The Shi’a power struggle: Not good news in Iraq
The decision made by Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt his Mahdi Army's attacks on occupation forces and Iraqi security is likely to be considered the single most promising breakthrough for the U.S. military in Iraq. Although the move comes ahead of several reports to be presented to the U.S. Congress later this month, the decision...Lebanon’s only chance is the army
I had the opportunity to spend the last six weeks in Lebanon, making pleasure and working visits to different areas of the country and engaging in political and other discussions with local officials, academics and opposition activists. The experience has been instructive, simultaneously heartening and depressing, but has also suggested...Who are the Yazidis?
Iraqi Yazidis have been in the news lately, and not pleasant news. Back in April, Yazidis beat and stoned a 17-year-old girl to death because she had a Muslim boyfriend. Shortly after, gunmen forced a bus to empty out and separated the Christians from the Yazidis, killing all 23 Yazidis, apparently in retaliation for the earlier...Palestine: A policy of deliberate blindness
Dennis Ross, formerly the United States envoy to the Middle East, admitted back in 2000 that mistakes had been made in the 1978 Camp David accords: The diplomatic process had not taken enough account of developments on the ground, especially the settlements. The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories doubled from 1994...In Iraq, sex is traded for survival
Baghdad When Rana Jalil, 38, lost her husband in an explosion in Baghdad last year, she could never have imagined becoming a prostitute in order to feed her children. A mother of four, Jalil sought out employment, but job opportunities forwomen had decreased since the U.S. invasion. She begged shop owners, office workers and companies...Doesn’t anyone hear those awful cries from Gaza?
No one seems to hear the cries from Gaza enough to act, despite the reports that talk about imminent economic collapse, dangerous food shortages, total aid dependency and impending humanitarian disaster. Neither the cries nor the reports appear in the headlines or news alerts in our mainstream media. And, while the statistics make...
Why does Egypt choose to stoop so low?
September 1st, 20070 There is a special sadness to the diminution of giants, to great men and countries that choose to stoop low. Egypt, in this respect, mystifies us once again, as its ruling regime resorts to repression and harassment of those who would challenge it politically and demand more democratic governance. The Egyptian government increases...First ice lounge in the desert
Outside it was a sticky 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), but Ali Hamdan was shivering under two parkas as he had a drink, surrounded by tables and chairs made of ice. Chillout is the Middle East's first ice lounge and the latest venture in this desert Gulf emirate that has been transformed by a mania for the biggest, first...It’s not just the occupation
"Forty years ago today was the last day the citizens of Israel were a free people in their own land," wrote "Ha'aretz" columnist Akiva Eldar on June 4. "It was the last day we lived here without living other peoples' lives." This sums up the cherished mythology of what is still called the Israeli left and much of the international...What do Israel, U.S. expect from Abbas?
The rash and self-defeatist behavior emanating from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his close circle in the West Bank cannot possibly be intended for the benefit of the Palestinian people or for their internationally sanctioned struggle for human rights, freedom and equality. Abbas, and his self-serving Palestinian...The closed door meetings of Mahmoud Abbas
When Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestine Authority in Ramallah, holds three-hour meetings in Jericho with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and when these meetings are restricted to the two men only for half the time, the agenda must include issues of a very grave nature that require prior agreement. Mahmoud...Hamas optimism vs. Fatah despair
PALESTINE Even in the face of possible economic collapse, Hamas leaders want to figure out a better way to collect garbage in Gaza. The Islamist movement, which now controls the coastal strip, is working out ways to create new jobs and reduce petty crime. A new enthusiasm has swept through this territory in the aftermath of the...
Hizbullah marks Lebanon war anniversary with pomp and piety
August 14th, 20070 Last summer, the sky above Beirut's southern suburbs was filled with Israeli warplanes; Tuesday night, it exploded with color as Hizbullah supporters came out in force to commemorate "the day of victory" that marked the end of the 2006 war with Israel. Packing an empty-lot-turned-outdoor-auditorium and spilling into crowded streets...
America waking up to scale of Iraq disaster
July 29th, 20070 The most probable result of U.S. withdrawal will be further bloodshed Iraq is over. Iraq has not yet begun. Two conclusions from the American debate about Iraq, which dominates the media in the U.S. to the exclusion of almost any other foreign story. Iraq is over insofar as the American public has decided that most U.S. troops should...Israel’s primal myth: A barrier to peace
Forget about Hamas, the wall, Gaza and the Occupied Territories. There can be no peace in the Middle East until Israel and the Palestinians deal with one key issue: the Palestinian demand that Israel recognize their right of return. That demand is based on the Arab charge that the Zionist state created the refugee problem in the war of......
New peace initiative met with skepticism
WASHINGTON (IPS) A major policy address this week by U.S. President George W. Bush promoting a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine has been greeted with considerable skepticism by Middle East specialists here. Most analysts said Bush's speech including his pledge to provide some 190 million dollars to support Palestine...What next after Samarra bombing?
ARBIL (IPS) Iraq is again haunted by the ghosts of Samarra, with last week's attack on the Shi'a-revered al-Askari mosque raising fears that it could touch off a new wave of sectarian violence in a country already crippled by large-scale violence and political crisis. In a similar move last year, al Qaeda in Iraq bombed the...Is there finally peace in Yemen?
The Sa'ada war in northern Yemen may be coming to a close. The Yemeni government announced on June 15 that a cease-fire had been negotiated through the good offices of the Emir of Qatar. Shi'a rebels agreed to lay down their arms after nearly three years of fighting. Hopes are high that an end to hostilities will allow immediate...The Palestinian experiment: A defining turn
All my forewarnings have suddenly actualized, all at once: Gaza has descended into total and utter chaos; Abbas has capitulated to Israel and to the United States without a shred of reservation, and the Palestinian democratic experiment, which was until recently an astounding success, has been smashed to bits. For years I have......
Bush, Olmert aim toward disastar
June 24th, 20070 What would it take to persuade Israel to rethink its attitude towards its Arab neighbors and primarily towards the Palestinians? The Hamas victory in Gaza is surely a clear signal that an Israeli change of direction is urgently needed. All Israels efforts to break the democratically-elected Hamas government have failed. Its...
Why Mahmoud Abbas has failed
June 24th, 20070 The breakdown of the domestic political order in Gaza last week reflects the clear failure of the current Palestinian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas to achieve its people's national rights to statehood, security and a normal life, and the consequent need for a combination of new leadership blood and better policies. Since their......
Israel leaves few Christians in Holy Land
Palestinian Christians are on their last breath in the Holy Land. This was the overwhelming conclusion of more than 300 international religious leaders and scholars recently at an impressive conference in Cleveland. The conference was co-sponsored by the Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East and Sabeel, a voice for...
The Arab peace initiative and the changing Middle East
April 5th, 20070 The rapid, almost hasty, developments on the Arab Israeli front, almost immediately following the Saudi sponsored Makkah Agreement on February 2, should be examined in their proper context, as a part and parcel of the regional shifts, exacerbated by the U.S. war in Iraq and the dramatic adjustment in Iran's position vis-ΰ-vis the......
