May 10, 2018
By Jade Kassis War has become a familiar phenomenon to us Middle Easterners, who have become acquainted with its violent chaos as well as with its sacrificial loss. War has changed us as a people. We have grown accustomed to feelings of unrest and a lack of control. One minute […]
March 15, 2018
(Photo: Murr Tower, used by militia fighters from various factions during the Lebanese Civil War) by Thia M. Sagherian-Dickey “Why are you asking us Christians about Shias? We don’t have a problem with them. The tensions are between Sunnis and Shias. You should be asking them such questions.” I was […]
February 8, 2018
By Chaden Hani It was an abiding sense of desperation, frustration and repression which led Lebanese journalist and professor of history Samir Kassir to speak in 2004 of the “Arab malaise.” For as long as I can remember we have barely had a moment of our history lacking in conflict […]
November 23, 2017
By Wissam al-Saliby I am grateful for several recent conversations with American pastor friends, during which we spoke about writing from and on the Middle East, trans-Atlantic (mis)perceptions and political fault lines. One of these friends, who leans toward political conservativism, told me that when reading my posts on the […]
July 13, 2017
By Suzie Lahoud “By the exercise of hospitality we come to the knowledge of Christ.” – Augustine[1] The week that the controversial US travel and immigration ban was first issued, I sat in my living room in Lebanon with a Syrian woman whose water had broken in her seventh month […]
December 16, 2016
By Jesse Wheeler Note: This is a difficult week to speak of peace. With heartbreaking tragedy in Egypt and unspeakable horror unfolding in Syria just a few hours away, peace now seems more than ever like an elusive dream continually beyond reach – all while I sit here feeling helpless […]