#ras-ein-al-auja

#ras-ein-al-auja

On Holy Saturday, as Palestinian Christians tried to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Israeli security forces started attacking and arresting them, demonstrating a clear violation of religious freedoms.

"I have never chosen to adopt the title of 'refugee,' yet it keeps haunting me. It is scribbled on my Palestinian national identification card and follows my name in human rights conferences."

The designation prohibits the sites from being targeted or used for military purposes, with violations potentially constituting serious breaches of the 1954 Hague Convention and grounds for criminal responsibility.

"In 'break bad (freddy flexing)' (2021), a slim man's attempt to exert physical strength instead displays his fragility. A gentleness in his eyes suggests truer strength beneath the performance."

Cathay Pacific has cancelled all flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until at least 31 May, allowing customers to rebook, reroute, or refund their tickets.

Textiles are a window into the communities that created them, with every motif and line signalling a different memory, tradition or identity. Often seen as folk art, these pieces of embroidery and weaving bring together dozens of narrative threads, from Japan to South America. But nowhere is it more fraught with meaning than in Palestine.

There is a scene in "Morgenkreis | Morning Circle" (2025), a 16-mm film by Berlin-based Palestinian artist Basma al-Sharif, that unfolds at the threshold of a daycare center. A young boy clings to his father, his fists locked into the fabric of his coat, his arms wrapped tightly around him. The father gently tries to pry himself free while a daycare worker crouches nearby, attempting to distract the child and coax him inside. It is an ordinary moment, one that anyone who has ever been a child - or cared for one - recognizes instantly, as well as the gut-wrenching feeling it provokes.

Two hundred and fifty-six Quran memorisers—Palestinians who have committed the entire holy book to memory—sat in the place while companions beside them listened attentively, following each word carefully to ensure the recitation remained flawless. The gathering, titled Safwat Al-Huffaz—The Elite of Quran Memorisers, has become a special collective way of observing Ramadan in Gaza.

The Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts said on Saturday that at least 56 museums, historical monuments and cultural sites in Iran have been damaged over the course of the war, which began on February 28, state-run news media reported. The heritage sites damaged include the Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran.

Of the approximately 5,000 houses built in the International Style in Tel Aviv, most are privately owned and 'the owners do not want to invest in restoration at the moment.' The most significant damaged building was the 'Froma Gurvitz' house, built in 1937 by the architectural firm Zabrodsky and Blacks, which had an additional floor and a half constructed on the roof.

Beit Hawa, is a residential project in Uptown Cairo shaped by the ethos of morphosis, where the interior architecture functions as an adaptive system rather than a static arrangement. The design moves away from rigid modernist typologies, employing fluid spatial sequences that negotiate transitions between private and public zones. Surfaces and volumes are defined through layered materiality, integrating light, texture, and structural clarity into a coherent spatial syntax. Circulation operates as a generative element, creating smooth shifts that dissolve conventional boundaries between functions.

Once a Najdi settlement defined by mudbrick walls and courtyard houses, Riyadh has undergone one of the most radical urban transformations of the 20th and 21st centuries. The discovery of oil reserves, the consolidation of political power, and the rapid expansion of infrastructure reshaped the city from a regional capital into a sprawling metropolis almost within a single generation. As a result, Riyadh's urban fabric is marked by discontinuities, fragments of vernacular architecture coexist with mid-century institutional modernism, and a rapidly evolving contemporary skyline.

The Byzantine-era church lies half hidden in the shade. Roman columns rise from among the olive trees, even older ruins linked to Israelite kings are overgrown. To the west, the Mediterranean is just visible on the horizon. To the north and south are the hills of the occupied West Bank. In the small town of Sebastia, a hundred metres or less east of the ruins, everyone is very worried.

But urgency should never become an excuse for illusion, spectacle, or political shortcuts. The contrast between rhetoric and reality could not be sharper. While United States President Donald Trump and a group of world leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to sign the charter of the so-called Board of Peace and unveil glossy reconstruction plans, the killing in Gaza continued. Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, no fewer than 480 Palestinians have been killed.

A Chadian chemist and a British activist, both born in Jerusalem, vow to fight for Palestine by any means necessary even if it costs them death. Two men devoted their lives to the Palestinian resistance but paid the ultimate price. Bashir Jibril, born in Jerusalem to a Chadian family, joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. He trained military cadres and took part in the 1970 airliner hijackings, before being killed in a car bomb explosion in Athens in 1978.

The lights are on in Aden at least for most of the day. The apparently mundane detail is a huge difference for people in the southern Yemeni port city, which for years has suffered from extensive electricity blackouts, and a sign that something has changed. It was noticeable enough for Saleh Taher, who lives in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to comment on after making a recent visit to Aden.

The most beautiful places in Oman are diverse, stark, and staggering. With ancient ruins, fragrant souks, and picturesque mountain villages, there is no shortage of man-made wonders. But it is the country's geology that delights best. In this desert nation, beauty is defined by water: the white sands of surf-battered beaches, gurgling wadi streams, and cloud-shrouded massifs where pomegranates hang heavy.