Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The

A Desert Rose Takes Shape: Plans for National Museum of Qatar Unveiled

Peggy Loar, director of the National Museum of Qatar, entranced the audience with descriptions of Qatar's ancient past: nomads weaving and constructing "portable and sustainable" bedouin tents, traders transporting incense bound for European churches, and fearless pearl divers. [...] opening events scheduled for January 2009 were delayed until March and moved to Bethlehem, after Israel completed its three-week military attack on Gaza.

A Simple Pair of Shoes

Despite the trip's focus on human rights and the youth of its participants, getting them out of Gaza to The Hague presented numerous challenges for staff members of the U.N. and various human rights groups. Since July 2009 the Israeli government had denied the students permission to leave Gaza. [...] on Feb. 12 of this year, UNRWA received word from Israeli authorities that the students would be allowed to travel to The Hague.

Lebanese Americans Proudly Celebrate Their Heritage and Country

ATFL executive director George Cody introduced Peter Tanous, president of ATFL, who led applause for the many notable Lebanese Americans in the room, including members of Congress, diplomats, journalists and the most influential Lebanese-American of all time-Ralph Nader. "Every six weeks hundreds of Defense Department employees line the corridors of the Pentagon to shake hands, hug and applaud our wounded troops, our heroes as they pass by," General Joulwan said, choking up.

Ban Ki-Moon's Soft-Spoken Approach Belies His Straightforward Words

[...] U.S. pressure has relied upon Israel's own promises and word of honor under the road map, but there is now more outspokenness with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even though not matching Ban's forthright denunciation, telling AIPAC that Washington "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." [...] the health care issue is wound up, and with Obama reaping even greater popularity from American Jews-if not from their Israeli counterparts-he is in a position to i...

Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11

Initial feelings of impotence are ultimately overcome by two bold initiatives from a diverse Albany community that has come together through tragedy: the Muslim Solidarity Committee, which gives direct support to the two convicted men and their families, and Project SALAM (Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims), which addresses the wider context of what is happening nationwide.

Our Eyes: Photography by the Children and New Generation of Lajee Center

The visual stories of hope and despair, dreams and nightmares, of human rights and sub-human alienation portray a life and mentality most of us could hardly imagine living.

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Obituaries

To many in the West, he was seen as a social moderate regarding issues of female genital mutilation and the controversy about headscarves in France.

Fashion Intifada: Two Palestinian Designers Reclaim Their Cultural, Historic Heritage

IN MARCH Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu defiantly declared to rapturous members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that Jews have been building in Jerusalem for 3,000 years, and would keep building there regardless of the international community's opinion or laws. Colorful, playful dresses and hats that signaled the British Mandate period gave way to elegant but somber black dresses that marked the Nakba, or Palestinian catastrophe.

Gazans Still Suffer Under Israeli Blockade, Huwaida Arraf Tells San Rafael Audience

Calling for a general boycott of Israeli goods and services until Israel complies with international law, and promoting a boycott of all academic, cultural and tourist institutions that are complicit in maintaining Israel's occupation, was considered the most effective nonviolent strategy against Israeli atrocities, Barghouti said. Veolia, for example, lost $7 billion when the company abandoned the Jerusalem light rail project aimed at connecting illegal Israeli settlements built on occupied...

House Debates, Defeats Kucinich Resolution Directing Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal

[...] she voted no. According to one report in The Washington Post, which cited "administration and congressional sources," the administration was also trying to include an exemption from the bill's provisions for the countries negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program-Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China-which would not be well-received by other U.S. allies, especially Japan.

How to Get Our Democracy Back

America had elected, the young candidate promised, a transformational president. [...] wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and small-dollar contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time. [...] it answers-as Republican and Democratic presidents alike have discovered-not to the People, and not even to the president, but increasingly to the relatively small mix of interests that fund the key races that deter...

One Year After Near-Fatal Shooting, Friends Rally for Tristan Anderson

The Oakland peace activist remains in an Israeli hospital struggling to recover from the life-threatening injuries to his right frontal lobe and right eye he sustained on March 13, 2009, when he and other human rights defenders, including Israelis, were peacefully protesting construction of the illegal apartheid wall around the West Bank village of Ni'lin.

Women's Struggle for Progress

"Female literacy is highest in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE," Kelly pointed out, with all three boasting female literacy rates above 90 percent. [...] women vastly outnumber men at the university level.

In the Middle East's 'Only Democracy,' Some Jews Are More Equal Than Others

[...] the official rabbi in Ashkelon refused to accept that she is Jewish, even though a regional rabbinical court, part of a network of such courts headed by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, had written to confirm that she had a valid conversion to Judaism and should be considered Jewish. Because Alina's mother was not Jewish, Alina signed up during her army service for a conversion course run by the Israel Defense Forces and accredited by the state's Orthodox-run Conversion Authority.

Irvine 11 Face Unprecedented Penalties for 'Dissing' Israeli Ambassador

Prior to Oren's speech on the UCI campus, the Muslim Students Union (MSU) and other individuals protested in the campus newspaper that the Israeli diplomat's appearance was inappropriate, since many nations accuse Israel of committing war crimes during its 22-day assault on Gaza. Interestingly, when students and activists interrupted a Feb. 9 speech at UCLA's School of Law by Daniel Taub, principal deputy legal adviser of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jewish organizations raised no p...

Letters to the Editor

Rethinking Mideast Policy Thank you very much for the articles that appeared in the March 2010 Washington Report: "U.S. Placates Israel and Opens New War Front While Ignoring Palestinians," "The Twin Challenges of Terror and Israel," "Israel Responds to Palestinian Nonviolence with Violence and Repression," and "How President Obama Can Earn His Nobel Peace Prize." An illegal war of aggression on Iraq, black site prisons, kidnappings, torture, extrajudicial killings and full support of Israel...

Mark Kirk (R-Il) Seeks to Advance Israel's Interests in U.S. Senate

Mazin Qumsiyeh On the History and Practice of Nonviolent Palestinian Resistance

Only Noam Chomsky responded, but Peters' thesis is now thoroughly discredited. [...] was born Finkelstein's personal, political, and scholarly commitment to justice for Palestinians.

Money Trail in Dubai Assassination Leads to Iowa

According to Birthright Israel's Web site, <www.birthrightisrael.com>, the program sends "thousands of young Jewish adults from all over the world to Israel as a gift in order to diminish the growing division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world; to strengthen the sense of solidarity among world Jewry; and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people."

Jerusalem Fund Hosts Jazzy Evening

DC jazz singer Lena Seikaly (of Palestinian and Lebanese heritage), with Tom Baldwin on bass and Jonathan Rogerson on guitar, performed at the opening reception.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia: A Leader of Consequence

What King Abdullah does, moreover, has immense implications for his country. Since his ascent to the throne in 2005, he has conducted an ambitious effort to effect a tone shift in Saudi Arabia.

Persian Underground Film Opens

Ghobadi, who gained international recognition for his films "A Time for Drunken Horses" and "Turtles Can Fly," co-wrote his latest effort with American journalist Roxana Saberi, who spent several months last year in Iran's notorious Evin Prison on trumped-up espionage charges.

Eeoc Says New York City Was Wrong to Fire Muslim Principal

Almontaser, the founding principal of the Arabic language themed Khalil Gibran International Academy in New York, named after the Christian Arab poet Khalil Gibran, was fired in 2007 due to public outrage after she tried to explain that the word "intifada" does not mean "terrorism."

Zaytuna College Fundraiser

Obama's Patience with Israel Finally Cracks

[...] the fabled Mossad was no match for the Dubai police, which produced a 27-minute video showing the faces of 26 of the conspirators, many of them wearing obviously fake beards and wigs. Because the suspects carried false British, French, Irish, German and Australian passports using the names of Israelis with dual citizenship in those countries, they had engaged in identity theft, a crime that goes to the heart of any security system.

Other People's Mail

Shakespeare wrote stories of deceit and betrayal, where people of high rank, meriting trust, did things like murder their sibling and lie to the grieving nephew, in order to achieve political goals. Isn't it clear to everyone by now that every Israeli government is quite happy to talk about "peace" until it has occupied every square inch of Palestinian land, and that the U.S. and the international community prefer to keep this show on the road rather than take action in support of the 1.5 mi...

Publishers' Page

Another took offense when the Arab American Institute's James Zogby (brother of pollster John) blamed Palestinians and their supporters for not doing a better job clarifying the Arab side of the issue. [...] we can afford a larger staff we depend on you to be our eyes, ears and legs.

Saudi Arabia's Royal Revolution

[...] his efforts to resolve tensions within the Gulf Cooperation Council; to reconcile the warring Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas; to urge compromise in Lebanon; and to renew ties with Syria. [...] perhaps the most spectacular evidence of the king's attention to women's education is the Princess Noura University for Women now taking shape among a forest of cranes along the road to Riyadh's international airport.

American Friends of Unrwa Celebrate New Commissioner-General

For 10 weeks this year more than 250,000 children living in war-battered Gaza will enjoy their childhood: play on sports teams, swim, express themselves through art, develop new skills, participate in educational activities, and break another Guinness World Record.