Canada in the Middle East

Canadian member of parliament and cabinet minister Peter Kent visited Israel and the West Bank. Canadian and Israeli columnists comment.

Canada and the Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1954 several thousand fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls were purchased by McGill University. They never arrived. Now the story of this purchase is told in Canada's Big Biblical Bargain: How McGill University Bought the Dead Sea Scrolls ... more.

Canadian-Iranian blogger may be executed

Hossein Derakhshan is an Iranian who moved to Canada and became a blogger. His on-line publication, sometimes critical, sometimes supportive of Tehran, taught Iranians, domestic and ex-patriate, how to blog in Persian. In 2006 as a Canadian citizen he visited Israel. In 2008 he returned to Iran and was arrested. Now he faces a possible death penalty ... more.

Update:  For “conspiring with hostile governments, spreading propaganda against the Islamic system, spreading propaganda in favor of counterrevolutionary groups, blasphemy, and creating and managing obscene Web sites,” an Iranian court has sentenced Mr. Derakhshan to 19.5 years in jail ... more.

View from Havana

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should stop slandering Jews and denying the Holocaust and Tehran should acknowledge the "unique" history of antisemitism and understand why Israelis fear for their existence. So says Cuba's retired President Fidel Castro.

Rebuilding trust

Peace between Israelis and Palestinians is "within our grasp" writes Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.  The biggest obstacle is psychological.