The Middle East articles from April 2006

The Middle East archives from April 2006

Editorial comment.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Editorial)
April 1, 2006... AS THE MIDDLE EAST WENT TO press Israelis were gearing up for parliamentary elections on 28 March. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given his personal endorsement to Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Kadima). Speaking to the...

Hamas v. Fatah: the new brooms of Hamas versus the old guard of Fatah--the transfer of power has begun and all the signs are that it will not go smoothly.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
April 1, 2006... HAMAS' TRIUMPH IN THE PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENTARY elections in January, soundly defeating the mainstream Fatah movement that has dominated Palestinian politics for half a century, has sharply exacerbated hostility between the two factions and...

God's counsel as a foreign policy?(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
April 1, 2006... It is becoming increasingly popular with political leaders around the world to invoke the name of God to prop up their misguided and flimsy political policies, particularly in the arena of foreign affairs. This is at best disingenuous, at worst...

Saddam: down but not yet out: the ongoing trial of Saddam Hussein has almost taken a back seat in the news, ousted by reports of the violence and bloodletting in Iraq. However Dr Sahib Al Hakim, who conducted a long campaign against the Iraqi despot, continues to keep a close eye on proceedings and says many questions remain unanswered.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
April 1, 2006... "WHY DID IT TAKE two years to bring Saddam to trial? Why was he allowed to use the court as a platform from which to attack the Iraqi people? Why was he allowed to wear Arab headdress to indicate his association with the Arab world, and to hold...

Bleeding Iraq dry: lured by immense profits, insurgents, corrupt officials and smugglers are stealing Iraq's oil and driving the country to ruin.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
April 1, 2006... ON THE NIGHT OF 16 JANUARY, AN Iraqi Coast Guard patrol spotted a group of men stealing oil from a pipeline near the port of Basra on the western bank of the Shatt Al Arab waterway, where the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers flow into...

A stitch in time ...: A founder member of George Bush's now infamous Axis of Evil, Iran now finds itself at the axis of world affairs: a position which is making governments around the world uneasy.
April 1, 2006... UNEASY, NOT SIMPLY FOR THE VERY real concern regarding Iran's intentions towards its neighbours (particularly Israel), but also the creeping shift of power and influence from its current centres in western capitals to destinations eastward. ...

Guantanamo pressure increases.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
April 1, 2006... THE RELEASE OF A UNITED Nations (UN) report urging the US to either put Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial or release them; and criticism of the camp by government leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and even George Bush's most...

Uncle Sam goes to Libya: two years after Libya reached an historic agreement with the US to abandon its terrorist activities, trade between the two countries is finally picking up. Mutual interests may drive it much higher still.
April 1, 2006... IN EARLY APRIL, A DELEGATION OF 20 American businessmen will visit Libya, and be given the full red-carpet treatment. They will not be there as casual tourists seeking some pre-summer fun on the beach. Rather, they will man booths at the...

Any storm in a port? The deal that saw Dubai's DP World takeover P&O has aroused a storm of controversy in the United States. But it is not the only incidence of geo-political considerations impacting on trade and commerce in the Middle East.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
April 1, 2006... WHEN THE MIDDLE EAST reported on the United Arab Emirate's parastatal, Dubai Port World's (DP World) take-over bid for P&O (DP World makes giant acquisition--January 2006), few could have foreseen the drama that would unfold with a high-stakes...

UAE upscale & expensive.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
April 1, 2006... TAX-FREE FUN IN the sun'. The lifestyle you've always dreamed of.' 'Five star living at a three star price'. These are just a few of the promises made by companies trying to lure workers to the UAE. But is it all too good to be true? For...

Coming out of woods? Istanbul's crowded markets these days, long gone are the times when prices rose on an almost daily basis, while watching exchange rates was a national obsession on a par with watching lottery numbers. Jon Gorvett reports from Istanbul.
April 1, 2006... SINCE THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT took office in 2002, inflation has fallen from 80% to around 10%, while slashing six zeroes off the currency has left the New Turkish Lira (YTL) not much different from a dollar--except that the YTL is appreciating...

Water in dry lands: with rapidly growing populations, the countries of the Middle East know something must be done about the most precious of resources, water. But just how acute is the problem and what is being done to tackle it?(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
April 1, 2006... IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE the Middle East was blessed with an abundant water supply, but never before has the problem of water scarcity been as acute as it is today. Water requirements among Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) nations have grown...

AUB profits up 54%.(Ahli United Bank)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank (AUB) has announced a net profit of $164.9m for the year ended 31 December 2005, an increase of 54.8% over the previous year. Its total operating income increased by 47.7% to $358.9m from $243m in 2004. The...

Dubai growth beats China.
April 1, 2006... Dubai's economy grew 16% last year and is expected to beat that of China, held to be one of the fastest-expanding economies in the world with a growth rate of 8.5%. The emirate's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to reach $37bn,...

Full steam ahead for Egypt's ports programme: Egypt has already started to see the benefits of its ambitious ports programme but, say the experts, these vast schemes are set to revolutionise the country's trade with the rest of the world.
April 1, 2006... INFRASTRUCTURAL INVESTMENT IS often regarded as a necessary prerequisite for attracting foreign investment, yet Egypt is managing to achieve both at the same time through its huge port projects. In the tradition of its vast schemes to...

Middle East destinations lead the field: tourist travel to the Middle East is up and continues to rise. In this Special Report Rhona Wells looks at where the tourists are going and the multibillion dollar projects underway to ensure their enthusiasm for the region does not wane.
April 1, 2006... IN 2005 INTERNATIONAL tourism sustained the upturn that began in 2004. According to preliminary results released in January by the United Nations specialist agency, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the number of international tourist...

Tunisia seizes the moment: Tunisia is committed to making the most of its natural resources and is paving the way for a number of renewable energy projects which look set to benefit both business and the environment.(BUSINESS & FINANCE)
April 1, 2006... TUNISIA HAS LONG HAD A reputation for making the most of its modest energy resources. Attractive investment terms have ensured that domestic oilfields supply the bulk of the country's fuel requirements, while British gas specialist BG and other...

Paradise now: Hany Abu-Assad is making motion picture history with his low-budget film, Paradise Now, which took top awards at the Berlin and Toronto film festivals, won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and became the first ever Palestinian Oscar-nomination.(MOSAIC)
April 1, 2006... THE FILMMAKER HAD NO HOPES HIS FILM, WHICH TACKLES the thorny issue of suicide bombers, would be chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the Golden Globe. It didn't sink in that he had won until he heard the word "Palestine". ...

A dying language.(coptic)
April 1, 2006... EVERY YEAR THOUSANDS of languages around the globe are lost, leaving only a few survivors in use. Long considered virtually extinct, the Coptic language is believed to exist only in the liturgical language of the Coptic Church in Egypt. Today,...

Peace via the airwaves: two initiatives have emerged in recent months to promote the Arab-Israeli peace process on air. An old pirate radio station transmitted from the Mediterranean has been revived on land and will broadcast for the first time in Arabic and Hebrew, while an Arab satellite TV network has agreed to take part in a project with an Israeli TV network.(MOSAIC)
April 1, 2006... FOR 20 YEARS, INTREPID ISRAELI peace campaigner Able Nathan broadcast his message of coexistence to Jewish and Arab listeners from his boat in the Mediterranean Sea, which housed his pirate Voice of Peace radio station. Broadcasts began in 1973...

The Hejaz Railway.
April 1, 2006... The Hejaz Railway By James Nicholson published by Stacey International ISBN 1 900988 81 x price 25.00 [pounds sterling] hardback Winding its way from Damascus through the vast desert wastes of Jordan and into the spectacular barren...

Basra - The Failed Gulf State: Separatism and Nationalism in Southern Iraq.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... Basra--the Failed Gulf State: Separatism and Nationalism in Southern Iraq By Reidar Visser published by LIT ISBN 3 8258 8799 5 price 29.90 [euro] paperback This book is driven by a single question: why did the oppressed population of...

Jordan: Living in the Crossfire.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... Jordan: Living in the Crossfire By Alan George published by Zed Books ISBN 1 84277 471 9 price 16.95 [pounds sterling] paperback Jordan has played a bigger role in Middle Eastern affairs than its size and economy might warrant, due to its...

Victims of a Map.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... Victims of a Map By Adonis, Mahmud Darwish and Samih Al Qasim published by Saqi Books ISBN 0 86356 524 7 price 9.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Since pre-Islamic days poetry has been the mass art form of the Arabic language. Even in...

Women and Media in the Middle East: Power Through Self-Expression.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... Edited by Naomi Sakr published by IB Tauris ISBN 1 85043 545 6 price 15.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Is today's changing media landscape in the Middle East empowering women? This is the first book to address the dynamics of media ecology...

Dancing in the No-Fly Zone: A Woman's Journey Through Iraq.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2006... By Hadani Ditmars published by Arris Books ISBN 1 84437 063 1 price 9.99 [pounds sterling] paperback When Hadani Ditmars first went to Iraq in 1997 for the New York Times, she was shocked at what she saw there. Six years of the worst...

A lesson in diplomacy.(Dubai Ports World deal)
April 1, 2006... Dubai, a small but economically ambitious member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), showed itself to be more diplomatically mature than the United States Congress, and certainly smarter in international business and commerce by pulling out of...