“The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt have reawakened a sense of a common destiny for the Arab world many thought had been lost, that seemed naive when our mothers and fathers told us about it from their youth, and that Arab leaders had certainly tried to kill,” writes EI Ali Abunimah after the fall of Mubarak. Read more about The revolution continues after Mubarak's fall
Hicham Safieddine and Cynthia Issa11 February 2011
While all eyes are on the people’s revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, ongoing efforts to form a new government in Lebanon have garnered little media attention. But the collapse of the Hariri government in Lebanon was another major blow to US interests and the standing of its long-time Israeli and “moderate” Arab allies. Read more about Meet the Lebanese Press: the end of Hariri or of Harirism?
Economic dependency and an oppressive security state is the recipe that many dictatorial, one-person, or one-party regimes apply across the region. This model was followed by the once American-supported, and then American-deposed Saddam Hussein, to Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, who was first a pariah in the West and then became its darling, to Tunisia’s Zine El Abedine Ben Ali who was overthrown by his people, among others. While the Egyptian people stand steadfast in an effort to overthrow their own Pharoah, a similar “pharoah regime” is steadily being built for Palestinians in the West Bank. Read more about The ascent of the Palestinian pharaoh
With today’s technology, every person on the street with a cell phone can be a reporter and the entire world can bear witness almost in real time to what happens in the dark alleyways and secret corners of a police state. Yet even this has its risks. Read more about Egypt's revolution through a million eyes
A leaked secret memorandum from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests the government is seeking to ensure Israeli and other foreign officials who may be pursued for war crimes can visit the Netherlands without fear of arrest or legal accountability. Read more about Netherlands could be safe haven for war criminals: leaked memo
I am not a big fan of Tunisia’s Prime Minister Mohammad Ghannouchi. Yet, I very much appreciated some of what Ghannouchi had to say last Friday, 4 February 2011, to journalist Piers Morgan on his new CNN show. Nouri Gana comments for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Revolution is an export Tunisia can be proud of
High-powered Washington lobby firms have helped the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak secure enormous benefits in Washington. President Obama’s special envoy to Egypt, Frank Wisner, works for one such firm which has had many contracts with Egypt’s military and leading business families. Read more about Obama envoy Wisner works for Egypt military, business lobbyists
The greatest danger to the Egyptian revolution and the prospects for a free and independent Egypt emanates not from the “baltagiyya” — the mercenaries and thugs the regime sent to beat, stone, stab, shoot and kill protestors in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities last week — but from Washington, writes EI’s Ali Abunimah. Read more about The danger to Egypt's revolution comes from Washington
The revolution underway in Egypt is being closely watched by Gaza’s youth who see it as a source of empowerment and inspiration. It has stirred our sentiments and has moved us to take to the streets to show our solidarity with our neighbors in Egypt. We attempt to absorb every minute event so as to carry it through the years when we will be able to tell our children how proud we were to have lived through one of the greatest and most inspirational events in the history of the Arab world. Read more about Egypt's revolution inspires Gaza's youth
With the 18-year-long Middle East peace process finally pronounced dead, is the Palestinian Authority finished too? That is the question being asked by Palestinians in the wake of a week of damaging revelations that Palestinian negotiators secretly made major concessions to Israel in talks on Jerusalem, refugees and borders. Jonathan Cook analyzes. Read more about After the Palestine Papers, can the PA survive?