The Middle East articles from March 2002

The Middle East archives from March 2002

Rebuilding Afghanistan: a multi-billion $ plan: the $1.7 billion Afghanistan aid package pledged in Tokyo in late January is only the beginning. The actual cost of putting the war-torn country back on its feet may well exceed $20 billion. (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... When Afghanistan's Prime Minister, Hamid Karzai, visited the US in late January, he took time out to meet with Afghan students. "Work hard, study hard," he told them. Then he added, with a grin, "Make money and bring it to Afghanistan." ...

Radical thinking on Radio Street: Mariam Shahin reports from Ramallah on a 21st century Palestinian `think tank'. (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... Off main street Ramallah and past the presidential compound of Yasser Arafat, stand the Israeli tanks that now occupy Radio Street, the main transportation artery between Ramallah and the university town of Bir Zeit. Destroyed flowerbeds,...

Kurds at the crossroads: the Turkish earthquake and its tragic consequences, have forced the fate of the country's Kurds into the background in recent weeks. However, as Jon Gorvett reports from Istanbul, the fight continues. (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... February marked the third anniversary of the capture by Turkish commandos of Abdullah Ocalan -- the leader of the Kurdish separatist PKK guerrilla army, who led an armed struggle against Turkish rule for over 15 years. During the course of the...

Who killed Elie Hobeika? (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... On the morning of 24 January, the former Lebanese Forces militia leader and ex-electricity minister, Elie Hobeika, drove out of his house in Hazmieh, a suburb in the hills overlooking Beirut. In his Jaguar were three bodyguards, dressed in...

US arms sales to Arabs trigger Israeli alarms. (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... The Bush administration's plans to sell advanced missiles and other weapons to Arab governments, as part of its effort to draw them into the war against global terrorism, is alarming Israel. Particular concerns focus on plans to provide Egypt...

Friend or foe? Is Fuad the Palestinians' best bet? Lawrence Joffe profiles Israeli defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Current Affairs).
March 1, 2002... An Israeli party leader called Fuad? And Labor at that? Bizarre though it may sound, on 26 December 2001, the bastion of Israel's Ashkenazi (European Jewish) establishment elected an Iraqi-born Jew as its new chairman. No Sephardi, or Oriental...

My vision by Reza Pahlavi: increasingly disenchanted with the ruling regime of hard-line clerics, supports for Reza Pahlavi -- the man who advocates secular democracy -- is growing inside Iran. Adel Darwish talked to Prince Reza about his hopes for the homeland he was forced to flee more than 20 years ago. (Current Affairs).(Interview)
March 1, 2002... When American bombs were raining down on what is left of Afghanistan last November, fellow Muslims in the neighbouring Islamic republic of Iran took to the streets. Contrary to the expectations of many in the West, they did not rally to...

The tale of the paper tiger: only a few short years ago, financial analysts were predicting great things for Egypt, earmarking its economy as `an emerging tiger economy'. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way. Andrew Hammond reports from Cairo on what went wrong. (Business & Finance).
March 1, 2002... In early 2000, Egypt was being pegged as the regional `one to watch'. The respected London financial analysts, ABN Amro, said in a special report that if the Egyptian economy performed as expected, the country would double its market...

ARABCOM shifts from Beirut to Doha. (Business & Finance).(information technology and telecommunications exhibition, Beirut Lebanon, Doha, Qatar)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Following four successful years in Beirut, ARABCOM -- the IT and telecommunications exhibition, has shifted from Beirut to Doha, where it will be held next month under the auspices of Qatar's prime minister Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani. The...

Executive education in the Gulf: in the competitive world of business -- as in most spheres of life -- knowledge is power. Attaining that knowledge has become a lucrative industry, with programmes and courses finding much favour with business executives in the Gulf states. (Business & Finance).
March 1, 2002... Gulf companies are in a state of flux. In order to leapfrog into the global economy, they have realised the need to rapidly transform traditional business models of family owned and managed businesses into professional centres of excellence....

ISP: the next generation. (Business & Finance).(Internet Service Provider )
March 1, 2002... Gone are the starry-eyed plans for blazing Net trails. In a relatively short space of time, since, in fact, the heady days of the 1990s, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) market in the Middle East has come a long way. Every money-spinning...

Will Arab banks go global? While highly successful in a regional context, the time has come for the leading Arab banks to look more closely at the global picture and make some essential adjustments. (Business & Finance).
March 1, 2002... The health of Arab finance is largely dependent upon a sustained high level of oil revenues. Hence, the financial sector's continuing vulnerability to events in the international oil market. During the past 15 years, depleting oil revenues and...

A Passion for Egypt. (Book Reviews).(A PASSION FOR EGYPT ARTHUR WEIGALL, TUTANKHAMUN AND THE `CURSE OF THE PHARAOHS')
March 1, 2002... A PASSION FOR EGYPT ARTHUR WEIGALL, TUTANKHAMUN AND THE `CURSE OF THE PHARAOHS' By Julie Hankey published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 86064 566 6 price 22.50 [pounds sterling] hardback In the early 20th century, a young Arthur Weigall served...

Private Planet. (Book Reviews).(PRIVATE PLANET CORPORATE PLUNDER AND THE FIGHT BACK)
March 1, 2002... PRIVATE PLANET CORPORATE PLUNDER AND THE FIGHT BACK By David Cromwell published by Jon Carpenter Publishing ISBN 1 897766 62 9 price 12.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Private Planet takes a critical, new and revealing look at the...

Hizbu'llah. (Book Reviews).(HIZBU'LLAH POLITICS AND RELIGION)
March 1, 2002... HIZBU'LLAH POLITICS AND RELIGION By Amal Saad-Ghorayeb published by Pluto Press ISBN: 0 7453 1792 B price 14.99 [pounds sterling] paperback Since 11 September, Hizbullah -- along with Hamas -- has been outlawed as a `terrorist'...

Jordan in Transition, 1990-2000. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... JORDAN IN TRANSITION, 1990-2000 Edited by George Joffe published by C Hurst & Co ISBN 1 85065 483 2 price 45.00 [pounds sterling] hardback ISBN 1 85065 488 3 Price 17.95 [pounds sterling] paperback Transition in Jordan is a...

Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... DIPLOMACY AND MURDER IN TEHRAN ALEXANDER GRIBOYEDOV AND IMPERIAL RUSSIA'S MISSION TO THE SHAH OF PERSIA By Laurence Kelly published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 86064 666 2 price 25.00 [pounds sterling] hardback Accomplished both as a writer...

Victims & Heroines. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... VICTIMS & HEROINES WOMEN, WELFARE AND THE EGYPTIAN STATE By Iman Bibars published by Zed Books ISBN 1 85649 9359 15.95 [pounds sterling] paperback Poverty and inequality are on the increase in developing countries, forced to struggle...

Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East. (Book Reviews).
March 1, 2002... WORKERS AND PEASANTS IN THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST By Joel Beinin published by Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 62903 9 price 13.95 [pounds sterling] paperback The working people, who constitute the majority in any society, can be and...

Palestinian Refugees. (Book Reviews).(PALESTINIAN REFUGEES THE RIGHT OF RETURN)
March 1, 2002... PALESTINIAN REFUGEES THE RIGHT OF RETURN Edited by Naseer Aruri published by Pluto Press ISBN 0 7453 1776 6 price 14.99 [pounds sterling] paperback The Palestinians' right of return to their homes has been upheld in international law...

The life of a man is more valuable than the survival of a country: the respected Kurdish-born writer and political activist Yachar Kemal talked to Chris Kutschera. (Mosaic).
March 1, 2002... A few months after the death of his wife Thilda, with whom he lived for 50 years, Yachar Kemal is a man overwhelmed by grief. His feelings are understandable; few wives play such an important role in the life of a writer. The daughter of...

Palestinians of Honduras: Larry Luxner reports on a social and economic success story that began over 100 years ago. (Mosaic).
March 1, 2002... In a small, brightly decorated classroom at the Escuela Trilingue San Juan Bautista in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 18 little boys and girls gaze intently at the blackboard as their teacher, Bethlehem-born Buthaina de Bandy, writes out the...

Unveiling hijab. (Mosaic).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women." This quote will be familiar to many Muslims -- as the defiant cry of Tahirih, the 19th century suffragette who, famously, revealed her face to religious...

Where have all the divers gone? As ever, political turmoil in specific areas of the Middle East has thrown tourism across the entire region into disarray.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Many would say the physical beauty of the Middle East region is already too much of a well-kept secret. The attractions of some small pockets are, however, better known than others. And, thanks to vigorous marketing and enthusiastic personal...