President Bush’s recent endorsement of Ariel Sharon’s policies has mostly hurt one important group- moderate Arabs. The new US position received extremely angry reactions from Middle East leaders and activists as well as many European and other international leaders. Political leaders and commentators alike attacked the US president for his legitimization of the some of the illegal settlements and his call on Palestinians to give up their inalienable right to return to their homes and lands. These attacks concentrated on the fact that Washington has shifted its long held positions. While the attacks came from persons of all political colors, the most intense attacks came from the moderates who saw in them a scary signal as to what might happen in the future. The postponement of Jordan’s King Abdullah from a scheduled meeting on the 21st with President Bush reflect how this US move has hurt America’s closest Arab allies. Continue Reading »

During the difficult negotiations following the signing of the declaration of principles on the White House lawn in 1993, Palestinians tried to convince Israelis to give up Netzarim and Kfar Darom. After all, Palestinian argued, these two tiny Jewish settlements were located in the center of an extremely populated area of the Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem — The Bush administration is passing up an important possibility for winning the war on terrorism: a military intervention and international supervision of elections in Palestine.

Few anti-terrorism experts would disagree that solving the Israel-Palestine conflict can offer an important impetus for winning the global war on terrorism. Failure to resolve this conflict has been repeatedly stated as a source of irritation in the Arab, Islamic and most of the developing world. Continue Reading »

Reform is not a new issue in the Arab world. It has been the demand of Arab democrats and human rights activists for years. Most of those fighters for democracy have been muzzled, detained, tortured, or have disappeared or been killed by Arab dictators and even leaders who are believed to be moderate in the eyes of the western world. Continue Reading »

Along with a number of other Arab leaders, the prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, is expected in Washington next week. Many analysts expect the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Sharon’s plans to withdraw from Gaza to top the agenda of the meetings. Continue Reading »