Al-BAB

A turn-of-the-century Egyptian postcard

In a concert hall down by the old port in Marseilles, a rabbi wearing a suit, Phillipe Darmon, walks on stage and launches into an unaccompa...

This is Rania Kharma. She is thirty four, attractive and intelligent. She has ambitions, bills to pay, and worries that preoccupy her. Sh...

All text and photos in this post copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008 “So, this is your first time with us!” exclaimed Abdulrahman al-Anes...

The view from the ascending 'Burj Dubai', in the UAE

All text and photos in this post copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008 In brackish Arabic laced with Farsi and Hindi, Captain Abdul-Fatah a...

Review: The Rise and Fall of Alexandria - Birthplace of the Modern World, by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid. Penguin Books, 300 pps. This b...

All text and photos in this post are copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008 “I have a wonderful idea for a novel,” wrote a clerk of the Brit...

Over the al-Rub al-Khali , Saudi Arabia Photo copyright John Bell and John Zada 2008

Aleppo, Syria Photo copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008

Old City of Jerusalem Photo copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008

Bakery, Kabul, Afghanistan Photo copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008

Reconstructions of skulls of Jews living in Galilee at the time of Jesus show a face a little more robust than the ‘Roger Moore’ look-alikes...

The Middle East is adrift as never in my lifetime. There is no political framework that anyone takes seriously, no "Middle East peace ...

All text and photos in this post copyright John Zada and John Bell 2008 Majdal Shams is a Druze village located on the northern side of the ...

Review : The Travels of Ibn Battutah Editted by Tim Mackintosh Smith Macmillan UK, 400 pages. The Travels of Ibn Battutah recounts a 14th c...

“They made a desert and called it peace.” - Tacitus Jerusalem, 2015 The early morning light of Jerusalem is a divine gift. It shelters the ...

Gouraud Street, Gemayze, Beirut, 961 1 446769 - 961 1 445373

Review : In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams By Tahir Shah, 388 Pages. Bantam Books Just over a year ago British travel wri...

Review : Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran By Jason Elliot 416 pages. Picador. Travel writing may often entertain and sometimes aston...