â??The Jordanian government has placed the country on â?maximum alertâ? after cases of bird flu were identified in Israel, Jordanian Health Minister Saeed Darwazeh said in remarks published on Saturday.
Israeli authorities officially notified Jordan and the Palestinian Authority of the bird flu cases at two farms in southern Israel, Darwazeh was quoted as saying by […]

â??Public evaluation of the performance of the government of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit after 100 days in office fell significantly short of expectations recorded following its formation in November 2005, a national poll revealed Saturday.
According to an opinion poll released by the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS), the percentage of national sample, […]

Residents on Saturday inspect a damaged house in the village of Yarmoun, near the West Bank town of Jenin, after Israeli soldiers demolished the house, claiming that three fighters were in the building (AP photo by Mohammed Ballas)
by way of The Jordan Times

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.black-iris.com%2F2006%2F03%2F18%2Fportrait-of-a-home-in-yarmoun%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Portrait+of+a+Home+in+Yarmoun’;
[…]

(left-right)
Top: Amman, Riyadh, Dubai
Bottom: Palestine, Iraq

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.black-iris.com%2F2006%2F03%2F18%2Fbloody-arab-stock-markets%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Bloody+Arab+Stock+Markets’;
addthis_pub = ”;

â??Israel’s justice ministry is deciding whether to prosecute a hospital that held a newborn baby for two months as a “guarantee” until a bill was paid.
The ministry intervened last week to force Jerusalem’s al-Muqaddas hospital to return the girl to her mother, an Israeli Arab married to a Palestinian.
The hospital said it was not certain […]

Two half lives
running in parallels
with the same directions
unaware most of the time
of exit signs
and intersections
settling for
random imperfections
but two lives
not in junction
with each other
cease to function
like an angel
without wings
Two half lives
moved by cravings
for perpendicularity
away from the cold familiarity
of solidarity
commiserating
gravitating
searching in the darkness
for the light switch
instead,
waiting
to
collide

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.black-iris.com%2F2006%2F03%2F17%2Ftwo%2F’;
addthis_title = […]

The killing of American activist Rachel Corrie on March 16, 2003, brought home the horrific realities of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Fearing that a U.S. war in Iraq would spur an increase in Israeli violence, Rachel, a 23-year-old Olympia, WA native, chose to spend her winter quarter at Evergreen State College with […]

I was taking a visit to the Reporters Without Borders website and decided to read some of the 2004 reports on Internet situations in various Arab countries. I was sort of inspired by the latest posting about a Syrian man arressted in Jordan for making terrorist threats on the JIC website; and also because Jordanian […]

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.black-iris.com%2F2006%2F03%2F16%2Fisrael-the-new-lion-king%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Israel+The+New+Lion+King’;
addthis_pub = ”;

A Mexican couple were recovering separately after a marital spat got out of control and saw them firing guns, throwing knives and hurling homemade bombs, Mexican daily Milenio said on Monday.
In scenes taken straight out of hit romantic comedy “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Juan Espinosa and Irma Contreras fought […]

Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that a strike on Iran would cause the region “to explode” and deplored Israel’s raid on a Palestinian prison, in an interview with AFP.
“A strike against Iran would cause the whole region to explode,” the Jordanian monarch said in comments on the crisis between the West and Tehran over its […]

â??The strike was ordered late Tuesday, March 14, during emergency talks in the Gaza Strip to protest Israel’s raid on the Jericho jail to arrest the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Saadat.
“The Palestinian factions called during an emergency meeting for a general strike across the Palestinian territories to […]

Can you imagine my surprise today when I awoke to find that all this time I had been worshiping the devil and trying to take over the world? Just when my life couldn’t get anymore complicated rest assured, Pat Robertson was there to shake my beliefs.
â??On his live television program The 700 Club, Robertson said […]

This is in response to the petition floating around that is for the Moderate Muslim Majority. I am proudly part of that majority but I have trouble with the concepts outlined in such a petition. Note that I’m not against this petition or telling people not to sign it. I really couldn’t care less. It’s […]

I am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan, one of the few who can actually pronounce his name. He has a way of storytelling and directing that only makes you think: how the hell did he come up with that? Well American Express teamed up with M. Night recently to make this short 2 minute […]