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Jan 15, 2025 | 
the-tls.co.uk | Diana Darke |Vanessa Curtis |James Hall
Anyone familiar with Islamic art will long have known how heavily William Morris drew his inspiration from the Islamic world. One glance at his patterns is enough – the repetition to infinity, the twisting foliage, the richly entangled fruit and birdlife, the stylized designs that are often botanically impossible, yet speak to us at some deep primordial level – all are hallmarks of Islamic art.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
middleeasteye.net | Imran Mulla |Diana Darke
In twelfth century Wales, a knight returning from the Crusades came home accompanied by a Palestinian mason. Called Lalys by locals, a mispronunciation of "al-Aziz", he is credited with building a number of monasteries, castles, and churches, including Neath Abbey in south Wales, today the country’s most impressive monastic ruin. Earlier, in the eleventh century, another Palestinian mason, known as "Ulmar", helped build the magnificent West Front at Castle Acre Priory in south England’s Norfolk.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Diana Darke
What will US president-elect Donald Trump be thinking as he attends the reopening of Notre Dame this weekend? Lured to attend, partly by French President Emmanuel Macron’s pleading and partly by an irresistible desire to be centre-stage at this historic moment, will his mind be full of the global troubles he is about to inherit?
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
themuslimtimes.info | Rafiq A. Tschannen |Diana Darke
Diana Darke29 November 2024 In medieval times, Arab craftsmen led the world with their sublime, sophisticated building skills.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Diana Darke
"Only once in a century does one host Olympic and Paralympic Games, only once in a millennium does one rebuild a cathedral," declared French President Emmanuel Macron in his 2024 New Year speech. On 8 December, all eyes will turn once more to France’s iconic landmark Notre-Dame de Paris as it officially reopens to the public following the fire of April 2019 that nearly destroyed it.
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Sep 8, 2024 | 
english.palinfo.com | Diana Darke
By Diana Darke“Israel seizes cultural site in West Bank.” So read a recent headline in the Financial Times, going on to describe how the Israeli military had seized a plot of Palestinian land at the summit of Tel Sebastia, a site rich with archaeological significance and tourism potential. In 2012, Palestine submitted an application for Sebastia to gain UNESCO World Heritage status on the basis of its ancient remains from the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Diana Darke
A new poll released by the Pew Research Center found that the majority of Israelis, 59 percent, are in favour of censoring social media posts that show sympathy to Palestinian civilians in Gaza amid Israel's war on the besieged enclave. An even larger majority, 72 percent, of Israelis say posts that include videos or images of violence in the war should be censored.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Diana Darke
The families of American hostages currently being held in Gaza by Palestinian groups have met with the Biden administration and called for the US to consider cutting a unilateral deal - one that doesn't include Israel - to secure the release of their loved ones.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Nader Durgham |Diana Darke
Israel’s destructive creation of a "buffer zone" in the Gaza Strip could amount to a war crime, Amnesty International has found. An analysis conducted by the human rights group found a “pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systematic destruction of an entire area”. “These homes were not destroyed as the result of intense fighting,” said Amnesty’s Erika Guevara-Rosas.
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Sep 5, 2024 | 
middleeasteye.net | Areeb Ullah |Diana Darke
Protest groups planning Saturday’s national demonstration for Palestine have complained of "last-minute" restrictions imposed on them by the Metropolitan Police, which they say amount to an attack on their democratic rights. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations attended by tens of thousands of people have taken place regularly in London since the start of the war on Gaza last October.
