The UK treasury will introduce in line with EU policy customs duties on Israeli goods produced in settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Treasury reaffirmed that the Occupied Palestinian territories are not part of the State of Israel, that Israel routinely and repeatedly fails to answer the direct question regarding the origin of goods, and that Customs & Excise have begun issuing duty demands to UK importers where goods are suspected to be have originated in the settlements. Read more about UK to impose duties on Israeli goods from Israeli settlements
Leading pro-Israeli organizations in the United States have pointedly refused to condemn Ariel Sharon’s inclusion in his new government of the National Union alliance parties whose members ran for election on a platform openly advocating the “transfer” – or ethnic cleansing – of the Palestinians. EI’s Ali Abunimah phoned up the leading US pro-israel groups, AIPAC and ADL to find out why they were remaining silent about policies that fit the international legal definition of genocide. Read more about AIPAC, ADL refuse to condemn inclusion of ethnic cleansers in new Israel government
“The Bush administration’s alignment with Sharon delights many of its strongest supporters, especially evangelical Christians, and a large part of organized American Jewry, according to leaders in both groups.” The Washington Post’s Robert G. Kaiser offers an in-depth analysis of the political and ideological dimensions of the Bush-Sharon worldview, and the role of pro-Likud neoconservatives in shaping the Middle East map. Read more about Bush and Sharon nearly identical on Mideast policy
Ariel Sharon yesterday dismissed European peace efforts as anti-Israeli and said only the US matters in deciding the fate of the Palestinians. The prime minister’s comments followed an interview with Newsweek magazine released yesterday in which he was asked about the efforts of the Quartet - the US, UN, EU and Russia - to map out a road to peace. “Oh, the quartet is nothing! Don’t take it seriously! There is [another] plan that will work,” he said. Chris McGreal reports in the Guardian.Read more about Sharon derides EU peace efforts
Bernard Lewis
Veteran analyst Lamis Andoni examines the views of Bernard Lewis, the man who coined the phrase “clash of civilisations” and inspiration for much of the current US administration’s Middle East policy, in this article based on her UC Berkeley course, “The War on Terrorism: The US, Islam and the Arab World”. Read more about Bernard Lewis: In the service of empire
Issam Nashashibi
Two prominent African American members of Congress lost their primary bids for re-election in 2002. Their defeats were widely attributed to the influence of AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby group in Washington, which was angered by positions they had taken in support of Palestinian human rights. Issam Nashashibi, in this contribution to EI, writes that while the US and Arab press continue to mythologize AIPAC’s power and invincibility, the lobby’s influence is often exaggerated. This, he argues, means that there are good prospects for Arab Americans to play a bigger role in shaping debate and policy in US politics. Read more about AIPAC's power is often overrated
Following the launch of “Campus Watch”, a new Daniel Pipes project to monitor the views of Middle East Studies lecturers on campuses, EI’s Nigel Parry interviewed academic Hamid Dabashi about how he felt to be one of the professors on which a “dossier” had been opened. Read more about Campus Watch: Interview with Prof. Hamid Dabashi
Following the launch of “Campus Watch”, a new Daniel Pipes project to monitor the views of Middle East Studies lecturers on campuses, EI’s Nigel Parry interviewed academic Joseph Massad about how he felt to be one of the professors on which a “dossier” had been opened. Read more about Campus Watch: Interview with Prof. Joseph Massad
As overseas students have trouble getting visas and special interest groups target academics who speak their minds, Abdelwahab El-Affendi argues that American academia is one of the victims of September 11 in the following article in The Daily Star.Read more about American academia may be principal casualty of Sept. 11
Following the launch of “Campus Watch”, a new Daniel Pipes project to monitor the views of Middle East Studies lecturers on campuses, EI’s Nigel Parry interviewed academic M. Shahid Alam about how he felt to be one of the professors on which a “dossier” had been opened. Read more about Campus Watch: Interview with Prof. M. Shahid Alam
