World Press Photo, Spencer Platt, Getty Images, Beirut, Lebanon: Affluent Lebanese drive down the street to look at a destroyed neighborhood August 15, 2006 in southern Beirut, Lebanon. As the United Nations brokered cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah enters its first day, thousands of Lebanese returned to their homes and villages. >> Read article .

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) The Myrtle Tree by Jad el Hage (Banipal Books, 2007). A Novel of love and Dreams in War-Torn Lebanon. Jad El Hage comments: "The most recent of our wars began in the 1970s and ended by stages in the early 1990s, depending on how one defines 'beginning' and 'end'. This uncertainty characterised the entire conflict. The only certainty is that we killed each other for more than fifteen years." The novel, says Patrick Seale, "conveys with razor-sharp accuracy the sights, sounds, tastes and tragic dilemmas of Lebanon's fratricidal civil war. A must read .' Hear the author . Birds of War: Hawks, Doves and Illegal Eagles is an exhibition of contemporary, visual artwork to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. 11-17 April 2007 at Candid Arts Trust Gallery, London. >> Listen to Tanya Tier >> Listen to Alaa Siraih In The Iran Hostage Cris

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) "We come again to the drama in which we Israelis must play our part opposite Palestinians, Iranians, Lebanese and many others. Who are we performing for, and why are they enjoying it? Why do the Western mind and the Western left dedicate so much time and energy to watching this play, analyzing it and attempting to influence it?" Interview with Matan Kaminer , an Israeli activist who spent some two years in prison for refusing to enlist in the Israeli army. >> Read article Sounds from Tehran (Iran), Izmir (Turkey), Beirut (Lebanon), Douar Tamgrete & Mirleft village (Morocco), Sanandaj City (Iranian Kurdistan) .

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) "Anyone can go to Baghdad; real men go to Tehran", an administration official was heard saying shortly after the fall of Baghdad. Muhammad Idrees Ahmed, member of Spinwatch and whose regular commentaries appear at http://fanonite.wordpress.com joins Middle East Panorama to speak about 'The Israel Connection', 'The Oil Factor', 'The New Politics of Oil' and 'The Next War'. >> Listen to the interview >> Read article The Iraqi Communist Party has been accused of being a 'Stalinist' party and recently as 'a collaborator with the occupiers'' after the American-led invasion of Iraq. In its 73rd year since its foundation the general secretary of the party's organisation in Britain, Radhwan Alwakeel, and Imed Selmans defend the ICP 'glorious history' and 'its practical position&

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) Oil Wars: Does competition for oil drive conflict? What part does oil play in war? "Western intervention in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan is primarily motivated by the West's desire to control precious oil resources." Is this also true of other conflicts around the world? Interview with Yahia Said, co-editor of Oil Wars (Pluto Books, 2007) and Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, London. Popular Social Movements and the Future of Egyptian Politics . "Since 1952", writes Joel Beinin, Director of Middle East Studies and professor of history at the American University in Cairo, “no Egyptian head of state has been targeted directly in this manner. A taboo has been broken, and there is no telling where these popular movements may lead.” From Cairo Joel Beinin joins Middle East Panorama to speak about the recent wave of

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) The Workers Advice Center (or Ma'an in Arabic) in Israel provides an address for unorganised and neglected Arab workers in Israel. WAC is also committed to the struggle of Palestinian workers from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, for jobs and social rights. It cooperates with Palestinian Trade Unions in fighting the Separation Wall and Israel's policy of closure. They have a unique perspective on the struggles facing workers in the region. A delegation from WAC has met Britain's biggest tarde union, UNISON, and two representatives from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Britain). Here we listen to Adiv Assaf, national coordinator of WAC. >> Listen to the lead off . "ONLY Saudi diplomacy has succeeded in bearing the historical responsibility for all parties, gathering the warring brothers in Holy Mecca and extinguishing a fire that c

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) Aida Nadeem ( BBC World Music nominee) for an exculsive gig at the Spitz to showcase material for her forthcoming album on Sam Records, a follow up to the critically acclaimed 2005 release Out of Baghdad. Having fled her home country of Iraq due to her politics, she has sort refuge in Denmark where she has developed a unique style of dance/world music crossover. Dubbed 'ethnic synthetic', it combines aspects of ambient, trip hop and Arabesque blended together with traditional Iraqi poetry and topped off with her own unique vocal style. >> Interview with Aida . "Iran on the brink - Rising Workers and Threats of War" by Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian (Pluto Press 2007). Questions and comments on the book and the situation in Iran. From a book launch that took place at the Housemans' Bookshop, London 06 March 2007. Listen here >>

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) "Hizballah, the Lebanese Shi‘i movement has been cast misleadingly in much media coverage" during the last war last summer. Lara Deeb, a cultural anthropologist, assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of California-Irvine and author of An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi‘i Lebanon, joins the show to give a deeper analysis of Hizballah . Listen to the interview: >> Part 1 >> Part 2 While the world keeps its eyes riveted on Iran's nuclear programme, the Islamic Republic has gone through a crisis of its own; soaring unemployment and poverty has given way to social protest. A new labour movement has come to the fore. Although strikes are banned, workers are beginning to organise and underground networks are challenging the rule of the mullahs from within. Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian, the first is a repo

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) Interview with Zakaria Ibrahim the founder and director of El Tanbura, a collective of master musicians, village singers, local fishermen and Sufi philosophers from Port Said, Egypt. >> Listen to the interview here 'Israel's demographic demons and their effects on its Palestine citizens' talk by Manal Hazzan, department of laws at University College London.

Middle East Panorama show on Resonance FM 104.4 or http://www.resonancefm.com/ Every Friday 14:00 - 15:00 London Time (GMT) Free lance journalist and author Stephen Grey on 'Our friends, the torturers: the secret story of the CIA's alliance with intelligence agencies of the Middle East and how they became America's jailer and interrogator'