Future of Fatah in doubt
RAMALLAH — The future of Palestinian unity talks is far more complex than the bitter rivalry, bloodshed and division which represent the yawning chasm separating Palestine's two main political factions, Hamas and Fatah. There are serious issues within Fatah that need to be resolved. After two decades of power struggles and acrimony...
Berri re-elected as Lebanon speaker
June 27th, 20090 BEIRUT — Nabih Berri, the leader of the Shi'a Muslim Amal movement, has been re-elected for a fifth term as the speaker of Lebanon's parliament. Lebanon's Parliament majority leader Saad al-Hariri (R) applauds upon announcing the re-election of Nabih Berri (front L) as house speaker at parliament in Beirut June 25, 2009....
Spike in violence as government offers referendum on withdrawal pact
June 27th, 20090 WASHINGTON – As Iraqis witness a spike in violence after a months-long relative lull, the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has decided to put its security agreement with the U.S. to a public referendum, although the move appears to be only heightening a sense of uncertainty over the fate of the...Bloody showdown looming if unity talks fail
RAMALLAH – Egyptian mediators have set July 7 as deadline for final Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo. The Egyptians say time is running out, and if there is no progress in July, they will no longer be prepared to arbitrate. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal makes a speech during a rally in Damascus June 25, 2009....Election law reproduces elite, preserves their power
Lebanon's June 7 national election was a box office success. It had it all: shady politicians, foreign intrigue, bribes, beautiful women, meddling religious figures, sectarian agitation, recently exposed spy rings, fundamentalists collaborating with capitalists, the poor and oppressed voting for the rich and privileged. Druze...Opposition ponders uncertain future
TYRE (IPS) — A large highway cuts through the green hills connecting Lebanon's south to the Mediterranean Sea. Here, nestled amid banana trees and colorful bougainvillaea bushes, lies the city of Tyre, a bastion of the Shi'a community and a significant base of the Lebanese opposition. Now, following the parliamentary elections and the...Arabs need bargaining power
In their reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech, Palestinians and Arabs have unanimously rejected his conditions for a two-state solution. In a major political speech, Netanyahu said Israel would accept the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state only if Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish...
New hope for Carter in peacemaking?
June 19th, 20090 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (C front row) poses for a photo with senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (2nd row) and Palestinian children in Gaza City June 16, 2009. Carter met the children, who lost relatives during the three-week offensive Israel launched in Gaza last December, during his one-day visit to Gaza....Iraqi cultural attaché builds bridges
For the last three decades or so, Iraq has suffered tremendously from wars, destruction, economic sanctions, foreign invasion, occupation and the horror of sectarian strife and ethnic clashes. Perhaps the most horrifying loss inflicted on Iraq besides civilian casualties is the loss of Iraqi scientists, professionals, experts and...Lebanon’s intelligence war with Israel
BEIRUT— Israel's ability to wage another war against Hizbullah may have been compromised by an unprecedented wave of arrests of people in Lebanon alleged to have been spying for the Israelis. Experts say the arrests appear to add up to a major strategic blow to Israel. Mobile phone footage circulating in Beirut shows one of the...Is Lebanon now a Wahabi state?
The fifth series of parliamentary elections held in Lebanon's Second Republic since its birth in 1989 were in some respects the most dominated by Saudi Arabia. Vote-buying was perhaps more rampant than ever before. In order to influence the election result, Saudi Arabia directly addressed the citizens of Lebanon by buying votes in...
Ruling party wins in Lebanon
June 10th, 20090 BEIRUT – Lebanon's Western-backed March 14 coalition has defeated a stiff challenge by the Hizbullah-led opposition in national elections to retain its parliamentary majority. A Lebanese election official counts ballots after their polling station closed in Zahle in the Bekaa valley June 7, 2009. Lebanese voted on Sunday in...A return to resistance in Iraq
At least 20 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in May, the most since last September, along with more than 50 wounded. Iraqi casualties are, as usual — and in both categories — at least ten times that number. A U.S. soldier walks past a man during a patrol in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad June 2, 2009....Palestinian Authority going the Israeli way
RAMALLAH (IPS) — A surge in confidence, following unprecedented U.S. political support, led to the Palestinian Authority's bloody crackdown on a Hamas cell in the northern West Bank on Sunday which left six Palestinians dead. However, reports of questionable Palestinian Authority (PA) tactics, including the use of Palestinian...Family history counts for women in race to parliament
BEIRUT (IPS) — In Lebanon's Jun. 7 parliamentary poll, women represent only two percent of the candidates, many of them with family names that have been appearing on ballots for generations. A banner of Nayla Tueni, parliamentary candidate and daughter of assassinated MP Gebran Tueni, hangs from a building in Beirut May 27,......
West Bank settlements are anathema to the entire world
Moshe Ya'alon, the Strategic Affairs Minister of Israel told Meet the Press last Saturday that his country will not follow American dictates and will not halt construction in the settlements. He was referring to the American demand that Israel halt all settlement activity, voiced by U.S. President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Binyamin...Provoking the inevitable in Iraq
On Monday, Iraqi government security forces arrested two prominent Sunni leaders in Iraq's volatile Diyala Province. One of them, Sheikh Riyadh al-Mujami, not coincidentally, is a prominent leader in the local Sahwa (Sons of Iraq), the 100,000-strong Sunni militia that was set up by the U.S. military to quell attacks against......
‘Gender-bender’ election raises optimism
May 30th, 20090 Four women elected to the 50-member national assembly in Kuwait: from left, Aseel al-Awadi, Rola Dashti, Salwa al-Jassar and Massouma al-Mubarak. Women gained the right to vote and run for office in 2005. DUBAI (IPS) — Despite the reappointment of the Kuwaiti ruler's nephew as premier, the results of last week's elections here...Israel abuzz with Obama Plan rumors
JERUSALEM — The Middle East has been abuzz in anticipation of the peace plan U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil in Cairo next month. Some who can't wait to hear official details have extracted what they claim is a preview of it, reported today in Israeli newspapers and the London-based Al-Quds...Hamas condemns Palestinian cabinet
The Palestinian Hamas faction that governs Gaza has condemned the appointment of a new government by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad holds a news conference after the first cabinet meeting of the new Palestinian government in the West Bank city of Ramallah May...
Understanding Lebanon’s elections
May 23rd, 20090 In the Middle East, there are "elections" and there are elections. The majority, when they do occur, invariably fall under the first category. There are a few, however, that fall under the second — transparent, legitimate, meaningful contests that have both domestic and regional implications. Lebanese President Michel......
Egypt tycoon gets death for singer’s slaying
A real estate mogul with ties to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son was sentenced to death this week for ordering the slaying of a Lebanese pop star in a case that sparked a media frenzy in a country where the elite is often perceived as being above the law. Egyptian construction magnate Hesham Talaat Moustafa (C) leaves the...Hamas against Zionism, not Judaism
GAZA CITY (IPS) — A founding member of Hamas says he hates all weapons and insists that his organization is not anti-Jewish. A Palestinian holds a symbolic key during a Nakba rally in the West Bank city of Nablus May 14, 2009. Palestinians will mark "Nakba", or "Catastrophe", on May 15 to commemorate the time when hundreds of......
Families down to a meal a day
May 16th, 20090 Palestinian refugees in Gaza. GAZA CITY (IPS) — Um Abdullah cannot remember the last time she was able to feed meat to her eight children. She does know that for the past week the single meal she cooked for them each day consisted only of lentils. And that on one day, she had received aid coupons from the United Nations,...Cronyism all the way
RAMALLAH — Mahmoud Al-Abed, 26, has given up trying to secure the passport that would allow him to travel outside of the Gaza Strip to continue his higher education in a Malaysian university. Like many Palestinians in Gaza, Al-Abed doesn't have a passport because they are supposed to be sent from Ramallah and, due to disputes with the......
