Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Twenty-five years ago, former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv by a Jewish extremist. It left an indelible mark on Israeli politics and society still felt today.More

In the absence of a robust multilateral effort to resolve the region’s lingering water issues, the Nile will remain a source of political instability for years to come, writes Michael WoldemariamMore

In Germany, a criminal complaint against the Syrian regime has been filed: a demand for justice for the hundreds of victims of chemical attacks carried out in Syria in 2013 and 2017. Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, one of the organisations that filed the complaint, tells us why the case has come before the German courts and his hopes for the outcome.More

A new documentary about Iran reveals how MI6 and the CIA collaborated in the 1953 coup that overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader Mohammed Mossadegh and installed the Shah.More

Many Lebanese people had hoped for a silver lining to this tragedy, in the form of an independent government and new elections, writes Gilbert Achcar for The Guardian.More

Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen says minorities are facing a tough time in India. He believes the country's constitutional secularism has been weakened.More

Napoleon Bonaparte’s 1798 invasion of Egypt represented the first modern attempt to incorporate an Islamic society into the European fold. Although the expedition was a military fiasco, it left a lasting legacy in the region. By Alexander MikaberidzeMore

Democracy and pluralism are under assault. Dictators are toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world. At the same time, many freely elected leaders are dramatically narrowing their concerns to a blinkered interpretation of the national interest.More

In interview with senior HRW researcher Belkis Wille. Paul Aufiero asks whether the new Iraqi government will be able to address an ongoing campaign by many authorities to silence critics, with journalists and activists facing violence, harassment, and prosecution for simply speaking out?More

This year's World Press Freedom Index demonstrates the great personal risk journalists are exposed to in many countries around the world. Added to the expected dangers of reporting from dictatorships and increasingly brazen authoritarian regimes, countries with democratically elected presidents are also presenting increasing problems.More

Anwar al-Bunni has helped make a landmark trial possible, but his sights are set on a bigger target – the Syrian regime.More

According to the United Nations, over the past three months, almost one million people have been displaced by a Russia-backed regime offensive. NGOs say camps are overcrowded, while water and sanitation facilities are inadequate.More

Hazem Kandil, an author and reader in political sociology at the University of Cambridge, talks about what the Arab Spring achieved, the conflict in Syria and what lies ahead for the region.More

In this moment of unrest, and brutal violence by the state and state-backed groups, Indian publication "The Wire" asked Benjamin Zachariah, expert on the history of the Right and of Indian manifestations of fascism: is this, or is this not fascism?More

Ever since the United States invaded the country in 2001, the Afghan army has been mired in a decades-long war against the Taliban. Corruption is rife. FRANCE 24 Observers team shines a light on poor organisation and the difficulties that Afghan troops face, from insufficient food and pay to a lack of suitable clothing.More

Iraqi novelist and poet Sinan Antoon comments on the ongoing protests in his home country and why he feels optimistic.More

Leaked documents detail for the first time China's systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a network of high-security prison camps. The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training. But official documents, seen by BBC Panorama, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated and punished.More

A look at the street art from Sudanese youth during the uprising against former president Omar Hassan Al Bashir.More

“I’m going out to claim my rights” – on 1 October, the Iraqi people mobilised en masse demonstrating against corruption, unemployment, political quotas, and the interference of neighbouring states, particularly Iran, in Iraq’s government and policies. Nearly six weeks later, the protests continue.More

It is over a year since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and tensions between the U.S. and Iran are steadily increasing. This 2009 documentary presents a different take on the story of Iranian nuclear energy.More

Moustache masks of the British conspirator Guy Fawkes are worn by demonstrators all over the world. Now, inspired by the new feature film, the comic book villain Joker is to be found among protesters in Lebanon and elsewhere. Psychogram of a green-haired anti-hero with a clown face. By Johannes Schmitt-TeggeMore

Since 2014, when President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi took power, Egyptian courts have sentenced some 3,000 people to death according to the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, an independent organisation that documents human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa. Innocence or guilt no longer appears to play a role.More

The Syrian government is co-opting humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance, Human Rights Watch said on Friday, urging donors and investors to ensure that funding is going to the right place.More

BBC Radio 4's "File on Four" reveals how surveillance software designed to track drug-dealers and terrorists is being used by Gulf states to spy on journalists, human rights activists and lawyers carrying out legitimate activities.More

A recently published Human Rights Watch report based on two years of investigation documents crimes including mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings and possibly unlawful air and ground attacks against civilians in the North Sinai.More

The Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) and the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) have released the first comprehensive report on torture in Jammu and Kashmir. Using 432 case studies, the report charts trends, patterns and impacts of torture since 1947. Since the Indian armed forces enjoy legal impunity, not a single prosecution has ever taken placeMore

While the details of Donald Trumpʹs "deal of the century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain a well-kept secret, the U.S. administration’s record to date suggests the initiative will prioritise Israeli interests over Palestinian rights, ignore fundamental principles of international law and steer well away from the idea of two sovereign states.More

In backing a warlord, Paris may be dealing itself a losing hand. "Macron was misadvised into thinking that Libya could be a quick win for his charisma," says Tarek Megerisi, researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.More

Owing to General Khalifa Haftar's attack on Tripoli, the national conference on Libya planned by the UN has been cancelled. In view of recent developments, we recommend reading Wolfram Lacher's commentary published by SWP.More

Renowned journalists, Islamic scholars and authors shed light on the various facets of racist and Islamophobic violence in Western countries.More

Tania Georgelas met her husband John, an American convert to Islam, online and they connected over their Islamist views. After John moved Tania and their children to Syria, she decided to escape. Now she wants to dedicate her life to countering extremism and rehabilitating ex-jihadists.More