Qatar has sent only dozens of its citizens across the border to Saudi Arabia for this week's hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites because of the increasingly bitter crisis between the Gulf neighbours. The annual pilgrimage that draws two million Muslim faithful from across the globe and starts this year on Wednesday has become embroiled in a dispute between Doha and Riyadh now nearing its third month. Qatar's only land […]
OPINION by Yvonne Ridley There are many lessons that the Palestinians can take from the crisis in the Gulf which has seen four Arab states impose an air, land and sea blockade on the tiny state of Qatar. The first is to recognise how fickle friendships actually are among supposedly Arab brothers, and how they can lead so easily to treachery and betrayal. The Palestinians should not expect the same […]
Qatar is prepared to work together with other Gulf countries blockading it in order to reach a resolution to a major diplomatic crisis, its foreign minister has said, stressing, however, that his country will not discuss any measures that impinge on its sovereignty. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on it on June 5, accusing it of supporting […]
As the Gaza Strip marked the ten-year anniversary of Israel’s siege of the small Palestinian enclave on Thursday, the humanitarian situation has continued to alarm rights groups, which have denounced the “inhuman conditions unparalleled in the modern world.” Gaza, which has often been compared to an “open air prison” for its 1.9 million inhabitants crowded into 365 square kilometers, has suffered from a decade of isolation and deprivation, made all […]
After the Israel decided to drastically cut electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip at the request at the Palestinian Authority (PA), UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory Robert Piper characterized the ever-worsening crisis in Gaza as “an international Palestinians dispute” -- as Israel’s military blockade on the coastal enclave marked its 10th anniversary this week. In a statement Wednesday, Piper warned that the electricity reduction would have “disastrous […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
