Submitted by Brodsky on Tue, 10/07/2008 - 10:06
Sometimes the Fatwas (religious decrees) issued in the Middle East approach the surreal.
“There is an urgent threat confronting the Arab nation and Muslims in general, yet you are oblivious to it. Didn’t you notice that Satan is everywhere?” Pierre Abi-Sa’b, a regular columnist for Lebanon’s independent pro-opposition newspaper Al-Akhbar, wrote on October 7.
For example, influential Saudi cleric and religious scholar Muhammad Al-Habadan issued a fatwa demanding that Saudi women wear a full veil or Niqab that reveals only one eye.
“Simply because ‘if a woman shows both her eyes then this might encourage her to wear eye makeup, which might cause seduction’, and seduction, as we all know, comes from the devil,” he commented.
Sometimes the Fatwas (religious decrees) issued in the Middle East approach the surreal. “There is an urgent threat confronting the Arab nation and Muslims in general, yet you are oblivious to it. Didn’t you notice that Satan is everywhere?” Pierre Abi-Sa’b, a regular columnist for Lebanon’s independent pro-opposition newspaper Al-Akhbar, wrote on October 7.
For example, influential Saudi cleric and religious scholar Muhammad Al-Habadan issued a fatwa demanding that Saudi women wear a full veil or Niqab that reveals only one eye.
“Simply because ‘if a woman shows both her eyes then this might encourage her to wear eye makeup, which might cause seduction’, and seduction, as we all know, comes from the devil,” he commented.
Submitted by Brodsky on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 18:35
Israel faces several challenges today including a stalled peace process with an increasing worldwide call for a bi-national state solution; Iran’s nuclear program; and the growing social divide in Israeli society between religious and secular Jews. A two-state solution should remain the only acceptable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the calls for one state for Jews and Palestinians alike will continue to gather steam in the future. Given the current demographic situation and problems in Israeli society, maintaining the status quo does not benefit Israel.
Israel faces several challenges today including a stalled peace process with an increasing worldwide call for a bi-national state solution; Iran’s nuclear program; and the growing social divide in Israeli society between religious and secular Jews. A two-state solution should remain the only acceptable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the calls for one state for Jews and Palestinians alike will continue to gather steam in the future. Given the current demographic situation and problems in Israeli society, maintaining the status quo does not benefit Israel.
Submitted by Brodsky on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 16:17
Haaretz reports on another glarring example of UNFIL's inability to stop Hizballah from re-arming. It would be an understatement to say that UNSC Resolution 1701, adopted on August 11, 2006 in order to end the Second Lebanon War, has been yet another unimplemented United Nations resolution:
The following is Haaretz's article:
Haaretz reports on another glarring example of UNFIL's inability to stop Hizballah from re-arming. It would be an understatement to say that UNSC Resolution 1701, adopted on August 11, 2006 in order to end the Second Lebanon War, has been yet another unimplemented United Nations resolution:The following is Haaretz's article:
Submitted by Brodsky on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 13:32
Back in June, when shortly after the secret talks between Syria and Israel became known, two contrasting opinions were shared on the prospects of peacemaking. Since MEO seeks to foster debate on the Middle East, below the two articles are shared. The first is by David Schenker, the Director of the Program on Arab Politics from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Responding to his article is Joshua Landis, the Director of the Center for Peace Studies and host of the blog, Syria Comment.
Submitted by Brodsky on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 00:31
Few people can grasp Israeli society and emotions better than Daniel Gordis . His website entitled, "Dispatches from an Anxious State," brings the Israeli experience to the lay-person. Rather than raw political analysis, the reader is engaged in a real story from Gordis's life and that of his family since moving to Israel in 1998. While the Web is abuzz with different interpretations of the political meaning of the prisoner swap between Israel and Hizballah - did Hizballah win; did Olmert cave; was the return of the remains of two kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers worth the release of the notorious Samir Kuntar?
Submitted by Brodsky on Tue, 07/15/2008 - 18:19
Bradley Burston of Israel's daily newspaper, Haaretz, wrote this article about Israel's prisoner swap with Hizballah including Samir Kuntar. It is well-worth the read. The original can be viewed at Haaretz.
The pleasure that Hezbollah takes in torture
Torture takes many forms. We take it and we hand it out, we live with it and we live with ourselves knowing that we may be subjecting our loved ones to it, that our loved ones may be engaging in it, that innocent people on every side may be torture's direct victims.
The pleasure that Hezbollah takes in torture
By, Bradley Burston
July 15, 2008Torture takes many forms. We take it and we hand it out, we live with it and we live with ourselves knowing that we may be subjecting our loved ones to it, that our loved ones may be engaging in it, that innocent people on every side may be torture's direct victims.
Submitted by Brodsky on Sun, 06/29/2008 - 11:18
By listening to the presidential campaign rhetoric or watching the nightly news, one would not guess that the reality on the ground in Iraq is changing.
Security has improved significantly. Last month, for the first time, fewer U.S. troops were killed in Iraq than in Afghanistan. The numbers of Iraqi citizens killed has also dropped markedly, though it remains unacceptably high. This change is clearly reversible but the people in Iraq and in the region are starting to believe in it.
By listening to the presidential campaign rhetoric or watching the nightly news, one would not guess that the reality on the ground in Iraq is changing.Security has improved significantly. Last month, for the first time, fewer U.S. troops were killed in Iraq than in Afghanistan. The numbers of Iraqi citizens killed has also dropped markedly, though it remains unacceptably high. This change is clearly reversible but the people in Iraq and in the region are starting to believe in it.
Submitted by Brodsky on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 15:03
A faintly hopeful aspect of the current frost between Syria and Israel is that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems determined to bring the two countries to the negotiating table. Turkey has emerged over the past year as the principle, indeed the only serious, broker between these bitter enemies.
Patrick Seale, author and biographer of the late Syrian president, Hafiz al-Asad recently shared his views on the prospects of a Syrian-Israeli peace. The original article can be read at Middle East Online.
The Prospects for a Syrian-Israeli Peace
The Prospects for a Syrian-Israeli Peace
By, Patrick Seale
May 2, 2008A faintly hopeful aspect of the current frost between Syria and Israel is that Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems determined to bring the two countries to the negotiating table. Turkey has emerged over the past year as the principle, indeed the only serious, broker between these bitter enemies.
Submitted by Brodsky on Sun, 06/22/2008 - 13:39
The war on terror may never be the same.
On June 12, the court rewrote the rules for the Guantanamo detainees in the landmark case known as Boumediene v. Bush. The 5-4 majority opinion authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy concluded that the foreigners held at the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo Bay facility were protected by the U.S. Constitution's habeas corpus protections.
Submitted by Brodsky on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 09:01
What links together the conflicts in the Middle East? Isn't it, afterall, possible to feel especially fascinated by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, feel obligated to resolve it, believe that it should not be difficult to solve given the public parameters, and not believe it is linked to all other conflicts in the Middle East?
What links together the conflicts in the Middle East? Isn't it, afterall, possible to feel especially fascinated by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, feel obligated to resolve it, believe that it should not be difficult to solve given the public parameters, and not believe it is linked to all other conflicts in the Middle East?