2003 was not just the year that the statue and person of Saddam Hussein fell. A number of long held ideological issues relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict also came crumbling down. This ideological climb down, however was not symmetric in any way. Continue Reading »

I first met Richard Gere about six months ago. I was scheduled to take him on a tour of Ramallah, when that same morning, the Israeli army unexpectedly declared curfew on the Palestinian city. To his credit and despite strong objection from his handlers and bodyguards, the American movie star insisted on going ahead with his plans to visit Ramallah. Continue Reading »

There is no doubt that the arrest of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein marks an important turning point for Iraq and the American led occupation of this strategic Arab country. But the question that needs to be answered is how will this important event affect the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Continue Reading »

The last minute confusion on the Palestinian side prior to the signing of the Geneva initiative has once again revealed a major weakness in the Palestinian political position. An absence of a political backbone.

Yaser Arafat, the Palestinian president is known to have been a major supporter of the initiative which has been spearheaded by former minister of information Yaser Abed Rabo, an Arafat confidant. As long as the public was not making any sounds, the Palestinian leadership, especially the Fatah central committee, was ok with the initiative placing pressure on the Israelis. But no sooner than the public pressure surfaced than the Palestinian leadership, especially in Fatah, publicly back tracked and withdrew any kind of political cover to those involved in the initiative. Continue Reading »