The Middle East articles from March 2007

The Middle East archives from March 2007

Editorial comment: the decision to suspend construction work--the building of a footbridge--in the area of the Al Aqsa Mosque, known by the Arabs as the Haram al Sharif and by the Jews as Temple Mount, was a victory for common sense more than for any side in the conflict which raged for a day in February claiming 40 injured; 23 Palestinian protestors and 17 Israeli police personnel.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Editorial)
March 1, 2007... Muslims claim that the footbridge construction and archaeological excavations taking place alongside are endangering the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine after those in Mecca and Medina. The Israelis claim they are simply making...

The hidden hand: middle east tensions rise as the United States escalates its clandestine operations in Iraq to combat Tehran's equally covert campaign.
March 1, 2007... President George W Bush has opened a new front in the Iraq war, this time against Iran. The immediate objective is to curb what the Americans assert is a covert campaign by Tehran to destabilise Iraq, but the US administration's long-term...

Pots & Kettles: after more than half a century of argument and violent conflict the Palestinians and the Israelis continue to hurl insults at each other. But while the ordinary citizens caught in the middle suffer, the leadership of neither of the two groups can claim to be blameless. Mel Frykberg reports from Jerusalem.
March 1, 2007... THE LEADERS OF the PLO who returned to the Israeli Occupied Territories after the Oslo accords were disparagingly referred to as the 'Thieves from Tunis' by the majority of poverty stricken and politically marginalised Palestinians who languish...

Fanning the flames of dissent: Joseph Mayton reports from Beirut.
March 1, 2007... GUNMEN AND CHECKPOINTS have returned to Lebanon's streets in a reminder that the country could be close to a return to civil war. Gun sales have tripled since the beginning of an open-ended protest by the Hizbullah-led National Opposition...

Pending the results of Mecca: last month, Saudi Arabia brokered a deal in Mecca aimed at bringing Palestine's opposing Fatah and Hamas factions together. Adel Darwish examines the prospects for the Occupied Territories and the kingdom's larger role in the region as a whole.
March 1, 2007... KING ABDULLAH OF Saudi Arabia has secured an agreement to end several weeks of violent clashes between Palestinian factions that claimed some 100 lives and earned them the wrath of Muslims worldwide. The move is the latest in a series of...

Back to the future? Jon Gorvett reports from Istanbul, where the events of a decade ago helped shape Turkey's present and could have an important influence on the country's future.
March 1, 2007... THE END OF February marked the passing of a decade since Turkey's elected government and its powerful military began a period of political cat-and-mouse that resulted, just months later, in the downfall of the country's first pro-Islamist...

Tightening the screw: using economics as a political weapon, Washington's battle against Iran gathers momentum as Gulf allies help drive down oil prices to weaken the Tehran regime.
March 1, 2007... OIL IS IRAN'S economic lifeline. It is also its Achilles heel. And the signs are that the United States, aided by Saudi Arabia and the Arab states of the Gulf, who fear Iranian expansionism as much if not more than the Americans, is waging an...

Wooing foreign investors: challenges and opportunities.
March 1, 2007... THE MIDDLE EAST and North Africa (Mena) region is set to reap the rewards of an increase in inward foreign investment, with a 2005 gain of 95% in FDI--up by $22,000m to $45,000m. The figure, which includes money invested in Turkey, was the...

Egypt's China fever: Maria Golia examines the 50-year-old diplomatic relationship between China and Egypt and finds it going from strength to strength.
March 1, 2007... 2006 WAS A red-letter year for Egypt-China relations. In June, the countries celebrated 50 years of diplomatic ties with a gala event, fittingly staged in front of the Giza pyramids. During a related press-conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo...

State-owned oil and gas: who gains, who loses? The oil producers of the Gulf have learned important lessons about privatising their energy resources. Could Russia and Latin America learn from their example?
March 1, 2007... RUSSIA'S PRESSURE ON the big international oil corporates such as Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, along with the recent nationalisations in Bolivia and Venezuela, demonstrates how high oil and gas prices are encouraging some of the most important...

Saudi banking goes international.
March 1, 2007... With bumper oil revenues at home and sustained global economic growth, Saudi Arabia is continuing to seek out new investment options for its surplus revenues. Diversification was one of the main topics of debate at the Jeddah Economic Forum on...

Greening the desert: Egypt has exciting plans to utilise its valuable water resources to promote agriculture and help draw its burgeoning population away from the densely over populated towns and cities, using private and public funding.
March 1, 2007... IN LINE WITH its grand scheme to attract record levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) and privatise state assets, the Egyptian government is pressing ahead with plans to bring private capital and vision into the oldest business of...

Frankincense, Oman's Gift to the World.
March 1, 2007... AFTER MANY YEARS of extensive research, Juliet Highet, the internationally renowned writer and photographer, has written a fascinating book on frankincense: Frankincense, Oman's Gift to the World. The opulent publication was launched at a...

Dismantling a living world heritage site: Pat McDonnell Twair reports on Israeli moves to rearrange the boundaries of ancient Bethlehem and the heroic efforts of Maxim and Leila Sansour to bring this travesty of justice to the attention of the international community.(Open Bethlehem launched by Leila Sansour and Maxim Sansour spreads awareness about the thruths of Bethlehem)
March 1, 2007... THERE HAVE BEEN many reports on how the Apartheid Wall is subdividing Bethlehem, but seeing is believing and the magnitude of Israel's systematic takeover of the ancient city's holy relics, as seen on an Open Bethlehem PowerPoint presentation,...

Children of the occupation: another generation of children in Hebron is facing severe psychological damage as a result of the Israeli occupation. Mel Frykberg reports from Jerusalem.
March 1, 2007... PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS workers and psychologists have warned that unless there is some kind of political breakthrough in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, another generation of dysfunctional Palestinian children in Hebron face a bleak future....

On the slippery slope: action must be taken if large-scale environmental disaster is to be avoided in the Middle East and North Africa region, as Thomas Land reports.
March 1, 2007... A CONFERENCE OF MIDDLE East environment ministers has decided to establish a joint disaster mitigation organisation and media information network aimed at halting the rapid decline of natural resources throughout the Middle East region. Another...

Europa Regional Surveys Of The World: The Middle East and North Africa 2007.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... EUROPA REGIONAL SURVEYS OF THE WORLD THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 2007 Published by Routledge ISBN 978 1 85743 390 6. Price 385.00 [pounds sterling] Now in its 53rd edition, Europa's The Middle East and North Africa is a must have...

Israel and Palestine: Competing Histories.(BOOKS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... ISRAEL AND PALESTINE COMPETING HISTORIES By Mike Berry and Greg Philo. Published by Pluto Press. ISBN 0 7453 2565 3. Price 12.99 [pounds sterling] paperback This book presents a concise guide to the conflict in Israel and Palestine--ideal...

The Battle for Barrels: Peak Oil Myths and World Oil Futures.(BOOKS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... THE BATTLE FOR BARRELS PEAK OIL MYTHS AND WORLD OIL FUTURES By Duncan Clarke. Published by Profile Books. ISBN 1 84668 012 3. Price 20.00 [pounds sterling] hardback It is widely accepted that global discoveries of conventional oil have...

Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition: The Art of Spiritual Flight.(BOOKS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... ATTAR AND THE PERSIAN SUFI TRADITION THE ART OF SPIRITUAL FLIGHT Edited by Leonard Lewisohn and Christopher Shackle. Published by IB TAURIS. ISBN 978 184511 148 9. Price 35.00 [pounds sterling] hardback Farid Al Din 'Attar (d. 1221) was the...

Countering Terrorism: Can We Meet the Threat of Global Violence?(BOOKS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... COUNTERING TERRORISM CAN WE MEET THE THREAT OF GLOBAL VIOLENCE? By Michael Chandler and Rohan Gunaratna Published by Reaktion Books. ISBN 978 1 86189 308 6. Price 14.99 [pounds sterling] hardback Long before the devastating events of 11...

Commanding Syria: Bashar Al Assad and the First Years in Power.(BOOKS IN BRIEF)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... COMMANDING SYRIA BASHAR AL ASSAD AND THE FIRST YEARS IN POWER By Eyal Zisser. Published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 84511 153 2. Price 39.50 [pounds sterling] hardback This is the first major work on Bashar Al Assad. It assesses the durability of...

The last word.(Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi prime minister of Malaysia on tensions between the West and Muslims)
March 1, 2007... The increasing tension between 'The West' and the 'Muslim World', was addressed by Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi, prime minister of Malaysia, at the British-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) in London last...