One thousand and twenty-seven Palestinians for one Israeli - this is the deal made between Hamas and Israel last week. 　　The agreement has been dubbed "the Shalit swap deal" - named after Gilad Shalit, the 25-year-old Israeli soldier who has been held in the Gaza Strip for more than five... More

　　Hazem Asili, from the West Bank, was 25 years old when he was jailed by Israel in 1986. Abdelhakim Hnaini, also from the West Bank, was 27 years old when he was incarcerated in 1993. On October 11, a deal was brokered exchanging 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for... More

　　The attack by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on an air force intelligence base in the suburbs of the capital Damascus on November 16 has raised the profile of the band of army deserters, who are seeking to end President Bashar al-Assad’s long rule. 　　Depending on whom you believe, the... More

　　The streets of Egypt are teeming with the telltale signs of an upcoming election. 　　Campaign posters fill the once-barren spaces on the sides of buildings, and billboards featuring the faces of candidates vying for a role in the new Egypt loom over the crowded streets of Cairo. 　　However, what many... More

　　Seven years after the U.S. invasion of Fallujah, there are reports of an alarming rise in the rates of birth defects and cancer. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined. 　　On November 8, 2004, U.S. military forces... More

　　This weekend, Pakistan ordered the closure of the US drone base after a US attack killed 26 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border. This news will be welcomed by the people of Waziristan, where communities have borne the brunt of the "collateral damage" of the US covert drone war. But... More

　　As parliamentary elections begin in Egypt, Reprieve's Life After Guantanamo team is working against the clock for the luckless Egyptian ex-Guantanamo prisoner Adel al-Gazzar, now re-imprisoned in Cairo. Like that of most Egyptians, Adel's future hangs in the balance, as does his liberty, and everything depends on whether Egypt is... More

　　For four decades, the Assad family has ruled Syria, and while the popularity of the family among some sections in the country is undeniable, its run in power has not been without turmoil. 　　Hafez al-Assad, a military man, rose through the ranks and became Syria's president in 1971 after a... More

　　More than 70 Syrian army commanders and officials have been named by former soldiers as having ordered attacks on unarmed protesters in that country, a US-based rights group says. 　　The report from Human Rights Watch names 74 commanders and military and intelligence officials as having allegedly "ordered, authorized, or condoned... More

　　Talal Shreim could not stop beaming as he sat in his new living room in Doha, Qatar, finally surrounded by his family after having spent 10 years in an Israeli jail. 　　Less than 24 hours before, he was able to hug Tasneem, his 10-year-old daughter, for the first time since... More

　　Mohammed al-Jaburi, a 25-year-old architect, is emblematic of a growing problem in Iraq: He is an educated professional with a comfortable life in Iraq, and he is desperately hoping to leave that life behind. 　　After completing his studies in Jordan, al-Jaburi returned to Baghdad, where he now works for the... More

　　By: Ben White 　　Israel's crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories - like the settlements, the killing of civilians and the demolition of homes - are openly condemned in the West by human rights groups and others like never before. But as the peace process remains stuck, and Prime Minister Binyamin... More

　　Less than 24 hours after the US military withdrew the last of its occupation forces from Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered an arrest warrant for Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi on "terrorism" charges. 　　Maliki, a Shia, leveled the charges against the highest ranking Sunni in the government - a move that... More