The Middle East articles from May 2002

The Middle East archives from May 2002

Get out! Finally, the United States got its act together and demanded an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories where, in recent weeks it has subjected Palestinians to deprivation, terror and orgiastic levels of violence, uncomfortably reminiscent of its behaviour in 1980s Beirut. (Current Affairs).
May 1, 2002... The terrifying cycle of violence in the Middle East appears unstoppable. The Israeli security forces become ever more brutal in their attacks on Palestinian territory, to the point that several high level commentators, known for their...

An olive branch and an army. (Current Affairs).
May 1, 2002... The de facto dissolution of the Oslo Accords and its "achievements" came as the Israeli army re-occupied one West Bank city after another. If in previous "incursions" the Israelis had left a "few dozen" dead and hundreds wounded, this invasion...

Iraq returns to the fold. (Beirut Summit).
May 1, 2002... Despite the bad international press the Arab League Summit in Beirut received for its inability to give time and space to Yasser Arafat's televised address, the summit was a success on two counts. The first move was to bring the long-exiled...

Saddam takes centre stage. (Current Affairs).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... One of the world's most identifiable bad guys he may be but Saddam Hussein's decision to cut off Iraqi oil exports, in support of the Palestinians under siege in the Occupied Territories, made him an undisputed hero on the streets of Bethlehem...

`The responsibility drives you to deliver'; King Abdullah and Queen Rania speak exclusively to Mariam Shahin for the Middle East. (Current Affairs).(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 1, 2002... The decision of the late King Hussein in his final days to appoint his son Abdullah heir to the throne of Jordan surprised the international community. It had been widely expected that Hussein's brother, Crown Prince Hassan, would succeed him....

A royal warning. (Current Affairs).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... King Abdullah has warned Israel that bilateral relations will be badly damaged unless the Israelis withdraw from the West Bank and end their campaign of terror against the Palestinians held under siege there. "I demand an immediate Israeli...

Increased US presence in the Gulf. (Current Affairs).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... As the `war on terror' progresses, the US faces an increasing need for staging posts. Saudi Arabia's refusal to allow US bases in the country to be used as part of the Afghan war has irritated the US and forced it to look elsewhere in the...

An uphill battle: Peter Willems writes from Yemen on President Saleh's attempts at bilateral co-operation with the United States. (Current Affairs).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Take a trip from Sana'a to the Marib province and you will get a taste of the changing atmosphere in Yemen. During the short 150 kilometre drive, the barren landscape of rocky mountains and sand won't grab your attention. Trying to pass through...

Israel's water torture: bombs and bullets are not the only methods used by the Israelis to repress the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories. (Current Affairs).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Jericho was once one of Palestine's prime agricultural spots. An abundance of springs made the fertile land surrounding the ancient town famous for its oranges, bananas and strawberries. Now, all that is changing. Fields are drying up,...

Gulf states to adopt a single currency? Casting a wary eye at Europe, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council are moving forward plans to adopt a common currency. (Business & Finance).
May 1, 2002... Before the decade is out, a new global currency is expected to be born in the Gulf. It will replace the six currencies now used by GCC member states. Plans for the creation of a Khaleej Dinar have been underway for some time, almost since the...

Uzan controversy continues; the controversial court case involving the entrepreneurial millionaire Uzans has brought about a serious downturn in investor confidence in Turkey. (Business & Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Turkey's Uzan family members are no strangers to controversy. At the helm of one the country's leading business operations, players in everything from mobile phones to electricity grids, the corpulent frames of this millionaire father and sons...

Egyptian-led group wins Tunisian GSM deal. (Business & Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... When Spanish telecom giant Telefonica Moviles SA announced in mid-March that it has lost the tender for Tunisia's second GSM mobile phone network licence, there were quite a few surprised looks amongst international investors. When it turned...

Going places: Carl Gibeily reports from Lebanon on the latest developments in the online travel business. (Business & Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... Internet companies that sell airplane tickets? In the current economy, travel might seem to be a business trapped in a vortex of negative trends but, despite the Internet malaise, economic slowdown and fears of terrorism and airline crashes,...

Turkish military fires warning shot over EU membership. (Business & Finance).
May 1, 2002... The course of Turkey's EU progress has never run smooth, but a recent outburst by a top general, an e-mail hacking scandal and increasingly voluble discord between the country's ruling coalition partners have made recent months even rougher...

ADB President talks to the Middle East. (Business & Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... At the end of May (28-30), the African Development Bank Group will participate in a series of meetings at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. Each year the Group brings together about 1,500 financial experts from the public and...

Iranian banks look to private sector; Iran has taken its first tentative but historic steps towards financial sector reform. (Business & Finance).
May 1, 2002... The most significant development in Iran's financial sector this year has been the milestone decision of Bank Markazi (central bank) to authorise the fully-fledged operations of private banks, for the first time since the Islamic revolution, in...

All Honourable Men: the Social Origins of War in Lebanon.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By Michael Johnson published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 86064 715 4 price 39.50 [pounds sterling] hardback Ethnic conflict is a pervasive feature of the modern world, yet while there are many studies of the social construction of difference,...

Islamic Banking.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By Mervyn K Lewis and Latifa M Algaoud Published by Edward Elgar Publishing ISBN 1 85898 808 x price 59.95 [pounds sterling] hardback The prohibition of interest is the feature of Islamic banking which most distinctly sets it apart from...

Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Edited by Deniz Kandiyoti and Ayse Saktanber Published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 86064 427 9 price 14.95 [pounds sterling] paperback This book presents multiple detailed accounts of daily life in modern Turkey and offers exciting new insight into...

Israel: the First Hundred Years: Volume III: Israeli Politics and Society Since 1948: Problems of Collective Identity.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Edited by Efraim Karsh published by Frank Cass ISBN 0 714649619 price 42.50 [pounds sterling] hardback This is the third volume in the four-volume series Israel: The First Hundred Years. Leading scholars of Israeli culture, politics and...

A Diplomatic History of the Caspian Sea: Treaties Diaries and Other Stories.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By Guivev Mirfendereski published by Palgrave ISBN 0 312 24005 8 price 35.00 hardback In a series of short stories that both inform and amuse, the author transports the reader to the windswept shores of the Caspian Sea and provides a...

Saudi Arabia: the Business Travellers Handbook.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By Andrew Mead published by Gorilla Guides ISBN 1 903 185 03 3 price 12.95 [pounds sterling] paperback To many people in the western world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is known only as an oil producing country located somewhere in the...

Islam: a Thousand Years of Faith and Power.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... By Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair Published by Yale University press ISBN 0 300 09422 1 price 11.99 [pounds sterling] paperback In its first thousand years -- from the revelations to Mohammed in the seventh century to the great Islamic...

The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Oslo and the Lessons of Failure.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Edited by Robert L Rothstein, Moshe Ma'oz and Khalil Shikaki Published by Sussex Academic press ISBN 1 903900 09 3 price 49.50 [pounds sterling] hardback This book is an expert assessment on what went wrong with the Oslo peace process -- a...

Promises: children of the Intifada. (Mosaic).(Statistical Data Included)
May 1, 2002... It all started at the beginning of the first Intifada, back in 1988. BZ Goldberg, an American journalist, was filming clashes between Palestinian shebab (youths) throwing stones and Israeli soldiers shooting tear-gas grenades in a street in...

One thousand years of Afghan Art. (Mosaic).
May 1, 2002... At a time when much of the news from the Middle East region is bad, the Musee Guimet in Paris is hosting a timely exhibition. One Thousand Years of Afghan Art was inaugurated last month by President Hamid Karzai, who was in the French capital...

The Children's Encyclopaedia of Arabia. (Mosaic).(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Written primarily for the children of expatriates living in the Gulf, this encyclopaedia provides a fascinating insight into both the history and modern day life of the region that will appeal to all ages, despite its obvious target audience....

Antique textile art from around the region. (Mosaic).
May 1, 2002... There may be turmoil within one corner of the Middle East, but beyond the borders of Israel and the Occupied Territories, something less contentious is exciting rug and textile enthusiasts: the annual London Hali exhibition. The exhibition will...