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When U.S. forces descended on Baghdad five years ago, they seemed unstoppable. Military arrogance had reached an all-time high, and it seemed only a matter of time before the same frenzied scenario took place in Tehran, Damascus, and elsewhere.
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Criticism has been leveled against the Pakistani governments efforts to hold talks with militant groups. While concerns about the Taliban regrouping remain valid, it is in Americas long-term security interest not only to support the multidimensional peace plans being formulated, but also to refrain from words and actions which could jeopardize the process. The devastating airstrikes that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers in the Mohmand Agency are the most recent case in point.
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CAIRO -- U.S. Senator Barack Obama represents a phenomenon that has drawn global attention and captivated the minds of Muslims around the world as he wages a spirited campaign to become the next president of the United States. In spite of the campaigns heated debate and some controversial rhetoric regarding Islam, large segments of Muslims remain fascinated with the election and have become big fans of Obama.
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Saudi Arabias call for an ongoing interfaith dialogue has raised a few eyebrows in the West.
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As a professor of anthropology in the United States, I often begin my college lectures on Islamic culture by asking students to write three adjectives to describe Arabs. Most responses include the word terrorists, an association they see and hear in the media.
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JERUSALEM -- The coming festival of Shavuot celebrates both the harvest of the first fruits and the receiving of the Torah on Sinai. The generally accepted site of Mount Sinai is Jebel Musa (Mount Moses) in the Sinai Peninsula, but there are other candidates. One theory places the mountain in Saudi Arabia, another in Yemen, and there is even a possible site in the Negev. But there can be no doubt that the biblical narrative places the encounter between God and Moses in a desert location.
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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the most powerful lobby groups in the United States, just concluded its annual Washington conference. It drew a long line of administration officials and the presidential candidates to its doorsteps, all touting orthodox lines on what it means to be pro-Israel – messages carefully crafted to please the lobby.
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The worlds major powers have offered a fresh package of incentives to Iran including long-term nuclear and economic cooperation in a bid to get it to abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions calling on it to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
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Accompanied by members of his cabinet, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made his second visit to Tehran since the beginning of the year. Iran has offered Iraq strategic cooperation, including in the military sphere.
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BEIRUT -- My fellow Lebanese, come pick up your Medals of Immunity since nothing seems to shake you anymore. There was a bomb, you say? We still dont have a president? Another leader just got assassinated? There are clashes in parts of Beirut? Gunshots were heard? So then, whats the safest route to go to the bar tonight?
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CAIRNS, Egypt -- Over the last few years I attended a number of my Muslim colleagues marriage ceremonies at mosques. Every time I participate in this lovely occasion I get the impression that Muslim weddings have become closer, at least in form, to the wedding ceremonies of Christians.
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The recent announcement that indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria are being conducted in Turkey has led many to ask whether this round of negotiations represents anything more than political games.
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African American Muslim women are a rare gift in that we have a unique perspective on what it means to be Muslim in the United States.
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Despite the tremendous rebuilding needs of Afghanistan, the international community re-engaged in the country with a very light footprint from the very beginning.
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At a gathering last May 26 Jimmy Carter said Israel possesses 150 Nuclear weapons. Carters revelation is the first credible public acknowledgment by a former U.S, president that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal. Israel has never admitted having nuclear weapons, nor has any U.S. official ever deviated from that Israeli line. But while the possession of nuclear weapons by Israel is a threat to its enemies, it is also a threat to its friends and allies.
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Iran Opposition Offers Solution to Crisis
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Many Western notions of governance may be struggling to take hold in Iraq, but one that deserves a close look is the effort to create what would amount to a unique upper legislative body: The House of Tribes.
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Hezbollahs recent flexing of muscles in Lebanon may well lead to an unintended effect – the long-overdue disarming of the militant group.
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CAIRO -- Amid wide international and domestic human rights denunciation, a military tribunal in Egypt has concluded its 14-month marathon session by sentencing 25 civilians of the countrys largest opposition group from three-10 years in prison.
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The recent agreement in Doha to end Lebanons 18-month political stalemate begins the process of re-establishing a functioning government and addressing the legitimate concerns of the Lebanese people. It postpones the discussion about the future role of Hezbollah in Lebanese society until after the election of the president, which brings us to the genius of this agreement: it separates the concerns of the Shiite community from those of Hezbollah.
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TEL AVIV/West Bank -- When you live 10 minutes away – but worlds apart – from one another, you can still learn essential things about each other, even after five years of friendship and countless hours spent together.
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Caroline Glick, columnist and editor at The Jerusalem Post is normally right on the money with her comments about Middle East politics. Her column of Friday, May 23, 2008, "Column one: Assads week of triumph" was a rare exception.
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After years of turmoil, and on the heels of the highly successful Lebanese National Dialogue held in Doha in mid-May, Lebanons leaders swore in a new president on Sunday under the banner of a broad-based coalition government. The government will include both Hezbollah – which led Lebanon into war with Israel in 2006 – and its allies, as well as Saad Hariris Western-leaning Future Movement; a diverse but necessary coalition to keep the country from splitting in two.
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MOSCOW -- Having arrived in Moscow on May 25 for a two-day visit, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said that his country would like to further expand cooperation with Russia.
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After a lovely evening in an old Damascene house in which the courtyard invites the sky in, the artist was bidding us goodbye when a lovely elderly woman in a pink dress, that contrasted with her white hair, came in. The artist stopped and said to us, "This is my neighbor Ros, she is a Jewish woman." She hugged the artist and said, "I love you as I love God and the Torah."
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To the attention of President Bush:
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Within the rubric of national sovereignty come many challenges; the use of power is paramount to how a nation defines itself.
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has extended the state of emergency in the country for another two years. This is nothing extraordinary, because it has been ongoing for 26 years. It was first imposed on October 6, 1981 following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.
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The settlement reached in Doha last week between warring factions in Lebanon puts an end to an 18-month national crisis and raises hopes for a stable future for that beleaguered country. It may also make real my fathers dream for his country, and prompt a wider movement for peace in the region.
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U.S. President George W. Bush had a few choice words for Canadas Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier when he saw his official companion Julie Couillard. "Well, well, well," Bush said: "Havent you been keeping good company."
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JERUSALEM -- As bitter, disheartening and entangled the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is, Nadine Gordimers message is emphatic: Dont give up. It can be solved, but only by realizing one thing: Talking to your worst enemies is the only way out.
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A Hamas-Israel ceasefire could be on its way, but you wouldnt know it. No press conference will be held to announce it. Instead, quiet on Gazas borders – no rockets going out, no Israeli fire going in – will serve as the declaration that the ceasefire has begun. But this quiet will come with a tension that at any moment the ceasefire could end. And once that happens, major confrontation can be expected.
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JERUSALEM – U.S. President George W. Bush completed what has been announced as his final visit to the Middle East as president. In five days, he visited Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Most attention was drawn to the first and main stage of his tour – his visit to Israel, which was timed for the 60th anniversary of its independence.
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JERUSALEM - Israels 60th anniversary has come and gone. So, too, has U.S. President George W. Bushs final visit to the Middle East. Amidst the celebrations and the soul-searching, no meaningful breakthrough in the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is visible.
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Almost simultaneously, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Syrian foreign ministry reported that Israel and Syria have resumed indirect peace talks in Istanbul under Turkish mediation.
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Threatening war in the Gulf raises the price of oil. Whether Hillary Clinton wants to "obliterate Iran" or John McCain wants to "bomb, bomb Iran," the result is another bump in the price of oil.
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The common Western misconception that intellectual and political Islamism is by definition an impediment to modernization is fueling tensions between the Muslim world and the United States and Europe.
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After six days of consultations in Qatar under the aegis of the Arab League, Lebanese leaders finally agreed on settling the domestic political crisis. Does this mean that civil war in Lebanon has been averted? What is the importance of the Doha agreements for the Middle East?
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What accords will Lebanese politicians bring from Qatar, where they were engaged in reconciliatory dialogue under the patronage of the Arab League? Both Lebanon and its neighbors are anxiously waiting for an answer to this question, because regional stability depends on it. But it is even more important to understand what happened in Lebanon in the last few weeks.
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At the heart of the misunderstanding of Islam lies a common misconception that the intellectual and political trend known as Islamism is a necessary impediment to modernization. Within the Islamist dominion, al-Qaida is placed in the most contemporary of periods which itself is divided into three "generations." The three generations break down as follows:
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At the heart of the misunderstanding that is fueling tensions between the Muslim world and the United States and Europe, lies a common Western misconception that the intellectual and political trend known as Islamism is a necessary impediment to modernization.
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Some say that politics is warfare by other means. Lebanon has been trying to avoid such a reality, but the recent outbreak of violence seems to have confirmed its worst fears. Hopefully, as the dust settles, the shops reopen and the Beirut shoreline once again greets her mountains, Lebanons political leaders and their international patrons will take a moment to reflect on the lessons and losses of the latest fiasco.
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U.S. President George W. Bush may attempt to sound visionary, talk tough, and criticize opponents as naive, but the Middle East which he visited last week is in shambles, due in no small part to policies he has pursued or failed to pursue during his two terms in office.
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In the first chapter of Amos Ozs novel, "My Michael," the protagonist Hannah recalls her childhood friends, Khalil and Aziz, two Palestinians who in 1948 disappeared along with 800,000 of their people. In the last chapter she imagines her two friends coming back to blow everything up. By then Hannah has descended into madness.
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DAMASCUS -- The world was surprised by pictures at the U.S. Congress of the virtual Syrian site that was bombed by Israel almost a year ago. The question that was reiterated by most media specialists is: "Why now?" No one remembered, then, the timing of renewing U.S. sanctions against Syria. But anyone who reads the executive order of U.S. President George W. Bush and his letter to Congress will discover how the presentation of these fabricated photos came handy for him.
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JERUSALEM -- The "Performance-Based Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" highlights both the good intentions and the misplaced conceptions of its promulgators. Five years after its adoption, it lingers not as a tool for the achievement of a sustainable agreement but as a burdensome impediment to its realization.
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Israelis are Talking to Hamas: Religion at the Cutting Edge
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CAIRO -- The morning of April 15 was to be the final hearing of the military tribunal before which my father was being tried; little did I know this would be the worst day of my life.
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The latest clashes in Beirut once again prove that it is the militant Shiite group Hezbollah and its supporters, rather than the pro-Western government of Fouad Siniora, who control the situation in Lebanon.
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In a unique action taken by prominent British politicians - including a former home secretary, a former solicitor general, and a former law lord of the United Kingdom - against the British government, Britains highest legal authority handed out a humiliating ruling against the government.
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MOSCOW -- Vladimir Putins last minute decision to fulfill U.N. Security Council Resolution 1803 on Iran before handing over power to Dmitry Medvedev surprised many. Has Russia decided to join the U.N. sanctions? Will the new president shift Russias policy regarding Iran to the West?
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The Islamic Republic of Iran has just extended its power into Lebanon through its completion within the last 90 days of a new microwave communications system, ostensibly meant as an aid to its ally, Hezbollah – in reality its local proxy militia.
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The meter to measure the leverage of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is the soap opera of Lebanons paradoxical democracy.
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The latest round of Turkish air raids against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq, continuing from this past weekend into Monday, underscore the fact that Turkish incursions have become part of the wars indelible landscape.
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In recent days Tehran has continues to wage its asymmetrical war against the United States on several fronts.
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Israel will mark its 60th Independence Day on May 14 and Palestinians will mark 60 years of national tragedy. Neither knows if peace is possible. Indeed, can an Arab and a Jewish state coexist peacefully?
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Lessons from Taliban-Northern Alliance Agreement
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Step up the Pressure on Irans Mullahs
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Thirty-four years ago, Egypts most celebrated author, Naguib Mahfouz, published his novella, "Karnak Café." Set in Egypt during the late 1960s, it tells the story of a group of young, idealistic students who become acutely aware of the gap between the ideals espoused by Nassers pan-Arab socialism and the realities of Egyptian daily life. The students are arrested and intimidated for calling attention to this gap, alternately accused of belonging to the Communist party or the Muslim Brotherhood.
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A number of serious voices are saying it is time for a new approach on Iran. U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein and former high-level U.S. government officials have called for the United States to enter into negotiations with Iran without preconditions, at the same time proposing ideas to surmount the current impasse over Irans nuclear program. Combined with new polling suggesting that public opinion in Iran and the United States echo these views, conditions appear to be ripe for renewed efforts to improve U.S.-Iran relations.
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JERUSALEM -- Yehiel and I met Elliott at the appliance repairmans shed on a side street in South Jerusalem. Elliott Horowitz, a historian at Bar-Ilan University, had already paid for the almost-new washing machine, with cash that friends have pledged to repay. We wrestled the heavy white hunk of metal into the back of Yehiels undersized station wagon, and set off – three guys with skullcaps and greying beards driving to Hebron with a washing machine for a Palestinian stonecutter.
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TEL AVIV, Israel -- Ten years ago, when Dr. David Sagiv began preparing the Arabic-Hebrew – Hebrew-Arabic dictionary he recently completed, he was more optimistic than he is today. At that time, he and his wife, Marcelle, would go every year to Cairo, where he had established contact with some of the most important intellectuals in Egypt.
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MOSCOW -- It is not Iran that should return to the negotiating table and impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, as the U.N. Security Council resolutions require. It is the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany that are supposed to accept the new reality surrounding Irans nuclear program, and start talks with it. This is Tehrans attitude to the recent proposals from the Six.
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As Israelis finalize preparations for their momentous 60th anniversary – a date marking 10 years of consistent economic growth and industrious expansion – there remains the underlying question that will go unanswered yet another decade: What will be done with the West Bank and the Golan Heights? Despite all of its considerable achievements, cross-border violence persists and Israels existence remains fundamentally insecure.
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Living Conflict, Writing Peace
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Peace with Syria is once again knocking at our door, and it even seems to be meeting with a less-frosty reception on the Israeli side. The time is ripe for negotiations with Syria, especially since U.S. President George W. Bushs reign is drawing to a close, and among his potential successors, whether Democrat or Republican, there is a willingness to negotiate with Bashar Assad instead of boycotting him.
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Assad Turns His Back on Moscow
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The Bomb Squads: How to Survive a Gaza Refugee Camp
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Roots of Past, Present and Future Conflicts
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U.S. Backed Political Islamic Activists in Cold War
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Russia, China, Britain and U.S. to Argue Viewpoints
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Fallacies of Importing Moderate Imams into Britain
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For Israels Sake, Moderate American Jews Must Find Their Voice
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Keep Peace Moving For New U.S. President
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Syria Offers Bush the Chance to be a Peacemaker
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Imagine a Jail Term or Worse for Striking
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Do Iraqs Neighbors Want it Revived?
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Carter, Hamas, and Pragmatic Solutions to Islamism?
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Revisiting Misperceptions of Americas Iraq Strategy
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Turkeys Turmoil: A Blessing in Disguise?
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Russian Fight for Mideast Peace More Difficult in a Multi-polar World
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Gods Warriors are Here … the Future is Bleak
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Without a Priesthood Every Muslim Makes up Their Own Mind
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It is Time Israeli High-tech CEOs and Peace Activists Get Together
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Has the Time Come to Recognize Iran as a Nuclear Power?
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Reasons why Abbas and Olmert are in a Hurry
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Killing the Jewish Dream for a Few Fanatics
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Authoritarianism: The Arab Curse
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Bastion of Freedom – Barren Land Brings Peace
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Kuwait Dithers at Spring Election Crossroads
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Where are the Iraqis in the Iraq War?
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Political Fighter Didnt Expect it Would Come As It Did
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No one Knows the Price Yet to be Paid
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Basra Battles are Barely Half the Story
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"The Translator: A Tribesmans Memoir of Darfur"
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I Want the Palestinians to Win
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One-state Solution Coming Full Circle
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The Honorable George W. Bush
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Contrasting Narratives of the Iraq War
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Kidnapped in Pakistan: the End of American Ideals?