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By Adam Johnson
By Tad Friend
$16.49
$20
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Gas may be cheap again, but the bursting of the petro bubble has sent unemployment soaring to 40 percent among Middle Easterners 15 to 24 years old, stirring unrest. Dubai’s airport parking lots are littered with abandoned cars as foreign nationals flee. Egypt, with half a million newly unemployed headed home from abroad, could see a repeat of last year’s bloody economic riots.
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By William Pfaff — Of the possible political combinations that have emerged from the Israeli parliamentary election, none will bring the region closer to peace. Israel will continue to persecute the Palestinians, whose hatred will only grow.
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NARA / White House
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Former President Jimmy Carter tells the Associated Press, “If we look toward a one-state solution, which seems to be the trend—I hope not inexorable—it would be a catastrophe for Israel. ...”
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AP photo / Lefteris Pitarakis
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Now that the war in Gaza has ground to a halt, local and international groups are assessing the needs of tens of thousands of embattled and displaced Palestinians, some of whom have gone for many days without water or power, and are preparing to send aid as soon as possible.
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AP photo / Khalil Hamra)
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As Israel’s Security Cabinet prepared to vote Saturday on a possible cease-fire in Gaza, the Israeli army drew criticism for the killing of two boys who were taking cover at a United Nations school in northern Gaza, according to The New York Times.
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AP photo / Luis M. Alvarez
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Israel’s Security Cabinet will hold a vote Saturday that could halt Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, at least temporarily stopping the assault after three weeks of punishing violence.
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guardian.co.uk
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Following previous accusations by aid agencies, a video has surfaced amid Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip that shows images “consistent with the use of white phosphorus shells”—i.e. chemical weaponry. The Israeli military has denied use of the chemical agent, which can burn skin to the bone.
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AP photo / Rina Castelnuovo, pool
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By Bill Boyarsky — The president-elect has struggled to stay out of the Gaza fight, but based on everything he said during the campaign, he appears determined to stand up for Israel.
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The New York Times
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Following a three-hour pause in its aerial bombardment to allow those in the Gaza Strip to “get medical attention, get supplies ... whatever they need,” Israel has resumed its attack, although it promised additional halts amid reports that Hamas and Israel are working out details of a cease-fire. Overall, 660 Palestinians have been reported killed, including more than 200 children.
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AP photo / Khaled Omar
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By Robert Scheer — Why is it that there is such widespread acceptance, beginning with the apologetic arguments of President Bush, that whatever Israel does is always justified as necessary to the survival of the Jewish state? It is not.
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AP photo / Dan Balilty
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By Robert Scheer — So, why didn’t they give peace a chance? Why did the leaders of Hamas and Israel not wait for the incoming U.S. president’s inauguration before mutually escalating hostilities?
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AP photo / Fadi Adwan
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By Chris Hedges — Can anyone who is following the Israeli air attacks on Gaza—the buildings blown to rubble, the children killed on their way to school, the long rows of mutilated corpses, the wailing mothers and wives, the crowds of terrified Palestinians not knowing where to flee, and our callous indifference to this widespread human suffering—wonder why we are hated?
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AP photo / Hatem Moussa
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By Chris Hedges — Israel’s siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It is meant to break Hamas, but will only breed future generations of militants.
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By William Pfaff — What is the message of a terrorist attack that fails to deliver a message? Threats and warnings are being exchanged by India and Pakistan over the attack on Mumbai, carried out by presumed Muslim extremists. But acting to what purpose, and under whose instructions?
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A new book investigates the illicit trade in antiquities and raises uneasy questions over cultural patrimony, the fevers of nationalism and the imperial ambitions of museums.
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adfreak.com
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When confronted with the uncomfortable task of explaining sexual relations to the uninitiated, it’s often handy to look to the animal kingdom for reassuringly “natural” and helpfully vague metaphorical material. Just take the trusty birds-and-bees dodge, for example—or that old yarn your grammy told your ma about the lollipop and the flies. Wait, what?
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AP photo / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
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If Zimbabwe’s Thug-for-Life Robert Mugabe had any worry about the reception he would face at the African Union summit at Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort on Monday, he can exhale. Mugabe received a leader’s welcome and only modest challenge as he sailed through his first international meeting since being reinstalled as Zimbabwean president after a sham election. Updated
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AP photo / Oded Balilty
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Egypt has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to end fighting in Gaza. The agreement calls for a six-month cease-fire, and the possibility of reopening Gaza’s borders and returning a captured Israeli soldier.
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An Egyptian blogger, Karim el-Beheiri, who was arrested with two former co-workers from Mahalla’s Misr Spinning and Weaving company (all three were fired after their arrest) on April 6 and released Sunday, said he and his colleagues were shocked, beaten and denied sustenance during their ordeal behind bars.
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By Amy Goodman — Food riots are erupting around the world. Behind the hunger, behind the riots, are so-called free-trade agreements, and the brutal emergency-loan agreements imposed on poor countries by financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund.
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Is former President Jimmy Carter on a peace mission or a mission impossible? As this Mosaic Intelligence Report explains, Carter will try to mediate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit as a goodwill gesture on the part of Hamas, which is reported to be seriously considering Carter’s proposal.
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The latest “Mosaic Intelligence Report” takes a look at the “massive humanitarian crisis” that Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker failed to address in their update meetings with Congress about the Iraq war.
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Some Arab countries’ economies are getting a boost from the rise in oil prices, but you wouldn’t know it from the shortages of staples like bread— a major cause for concern in Egypt, where long lines and soaring costs are sparking serious unrest.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flooded from a blockaded Gaza into Egypt on Wednesday after militants blew a gap in the border wall. Egyptian authorities stood by as the mob rushed to stock up on food and other supplies. Israel has raised concerns and appealed to Egypt to get control of the situation.
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Granted, the Bush administration didn’t invent the practice of “extraordinary rendition,” but, as PBS illustrates in an edition of “Frontline,” the practice has become even more controversial and horrifying in the years since 9/11.
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AP photo
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By Chris Hedges — The Bush administration has called for the respect of human rights in Burma, a pretty safe piece of posturing, but it remains silent as Egypt’s dictator, Gen. Hosni Mubarak, unleashes the largest crackdown on public opposition in over a decade. Our moral indignation over the shooting of monks masks the incestuous and growing alliance we have built in the so-called war on terror with some of the world’s most venal dictatorships.
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday revealed details of an extensive arms package totaling $20 billion for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other nearby countries—along with a $30-billion 10-year plan for Israel—with the purported aim of shoring up Middle Eastern states against the potential regional threat posed by Iran.
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Female genital mutilation, known euphemistically as “female circumcision,” has been banned completely in Egypt following the death of a girl. Although a soft ban has been in place for 10 years, some studies estimate that 90 percent of Egyptian women have had the procedure. Government and religious leaders have joined in condemning the practice.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Egyptologists have discovered what they believe to be the 3,000-year-old remains of Egypt’s most powerful female ruler, Hatshepsut. The original wicked stepmother, Hatshepsut usurped the throne from her stepson, who probably retaliated after her reign by trying to obliterate any record of her.
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AP Photo / Hatem Moussa
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By Robert Scheer — What a difference 40 years makes. Robert Scheer takes a look at current events in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from a historical perspective, tracing the dramatic developments among regional and religious factions since the end of the Six-Day War.
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Factional clashes between Hamas and Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank escalated to the boiling point on Thursday, when Hamas gunmen captured various Fatah outposts and the ongoing violence caused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve his government and declare a state of emergency throughout the region.
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A senior State Department official has confirmed that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Syrian counterpart at an ongoing conference in Egypt. The two were expected to discuss Iraq’s security. Iran, too, has expressed interest in such a meeting, but when asked about that possibility earlier this week President Bush said simply that his top diplomat would not be rude to Iran’s foreign minister.
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A number of Arab foreign ministers have appointed Egypt and Jordan to meet with Israel over a peace proposal that would normalize relations between the Jewish state and the Arab world in exchange for a long list of concessions, some very unlikely to be met.
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Free-speech and human rights groups are decrying an Egyptian court’s decision to jail blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman for criticizing Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his online forum. Critics and fellow bloggers fear Suleiman’s four-year sentence will set the stage for more arrests and fewer alternatives to state-controlled media outlets in his country.
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An Italian judge has decided to go forward with the first criminal trial of extraordinary rendition. Twenty-six Americans and five Italians—including the former head of military intelligence—have been indicted and ordered to stand trial for the abduction of an Egyptian cleric who was detained and allegedly tortured in Cairo.
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nytimes.com
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Violence has erupted in Gaza after a three-day cease-fire between rivals Hamas and Fatah came to an explosive end. At least 10 people have been killed and 120 wounded since the latest round of fighting began on Thursday.
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stanfordalumni.org
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A court in Italy will decide whether to charge 25 alleged CIA agents for participating in an act of “extraordinary rendition.” The trial, should it go ahead, will be the first to address the heinous tactic, by which the United States or its allies kidnap terror suspects in order to remove them to torture-friendly nations.
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Muslim conservatives are calling for the ouster of Egypt’s culture minister after he told an interviewer that the practice of women wearing veils is a regressive act.
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AP / Mohamed Al-Sehety
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By Chris Hedges — The former New York Times Middle East bureau chief spends 10 days living with a lower-middle-class Egyptian family to expose the side of Egypt off-limits to most tourists—one made desperate by poverty and kept fearful by the omnipresent threat of state security officials.
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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In the search for a sense of dignity, basic services and honesty, Arabs from all walks of life are turning to fundamentalist groups that have succeeded where their own governments have failed. ?I have more faith in Islam than in my state; I have more faith in Allah than in Hosni Mubarak,? said one educated middle-class Egyptian woman.
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According to a prominent Cairo lawyer, the man identified by the U.S. as the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been in an Egyptian prison for seven years. More details from the BBC on this murky story.
Posted on Jul 19, 2006
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The fact that Egyptian authorities didn’t censor a box office-topping film that deals frankly with homosexuality—along with police torture and government corruption—is probably a sign that Egypt’s government is adopting a more tolerant, progressive attitude.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Bush just signed the “Janet Jackson FCC bill,” which raises by tenfold the fines for broadcasing so-called indecent material.
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repubblica.it
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One of the most socially progressive European states debates whether or not to allow women to wear the garments in public. Can a fatwa be far off? | story
Also, The Guardian probes an Islamic debate over the place of nudity in, heaven forbid, marriage. | story
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