Michael Jansen

Middle East Contributor at Irish Times

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Articles

No in-between

1 week ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

Celebrated Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji Sourani is currently focusing on the prosecution of British citizens who have been accused of war crimes while fighting in the Israeli army during the Gaza war. Sourani is a member of a team of lawyers from the Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) which last week submitted a a 240-page report to Britain’s Metropolitan Police war crimes unit. Among the 10 accused are dual British-Israeli citizens.
United Nations nuclear watchdog chief invited to US-Iran talks

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been invited to participate in Saturday’s second round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme between Tehran and Washington.
Jordan claims to have stopped Muslim Brotherhood attack

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Jordan has charged 16 people linked to the Muslim Brotherhood with “targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotage within Jordan”, authorities have said. Jordanian authorities said those arrested and charged had received training and financial aid in Lebanon. Security officials said the plot was linked to Iran and its allies’ clandestine efforts to recruit agents to carry out acts of sabotage within the kingdom to destabilise one of Washington’s allies in the region.
Gazan hospitals, needed more than ever, are back in the firing line

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Israel’s resumption of its military campaign in Gaza has led to a decrease in functioning hospitals, while healthcare facilities have become overloaded by casualties, according to a Médecins Sans Frontières medical co-ordinator working in the Strip. Speaking from Al-Mawasi safe zone in Gaza on Tuesday, Dr Chiara Lodi said MSF had seen “an increase in wounded patients in all facilities” since Israel resumed fighting on March 18th after a January ceasefire broke down.
90,000 Arab students in US under Trump scanner

1 week ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

A Louisiana immigration judge ruled last Friday in a high-profile case that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil could be deported for pro-Palestinian activism. He is not only a legal permanent resident but also the husband of a US citizen. His case should serve as a warning to international students that freedom of speech, guaranteed in the first amendment to the US Constitution, is relative and rationed. Khalil’s case is not the only one to generate headlines and protest.
Erdogan in talks with pro-Kurdish party with presidential election on the horizon

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met members of the pro-Kurdish DEM party for the first time since 2012. The talks, which took place on Thursday, were part of efforts to end a 47-year insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which called a ceasefire in March after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called for it to disarm. DEM, which has played a role in negotiations with Mr Ocalan, said the encounter was “extremely positive, constructive and hopeful”.
Slaying continues

2 weeks ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

The Israeli army has been forced to admit that it killed eight Palestinian Red Crescent medics, six civil defence first responders and a UN employee by firing on a convoy in Gaza on March 23. One paramedic survived and one is still missing. Israel initially claimed the ambulances, a fire truck, and a UN car were driving without headlights and flashing lights and had approached its troops in the dark.
Differences remain as US-Iran nuclear deal talks begin

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Talks between Tehran and Washington on Iran’s nuclear programme are set to begin on Saturday in Oman, with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff leading their country’s delegations. Differences remain between both sides. Araghchi has said the talks will be “indirect” with Oman mediating. The US has said the talks are to be “direct”. According to Tehran, the talks will exclusively address limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Gaza’s ‘death zone’: Israeli soldiers describe demolition of infrastructure to create buffer

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Israeli forces have demolished homes, schools, mosques and infrastructure and flattened fields to create a wide “kill zone” along the border between Gaza and Israel, according to a report containing the testimony of unnamed soldiers.
Gaza: 100 children killed or injured every day since Israel resumed offensive says UN agency

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

About 100 children have been killed or injured every day in Gaza since Israel resumed its military offensive on March 18th according to Unicef, the United Nations children’s agency. Unicef has put the death toll at more than 300 children. The agency said that since March 2nd, when Israel reimposed its blockade on Gaza, more than one million children have been deprived of existential aid.