UN chief weapons inspectors for Iraq gave a much anticipated report to the UN Security Council on 27 January. Did the statements by Hans Blix and Muhammad ElBaradei move the Middle East closer or further from war? EI regular contributer Hasan Abu Nimah and EI founder Ali Abunimah analyze the statements, point out inconsistencies, and explain where things stand. Read more about UN Report on Iraq: a call to war or a door to peace?
Israel is asking the United States for $8bn (£5bn) in loan guarantees — and has sent to Washington Amos Yaron, one of the former army officers implicated in the 1982 Sabra and Chatila massacre of Palestinian civilians to persuade the Bush administration to grant the money. Robert Fisk writes in The Independent.Read more about Israeli at US loan talks is implicated in massacre
By the way the media portrayed it, you would have thought that Illinois Gov. George Ryan walked into their living rooms wearing a belt full of dynamite when he pardoned four convicted murderers and commuted all sentences on Illinois’ death row to life imprisonment. Charity Crouse writes about disturbing parallels with the Israeli judicial system. Read more about No one wins the blame the victim game
“Ironically, the neo-conservatives and Likudniks of George W. Bush’s regime who want to bring “democracy” to the Arab-Islamic world — by force if necessary — can realize their plans only by first dismantling democracy in the United States of America. They can’t pull off their neo-con artist sleight-of-hand unless they successfully shut down public debate and strangle participatory grassroots politics at home and abroad.” EI’s Laurie King-Irani examines the historical links between US and Israeli plans for regime change in the Middle East. Read more about Democracy's role in preventing the neo-con artists' dangerous sleight-of-hand
Even with my cynic’s credentials established, the one thing I never expected anyone to do would be to just make up a quote from King; a quote that he simply never said, and claim that it came from a letter that he never wrote, and was published in a collection of his essays that never existed. Frankly, this level of deception is something special. The hoax of which I speak is one currently making the rounds on the Internet, which claims to prove King’s steadfast support for Zionism. Tim Wise investigates in Zmag. Read more about Fraud fit for a King: Israel, Zionism, and the misuse of MLK
Ariel Sharon is perhaps the worst prime minister in Israel’s history, yet he is almost certain to be re-elected, reports Graham Usher in Al-Ahram Weekly.Read more about United they stand
Why did a dyed-in-the-wool military man and leader of the “Labor” Party, Amram Mitzna awaken such strong expectations among veteran Israeli Peaceniks? Why is the Iraq war almost a non-issue for the majority of Israeli peace activists? It is known that the Israeli government might use the Iraq war in order to expel as many Palestinians as possible. Isn’t that reason enough to give the subject a much higher priority on the political agenda of Israeli peace movements? Israeli peace activist and journalist Shraga Elam answers the questions in this feature from Between The Lines.Read more about They can't distinguish the forest from the trees
For decades, the unbearable cost of the occupation was borne almost exclusively by the Palestinians. Today it is falling a little more evenly. This is the grim political calculus that ensures there is enough support to keep suicide attacks going, while Israel’s collective punishment of the entire population, and assassinations of political leaders, ensure there is always a sufficient supply of hopeless volunteers ready to fulfill any mission in revenge. EI’s Ali Abunimah argues that attacks on Israeli civilians must stop, but that it is a mistake to believe that these attacks are what stand in the way of peace. Read more about On violence and the Intifada
The wheels of war roll on and it appears the world is getting closer to some type of armed conflict in the Middle East. In this environment, Israel’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons present a real but often overlooked threat to the region. In this contribution to EI, Karen Asfour assesses Israel’s weapons of mass destruction programs and argues that Israel’s refusal to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty is a key obstacle fuelling instability in the region, and preventing movement towards a nuclear-free Middle East. Read more about For a nuclear-free Middle East
The clash of civilisations that George Bush and his minions are trying to fabricate as a cover for a preemptive oil and hegemony war against Iraq is supposed to result in a triumph of democratic nation-building, regime change and forcible modernisation a l’americaine. Meanwhile, the soul-and-body destroying situation in Palestine worsens all the time. Writing in Al-Ahram Weekly, Edward Said urges an Arab alternative to the wreckage that is about to engulf our world. Read more about An unacceptable helplessness
