Sayed Kashua made a huge impact among Israelis recently when he wrote a column titled "It's over" (Hebrew: זה נגמר) in which he says that the dream of Arab-Jewish coexistence in Israel is dead. Kashua is famous for being a Palestinian-Israeli journalist at the respected national paper Haaretz and the writer of the groundbreaking TV series Arab Labor (Hebrew: עבודה ערבית; Arabic: شغل عرب). But those who could only read his piece in what is a generally good English translation on Haaretz's website titled "Why Sayed Kashua is leaving Jerusalem and never coming back" missed some crucial details because of a few serious translation mistakes that should never have been made.

Inspired by a very interesting NPR story on Chinese reactions to America's partial federal government shutdown, I thought English readers might be interested in seeing what the Arab press has to say about the issue. Here is Jihad Al-Khazen on the shutdown and American-Iranian diplomacy.

Syrian rebels have reportedly captured the Governor of Raqqa, Hassan Jalili, and the local head of the Baath party, Suleiman Suleiman. I have translated portions of the amateur video including statements by the two men as well as rebel fighters.

Recently, the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's gave a rare interview in which he admitted the huge toll of the conflict in Syria on children, saying that "Children are the most fragile link in any society and unfortunately they often pay the heaviest price in any conflict." (Read more on syriacomment) Against that backdrop, it seems appropriate to translate Habib Haddad's 2-27 cartoon published online in Al Hayat: