The Middle East articles from March 2005

The Middle East archives from March 2005

Comment: these are eventful times in the Middle East and not without optimism in some quarters.
March 1, 2005... FOLLOWING THE MEETING BETWEEN THE NEWLY-ELECTED President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Sharm el Sheikh last month, it seems the moribund US-sponsored Road Map peace initiative will...

On the road again.(Cover Story)
March 1, 2005... Most international observers had written off the US-sponsored Road Map to peace as being dead in the water, long ago. However, the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004 brought about a series of changes, not least democratic elections in...

A blow for democracy: Adel Darwish reports on the Iraqi elections, the results, and the shape of things to come as the Iraqi people begin to put the past behind them.(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... THE RESULTS OF IRAQ'S FIRST FREE and democratic vote delivered a clear three-pronged message from the electorate. Despite enduring one of the bloodiest insurgences since the invasion, and repeated assassination threats by terrorists against...

Condoleezza's crusade: the arrival of newly appointed American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, breathed new life into the Middle East peace process, with her commitment to an independent Palestinian state.(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... IN HER WHIRLWIND TOUR OF EUROPE and the Levant in February Ms Rice brought a clear message: America's allies can no longer enjoy American protection while thwarting American purposes. These purposes are attaining peace and defeating...

Stepping backwards into the future?(Women In Iraq)
March 1, 2005... Iraqi women were oppressed by Saddam Hussein--in exactly the same way as men for most of the former president's rule--afraid to speak out against the regime and ever watchful of their actions lest they should be misinterpreted as being...

The European connection: there are no accurate figures of how many foreign fighters have joined the insurgents in Iraq, although some believe tens of thousands are operating there. Many of them--according to recent reports--were recruited in key European cities. What happens when they begin to return home?(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... FRENCH AND GERMAN ANTI-TERRORIST authorities have rolled up what they allege were operations smuggling Islamic militants to Iraq to join the insurgency against the US-led occupation. The French have also identified three citizens who were...

Are the neocons slipping into extinction? The power of the neo-conservatives (neocons), which so characterised President George W. Bush's first four years in office, is on the wane.(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... WHEN DISCUSSION TURNS TO the war in Iraq (as it inevitably does these days), its justification and wisdom, the role of the neo-conservatives (neocons), the Washington think-tank that has manoeuvred itself into a position of influence, is often...

Trading in human misery: the trafficking of children is a growing problem in Yemen, with immoral and unprincipled "dealers" making money out of smuggling children across the border into remote areas of Saudi Arabia.(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO) reports that more than 1.2m children are trafficked every year worldwide, many of them ending up being used as forced labour or for sexual exploitation. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has...

Nuclear nightmare: US holds mysterious Israeli in global hunt for renegade bomb salesmen.(Current Affairs)
March 1, 2005... THE WORLDWIDE AMERICAN INVESTIGATION into the nuclear black market run by the renegade godfather of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, Abdul Qadeer Khan, is grinding to a halt because the governments of various countries implicated in the clandestine...

The right to bear arms: Peter Willems reports from Sana'a on the traditional Yemeni obsession with weaponry, its inherent dangers, and recent attempts to foster control by a policy of providing information and education.(Yemen)
March 1, 2005... SOMETHING NEW AND UNIQUE can be seen along roads in major cities in Yemen. Dar Al Salaam (The House of Peace), which was established in 1997 to fight for gun control--has put up billboards calling on the people to stop carrying guns and using...

Security crucial to economic prosperity.(Business & Finance)
March 1, 2005... The Middle East and North Africa, led by oil-exporters, is growing at a brisk pace--recording the strongest economic performance since 1991. But the near-term prospects for this resource rich region, which is home to almost 500m people, will...

Green generation forges ahead: visitors to this month's Middle East Electricity Exhibition and Conference 2005 (MEE05), taking place 6-9 March at Dubai's International Conference Centre (formerly DWTC), will notice the high importance given to the renewable energy sector.(Business & Finance)
March 1, 2005... THE REASONS FOR THE REGION INCREASINGLY turning to 'green' solutions to generate more of its energy requirements are clear, and similar to the reasons most regions of the world are embracing renewable energy technologies. China, for...

Iran: credit cards within six months.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... * The Iranian president's advisor and secretary of the supreme council for information dissemination, Nasrollah Jahangard, has announced that various types of electronic services, particularly electronic money, will be offered in Iran this...

Arab traffic jam: road traffic accidents are costing Arab states billions of dollars annually, not to mention the catastrophic loss of life. Now, from Morocco to the UAE, governments are grappling to reduce the region's notoriously high rate of traffic fatalities.(Business & Finance)
March 1, 2005... EVERY YEAR, STATISTICIANS IN THE Department of Neurosciences at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh record a grim list of deaths. The list does not represent victims of terrorism, or soldiers fallen in battle. Rather, it is a total of the...

Tunisia: ALSTOM signs two contracts worth 91m [euro].(ALSTOM Signaling Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... * TRANSTU (formerly SMLT), the company in charge of the Tunis light metro system, has awarded ALSTOM two contracts worth a total of 9m [euro] for the supply of 30 CITADIS tramways and infrastructure work for the city of Tunis. The first...

Tackling economic reform.(Syria)
March 1, 2005... Syria's President Bashar Al Assad promised widespread political and economic reform when he succeeded his father in 2000. But four years on, although there has been limited liberalisation in the banking sector, the pace of progress seems to...

Qatar signs $900m deal for vessels.(Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited)(Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited)
March 1, 2005... * The Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited (Nakilat) and Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (OSG)joint venture and Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited (II) (QGII) have signed agreements with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries for...

Al Jazeera: a brand recognized the world over.(Corporate Statement)
March 1, 2005... "It has been long time in coming," quipped a US journalist who has been following Al Jazeera Channel with a keen eye for the past few years. "I am not so sure whether it is yet another manifestation of its professional swashbuckling bravado, or...

New oil finds boost potential but not production: estimates of Iran's oil reserves have risen from 90bn barrels to 132bn barrels over the past year, equivalent to around 10% of total global crude reserves, yet doubt remains that new discoveries will result in higher production levels.(Iran)
March 1, 2005... THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT HOPES TO double oil production capacity to 8m barrels a day (b/d) by 2020 and this does not seem overly ambitious considering the country's output peaked at 6m b/d in 1974. However, Tehran is still struggling to entice...

BMI Board approves key appointments.(BankMuscat International)(Sheikh AbdulMalik bin Abdullah Al Khalili)(Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... * The Board of Directors of BankMuscat International (BMI), Bahrain, has unanimously approved Sheikh AbdulMalik bin Abdullah Al Khalili, as chairman of BMI Bahrain, and Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al Mashani, as deputy chairman. Sheikh...

Turks.(Turks: A Journey of a thousand years 600-1600 exhibition)
March 1, 2005... As Turkey anticipates joining the European Union, the country's culture minister, Erkan Mumcu, said he hoped the London exhibition, Turks: A Journey of a thousand years 600-1600, would help showcase his homeland's diverse culture, uniquely...

Arak.(liquor)
March 1, 2005... POEMS WERE WRITTEN ABOUT IT, songs sung about its silky flavour and some connoisseurs even compared it to a beautiful woman. Chilled by war and torn apart by sectarian strife, arak, one of Lebanon's most prized leisure drinks, degenerated into...

Still in with a chance: an Israeli football team in the 2006 World Cup finals would raise a series of dilemmas for the hosts and other participants, but the prospect is far from remote.
March 1, 2005... LIKE FOOTBALL HEAVYWEIGHTS AND World Cup regulars France and the Republic of Ireland, Israel have taken eight points from their opening four matches in World Cup European Qualifying Group Four. Could Israel be on its way to their second...

Art as investment: in these uncertain days of boom and bust, Pat Lancaster talked to Brian MacDermot, chairman of London's Mathaf Gallery, which has specialised in paintings of Arabia for 30 years, about art as investment.(Mosaic)
March 1, 2005... PROPERTY, OIL, AND COFFEE--ALL have seen vast changes of fortune over the past decade in international stock market boom and bust cycles; it is becoming increasingly difficult to know where to invest money these days, there are, it seems, no...

Six Days: How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East.(Books in Brief)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... SIX DAYS How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East By Jeremy Bowen published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd ISBN 0 7434 4969 x price 7.99 [pounds sterling] paperback The Six-Day War was an extraordinary human drama sweeping up a...

The Abu Ghraib Investigations: The Official Reports of the Independent Panel and the Pentagon on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq.(Books in Brief)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... THE ABU GHRAIB INVESTIGATIONS The Official Reports of the Independent Panel and the Pentagon on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse in Iraq Edited by Stephen Strasser published by Public Affairs Reports ISBN 1 58648 319 6 price 10.50 [pounds...

Zionism In An Arab Country: Jews in Iraq in the 1940s.(Books in Brief)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... ZIONISM In An Arab Country Jews in Iraq in the 1940s By Esther Meir-Glitzenstein published by Routledge ISBN 0 714 65579 1 price 65.00 [pounds sterling] hardback The encounter between the Zionist establishment's desire to foster...

Cairo: A Cultural and Literary History.(Books in Brief)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... CAIRO A Cultural and Literary History By Andrew Beattie published by Signal Books Ltd ISBN 1 902669 77 0 price 12.00 [pounds sterling] paperback Cairo is a city of extremes. On its chaotic streets BMWs driven by sharp suited...

Crossing the Rubicon: Ronald Reagan & US Policy in the Middle East.(Books in Brief)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... CROSSING THE RUBICON Ronald Reagan & US Policy in the Middle East By Nicholas Laham published by Ashgate ISBN 0 7546 3961 4 price 45.00 [pounds sterling] hardback This insightful work explores one of the under-examined eras of US...

Love Letters in the Sand: The Love Poems of Khalil Gibran.(Books in Brief)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2005... LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND The Love Poems of Khalil Gibran Published by Souvenir Press Ltd Calligraphy by Lassaad Metoui ISBN 0 285 63721 5 price 9.99 [pounds sterling] hardback This is the first English collection of Gibran's many...

In quotes: international reaction to Iraq's election.(The Last Word)
March 1, 2005... "This is a historic moment for Iraq, a day when Iraqis can hold their heads high because they are challenging the terrorists and starting to write their future with their own hands." Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi "In great...