A new Palestinian militant group — The Jihad Movement for the Victory of Gaza — emerged in Ain el Hilwe. Their target? The Egyptian Embassy and UNIFIL. What's next? The Saudi Embassy? Then what? The militant Palestinian groups main role is to create trouble. They are used as tools by the mighty Arab and Muslim […]
Christopher Boucek at Carnegie discusses the rubrics by which we can measure the success of terrorist/jihadi rehabilitation programs, given the recent revelations on recidivism among graduates of the Saudi's efforts in this regard. (Mentioned on this blog in November). Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal takes the a strong stance against releasing prisoners; if […]
Iraqi provincial elections will take place tomorrow, serving as a segue into the national elections to be held later this year. The mainstream media outlets are framing this event as a wonderful change from the last election day, which was riddled with violence. To a degree, I believe this is true. But the real challenge […]
… that is, the upcoming elections in Iraq, have been aggressively overshadowed by events in Gaza. FPA War Crimes blogger Daniel Graeber has a piece at IslamOnline discussing the current political climate leading up to the elections.
… broadcast on Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned news channel. He promises to listen and approach Middle East policy in a manner reflective of “mutual respect“. Marc Lynch is very excited; thankfully for those of us following this story from our desks, he has begun and will continue to track Arab responses to the interview. Read […]
The following is the text of an email circulated by Voices for Palestine, an organization started by women in Jordan to raise awareness about the scale of destruction in Gaza. The YouTube clips linked below constitute a moving effort to address the upset of the conflict by outlining the situation in a level-headed and informative […]
… in the wake of the Gaza crisis in an op-ed in the Financial Times. His comment – simply, support Arab peace initiatives, or be prepared for continued regional chaos, echoes Marina Ottaway's advice in this policy brief, “Sharing the Burden“. Her framing is slightly more diplomatic, but the message is the same: the US […]
… including “In Gaza, it is possible to work with the PA and avoid Hamas” and “The ‘West Bank first’ strategy of building up the PA is working”.
I interviewed former Lebanese President last year. You have few excerpts here: Manuela Paraipan: What are the few crucial moments that you can recall during your time as President of Lebanon and are willing to speak of? Emile Lahoud: There were more than a few such moments, during 18 years, because I was Commander in […]
ACT! 6.0 + Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 + Adobe Fireworks CS3 Samantha M. Shapiro has a wonderful piece in today's New York Times Magazine titled "Revolution, Facebook-Style," asking the question "Can Social Networking Turn Disaffected Young Egyptians into a Force for Democratic Change?" I think it's a great read for anyone wanting a brief over-view of […]
Specifically focused on Egypt. Facebook and its potential to electrify the Arab world are very much on the minds of people looking at the Middle East of late – I attended a conference on Friday on Obama and the Global Media where the keynote speaker focused almost entirely on Facebook and how students of Middle […]
… due, not to politicized censorship, but outstanding unpaid debts. Hopefully it will soon be revived. I would be on the lookout for a facebook group soliciting donations.
… and that's just one part of the Carnegie Endowment's mini-anthology of commentary from its scholars and affiliates on the election. An excerpt from al-Ghitany's piece: It took me many years to realize that human civilization from all corners of the world is essential for mankind and its existence. It also took me time to […]
Obama appoints George Mitchell to be the United States’ envoy to Israel and Palestine. Time magazine has a wonderful profile of him, including quotes; this one is especially good: “Please remember that it is possible for an American to disagree with you on aid to the Contras and still love God, and still love this […]