Laura Dean

The Situation In Gaza Is So Desperate That Some Are Predicting Another War

More than 100,000 people are still homeless after Israel’s devastating offensive last summer.

March 25th, 2015

A Palestinian girl sits inside a room of her family's building which was damaged in last summer's Israel-Hamas war, in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. — It’s evening, and the neighborhood of Shejaiya is completely dark. Metal rods hang at odd angles off of crumbling skeletons of buildings,

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How Netanyahu Plumbed The Depths To Come Out On Top

A lurch to the right in the final days of the campaign appears to have helped seal Netanyahu’s victory.

March 18th, 2015

By Laura Dean

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens to his wife Sara during a meeting with the Roman Jewish Community. TEL AVIV, Israel — Two days before Israelis went out to vote, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party was faltering in the polls. It was trailing the center-left Zionist Union, led by Isaac

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What Do Israeli Voters Say About Gaza? Not A Lot.

With media fixated on where Netanyahu falls in the polls, you don’t hear much about last summer’s war that left more than 2,100 Gazans dead.

March 16th, 2015

By Laura Dean

What Do Israeli Voters Say About Gaza? Not A Lot.

A Palestinian brother and sister walk in front of a building which was destroyed in last summer's Israel-Hamas war, in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. TEL AVIV, Israel — The first election in Israel since Operation Protective Edge will

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Shocking Images Of American Citizen Detained In Egypt Prompt Concern For His Health

Mohamed Soltan, detained by Egyptian authorities for attending a protest in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, has been on hunger strike for almost a year.

January 22nd, 2015

By Laura Dean

CAIRO, Egypt — Mohamed Soltan, an Egyptian-American, will have been on hunger strike for one year this Monday. Yesterday, images of him unconscious with blood dripping out of his mouth circulated widely on social media. Activists working for his release

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The Egyptian Government Is Holding More Than 150 Children In A Makeshift Prison

Rights groups say some of the children have been held for months without charge, and without their parents being allowed to visit.

January 16th, 2015

By Laura Dean

The Egyptian Government Is Holding More Than 150 Children In A Makeshift Prison

CAIRO, Egypt — With narrow shoulders and a shy smile, 14-year-old Akram looks younger than other boys his age. He wears a gray headband with dark brown messy curls coming out of the top, and his voice has not yet broken. One night in July, dozens of armed security officers came to his family home in Cairo and took him away. For

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Some Say The Egyptian Revolution Is Dead. Try Telling That To The Students

University campuses across Egypt have become hubs of dissent, but the government is cracking down.

November 11th, 2014

By Laura Dean

Some Say The Egyptian Revolution Is Dead. Try Telling That To The Students

CAIRO, Egypt — It was the evening before the first day of the new academic year for university students in Egypt. As many of them were readying their books and bags and preparing for the long year ahead, the country’s security forces were making preparations of their own. That night in October, heavily armed police raided 250

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Why Is The Islamic State Still So Strong?

And where are its weak spots?

August 21st, 2014

By Laura Dean

CAIRO, Egypt — The rapid rise of the Islamic State in Iraq has wrought a staggering humanitarian cost in a country that has already seen over a decade of war. Adding to its atrocities in Syria, the group has slaughtered hundreds of mostly non-Sunni Iraqis, and has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. To veteran

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