The reasons for the recent war in Gaza are bitterly contested, but the clearest explanation seems to come from the functioning of Israeli domestic politics. Little progress towards a two-state solution (where both Palestinians and Israelis have a homeland) has been made since the end of Bill Clinton’s tenure as US president. Former President Bush had tolerated, even encouraged an increasingly belligerent Israel. Israel, rejecting the democratically elected Hamas (an Islamist group), the power holders in the Gaza Strip, ordered an economic embargo on the area, ruining the Strip’s already fragile, UN-backed economy.
Category Archives: Features
FEATURE: Belfast struts its stuff
Models took to the stage at St George’s Market last month for the Magners Light Fall for Fashion 2009 wearing the latest designer wear and also raising money for the Ulster Cancer Foundation.
BY REBECCA MCKNIGHT
FEATURE: A blog is for life, not just for Christmas
Haroula Pasparaki considers the damaging effects of careless social networking
It’s time to be honest. When you come back from an amazing holiday/concert/night out, is one of your first thoughts that you have to put your photos up online or check your Facebook or Bebo account?
Many of us belong to one if not several social networking sites, and while they boast numerous benefits, we are often unaware of how incriminating and damaging some content we post online may be to our education, personal security and future employment.
Increased concerns have emerged due to the well publicised negative aspects of such sites, ranging from cyber bullying to identity theft and even expulsion from universities and denial of employment.
COMMENT: Paying for the past, Policing the future
‘Belfast is a fantastic example to the world….’
Add in as many superlatives as you wish and there wouldn’t be any we have not heard before. Now it appears that the ‘sitcheeation’ in Northern Ireland has entered that realm that we like to call our ‘annual stalemate’, which seems to happen as often as Man Utd release a new strip. This time though the reality is based solely on the fact that we simply do not have enough money to sustain a police force that will be sufficient and effective due to the ‘economic downturn’, another all too familiar phrase.
FEATURE: The End of German Studies – Who Cares?
Comment by Barbara Boyle – postgraduate student (MA in Translation)
German students at Queen’s University Belfast are a dying breed. A first final lesson came at the end of the 2nd semester in June this year, when administrators announced that the German Studies department was no longer financially viable. After being questioned on this decision Queen’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Gregson was quick to point out that, seemingly, there is not enough interest for this language at degree level among Northern Ireland’s A’ level students.
FEATURE: Ritchies garden gives Caus’ for reflection
This week saw the announcement from Nelson McCausland regarding the naming of GAA grounds after ‘terrorists’ or ‘paramilitaries’. In this very same week we have the Department of Social Development paying for a ‘Garden of Reflection’ which remembers the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commandos. The GAA ground Mr McCausland was referring to would be Kevin Lynch in Dungiven which seems to be the main bone of contention. The loyalist garden of remembrance is located in the Kilcooley estate and was part of a government funded project to eradicate loyalist murals and graffiti.
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FEATURE: “Inhumane” law to be incorporated into British courts
A nation was veiled in shock early last month as Afghan President Hamid Karzai reinstated the Sharia Personal Status Law. The Afghan president who had previously denounced practices such as forced marriage and intercourse claiming, “These practices are cruel, against our religion and no longer acceptable” (International Women’s Day, Kabul, March 2005), has re-approved a piece of legislation which President Obama has branded “abhorrent”.