International Politics of the Middle East

Syria’s ally, Hizbollah, managed to force the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France to rethink their strategies for the new Middle East in summer 2006. First France, the US and their “moderate” Arab allies realized they might have to lower their expectations… the unsuccessful use of American and Israeli power (”shock and awe” style) in Iraq and Lebanon led to nothing more than an almost total disrespect for such arrogant use of force by the people in the region… Ask anyone today what he thinks of an Israel or American military conflict with Iran and he will answer you: “They would be crazy to attack Iran”

King Abdullah decided at the Kuwait summit that it is time for him to make a decision … So he opted to make peace with the young Syrian president, while a visibly surprised Hosni Mubarak was instead prepared to escalate his confrontation with Assad.

Syria and Turkey have just signed a high-level cooperation agreement in different fields

Turkey excluded Israel from a planned NATO military exercise partly because of Turkey's criticism of Israel's Gaza offensive nearly a year ago, Turkey's foreign minister told CNN on Sunday.

The Turkish government decided to change the list of participating countries and exclude Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces. As a result, the NATO exercise was effectively scrapped, although a U.S. embassy representative said it was only postponed.

"We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the situation will be back to the diplomatic track. And that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well. But in the existing situation, of course, we are criticizing this approach, [the] Israeli approach."

The delay has brought Abbas under immense criticism, particularly from the Palestinian group Hamas.

The October 2 postponement in endorsing the UN-sponsored report, listing Israeli and Hamas war crimes during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip last winter, has angered a majority of Palestinians.

Abbas said that Hamas's criticism of the postponement was aimed at bolstering its own position.

A Hamas delegation is meeting Egyptian officials in Cairo to try to set a new date for the signing of a Palestinian unity deal

Egypt had earlier announced that Hamas and Fatah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would travel to Cairo to sign the long-delayed reconciliation deal on October 25-26.

The postponement was requested because of the decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) delegation at the UN Human Rights Council to drop its backing for an immediate vote on a report on the Gaza war, the Hamas source said.

Three people arrested after Iran's disputed presidential election have been sentenced to death, the Iranian ISNA news agency said.

Bashiri Rad, giving only the initials of the convicts, said that "MZ and AP were convicted for ties with the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and NA for ties with the Monafeghin (exiled opposition group commonly known as People's Mujahideen).

Prosecutors said the accused admitted to spying but human rights groups say torture is used to obtain so-called confessions.

Tougher sanctions against Iran that the U.S. and its allies are considering to pressure it over its nuclear program might only strengthen its hard-line president and the Revolutionary Guard, boosting the elite force's economic and political muscle, experts warn.

Hezbollah issued a statement on Saturday, commending the “positive outcome of the Saudi-Syrian summit on furthering Arab rapprochement in a manner that serves the causes of the Arabs and the Muslims, and positively affects Lebanon.”

“critical phase in light of Israeli attacks against Palestine and Lebanon that are challenging the Arab and the Islamic worlds.”

the only available option for confronting the “Zionist threat is by strengthening unity and Arab solidarity and supporting the people’s right to resistance.”

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has held talks with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt over the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon.

"Both sides agreed on the need to overcome as soon as possible the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government," the two heavyweight politicians said in a joint statement.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has been trying to form a national unity government since June, when his Western-backed March 14 Alliance won a parliamentary election.

religion is expanding, he explains. It has morphed with custom and tradition; the boundaries are disappearing.

A Sunni cleric known for denouncing insurgents in Iraq was killed Friday by a bomb that ripped apart his car, a police official said, in the second targeted attack on a religious figure in as many weeks.

Jamal Humadi was driving home after delivering his Friday sermon in Saqlawiyah, 45 miles (75 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, when a bomb attached to his car exploded, the official said. Two passengers were wounded.

calling on worshippers to turn away from the sectarian violence that engulfed the country two years ago.

Jubran, who thinks he is 14 but looks a lot younger, has spent the past few months as a fighter for the Government in the civil war against the al-Houthi rebels. Now the former child soldier is a refugee. With both parents dead, he lives in the squalid al-Mazrak refugee camp near the Saudi border.

“I don’t feel safe in the night. I always feel like a Houthi will be coming to get me,” says Jubran.

Ask him what he wants to do when he grows up, and he doesn’t hesitate. “I want to f*** those Houthis,” he says.

a United Nations human rights expert has urged the United Arab Emirates to create robust legal institutions and laws to combat racism aimed at foreign migrant populations, who form the majority in the Persian Gulf nation.

he voiced a number of concerns over UAE’s policy on granting citizenship, the working and living conditions of construction and domestic workers, the situation of “Bidoons” or stateless persons, the victims of human trafficking, as well as the Emirati public education system which seems to be hampering the integration of foreigners in the society

What the country needs is an interpretation of Islam that embraces freedom and human rights instead of violence and tribal oppression. Everything else is a Band-Aid.

All forms of censorship within "self" and "society" have to be removed because they are obstacles on the path to realization. This means that no individual or group can legitimately dominate another, and that challenging all forms of domination in oneself and others is an ethical responsibility. This Islam is a religion of freedom.

the enormity of the task should not prevent Afghans from undertaking it, as it is impossible to imagine a democratic and developing Afghanistan if the status of women is not confronted. It requires a frontal jihad – a political, intellectual, and spiritual struggle to liberate Muslims and Islamic societies from the addiction to force. This can only be successful when grounded in a freedom-oriented Islam, rather than Western models that seem increasingly alien to many Afghans.