McCain’s “agents of inconvenience”
WASHINGTON (IPS) — As John McCain launched his presidential bid in 2007, he faced a considerable challenge to mobilize support among social conservatives within the Republican Party. While the Arizona senator voted correctly on moral issues of concern to the Christian Right, such as abortion and gay marriage, perhaps McCain did...Obstacles to an Israeli-Syrian deal
One would need to be an incurable optimist to expect real progress from the indirect talks that Syria and Israel have begun in Ankara under Turkish mediation. The obstacles to peace between the two long-time adversaries are so formidable as to rule out any realistic possibility of a deal in the near or medium-term future....The fight for freedom at Fordson
When word got out last week that Fordson High School Principal Imad Fadlallah was accused of slapping a student, parents and students got angry. Fadlallah has raised the morale, the standards of behavior and the academic performance at Fordson over the past few years and no one believed he would have hit a student. Sure enough, it...Sixty years of denial
"Don't ask for what you never had," is the underlying message made by supporters of Israel when they claim Palestine was never a state to begin with. The contention is, of course, easily refutable. Following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century, colonial powers plotted to divide the spoils. When...The U.S. war on journalists
Sami al-Haj is a free man today, after having been imprisoned by the U.S. military for more than six years. His crime: journalism. Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs. The principal...Let’s hope Bush does no more damage
In the troubled, conflict-ridden Middle East, President George W Bush has done everything wrong. But his mandate still has half a year to run and, unless restrained, he can do a lot more damage — to the region and to America — before he retires to his ranch at Crawford, Texas, and to the obscurity he amply deserves. At the heart...Memorial Day a time to reflect on troops
It is time for our annual day of reflection, commemorating U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. This holiday began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. Arab Americans have...Gaza cannot be compared to Holocaust
The 60th anniversary of Israel's "independence" was met with all the usual fanfare celebrating the "achievements" of the "only democracy" in the Middle East and as a refuge for Jews – Bush fed into that, saying Masada won't fall again. What was missing, of course, was the real meaning of that anniversary. It's imperative, then, to...Strategic move for a perpetual conflict
I sat down to watch the news on Tuesday and I was shocked beyond belief to see that the Lebanese leaders in Doha have reached an agreement. The government and opposition now appear to have agreed on the allocation of cabinet seats to form a new unity government that will give crucial veto power to the opposition, something that has...Arabs not worried about Iranian nukes
To make its case against Iran's right as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop nuclear capabilities, the U.S. government has tried to claim that the people of the region, in U.S.-allied countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states, are concerned about Iran's nuclear developments. Yet,...Arab opinion of the U.S. declined in 2008
In 2008, Arab attitudes toward the U.S. remain at alarmingly low levels. Concern with U.S. policy is the reason. And because the U.S. role in the region is so critical, interest in the American elections is high across the Arab world. These are some of the findings of polling that Zogby International conducted separately for the...Conquering the land: Why one Israeli writer isn’t celebrating
As I write this, I can only guess how all the various media outlets will mark Israel's birthday. As much as I love nostalgia, the compulsive reading of the weekend papers and obsessive watching of old people singing on television — I have no intention of taking part in the celebrations this time. Because I know the naked truth about...Anniversary should be turning point
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...When will Israel learn?
In present form, it looks as if Israel might need another six decades to grasp that Middle East security is indivisible — in other words, that its own security cannot be won at the cost of the insecurity of its neighbors. For all its achievements over the past six decades, Israel has failed one crucial test:...Israel at 60: Why we’re not celebrating
Between December 1947 and December 1950, over 530 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed. Half of the Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by underground Zionist forces even before Israel was unilaterally declared a state. Palestinians call these events of the late 1940s the Nakba (catastrophe). The......
Washington cedes its role
It is telling of the damage the United States has done to its influence in the Middle East that the potentially most important diplomatic development in the past generation — a possible Israeli-Syrian treaty — seems to be taking place without any significant American role. LOS ANGELES -- One of the important...Small victories to celebrate
Those advocating for issues of importance to Arab Americans rarely have anything to celebrate. In an era defined by the growth of anti-Arabism and Islamophobia in the West, activists' work is necessary, although uphill. Last week, activists fighting for related causes won rare, but small, victories. Groups......
Why Israel is demonizing Jimmy Carter
The Jewish state is determined to avoid serious negotiations. Little wonder, therefore, that the gentle, peace-loving Jimmy Carter is seen as an enemy, not a friend — by Israel and the Bush administration. By Patrick Seale Why did Israel treat the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter so rudely...What the Iraq war is all about
The Bush regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of aggression is horrendous. Official U.S. combat casualties stand at 4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq. On April 17, 2008, AP News reported that a new study...Diamonds in Dubai and Israeli settlements
Dubai is known as both a wonderland of exuberance and a stopping point for tourists, travelers and international businessmen. Unimpressed by its display of wealth and luxury, activists are rallying against Dubai's decision to allow an Israeli businessman and active builder of Israeli settlements to set up shop there. He...MIT of Middle East should include Saudi people’s welfare
American universities in need of funding may find an unlikely ally in the Middle East, as Saudi Arabia prepares to launch an international, graduate level research university. Already, Berkeley and Stanford have signed millon dollar contracts with the university. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), set......
America’s Palestine-Israel fairytale
A memorable quote in Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer Abroad" (1894) still carries a wealth of relevance. He writes, "They own the land, just the mere land, and that's all they do own; but it was our folks, our Jews and Christians, that made it holy, and so they haven't any business to be there defiling it. It's a shame and we ought not to...Will the Middle East go up in flames this summer?
These are dangerously unsettled times in the Middle East. There are so many bitter scores to settle, so much violent dissension, such implacable hatreds, that it would take only a spark to set the whole region alight. Or so it would seem. Many observers predict a hot and bloody summer. What they have in mind is not only a continuation......
The choice of non-violence: Our strategy for Palestine
Sixty years after the Naqba, the catastrophe, Palestinians are still without a state. They are living under occupation, many are in refugee camps, others are scattered around the world, and a part of the Palestinian people are no more than second class citizens in Israel itself. The Palestinian struggle to achieve...Petraeus points to war with Iran
The neocons may yet get their war on Iran. Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has "fueled the recent......