The Middle East articles from October 2006

The Middle East archives from October 2006

Editorial comment: despite a very public plea by Nato Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, for additional soldiers to fight alongside British, Canadian and Dutch troops already operating in southern Afghanistan, it was met with little enthusiasm as The Middle East went to press.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)(Editorial)
October 1, 2006... The targets of Scheffer's plea were primarily France, Germany, Italy and Spain who, Nato officials believe, have failed to come up with the goods, despite a good deal of cajoling and, more latterly, badgering. "We are working on getting nations...

Terrorism scorecard: five years after 9/11 the terror networks have not been eliminated and although key figures have been captured or killed a new generation has taken their place.(CURRENT AFFAIRS)
October 1, 2006... THE US-LED CAMPAIGN against Al Qaeda and its burgeoning global network of affiliates has notched up some major successes over the last two years. A score of leading figures in Osama Bin Laden's jihad have been killed or captured, among them Abu...

The massacre and destruction of southern Lebanon: Brian O Dubliagh reports from Lebanon on the human cost of Israel's latest attacks on its neighbour.
October 1, 2006... IT'S NOT JUST the scale of the human rights violations inflicted on the Lebanese that shocked. Although the numbers were immense--over 1,000 people killed, and Israeli air raids forcing about a quarter of the country's population to leave their...

Business as usual in Gaza: while a tentative ceasefire has been reached between the warring parties on Israel's northern and Lebanon's southern borders, the bombing and killing continues in Gaza, barely registering on the international media radar.(PALESTINE)
October 1, 2006... THE GROUND TREMBLED slightly and the dull thud of shells, slamming into northern Gaza, could be heard as our taxi drove into Gaza City, through the narrow streets and bombed out buildings. Donkeys pulling carts struggled to make their way...

Mission impossible? The Middle East war has presented Lebanon's long-neglected army, the victim of sectarian politics and Syrian intrigue, its greatest challenge as the beleaguered government struggles to assert its authority.
October 1, 2006... THE LEBANESE ARMY, a force that since its inception has reflected the country's sectarian divisions, took no part in the war between Hizbullah and Israel. Indeed, poorly equipped and without any real military punch, it often seemed like a...

With a little help from their friends: Richard Seymour examines the role of the powerful Pakistani intelligence agency that helped to blow the cover of the recent suspected plot to bomb transatlantic flights mid-flight.(Inter Services Intelligence )
October 1, 2006... ON THURSDAY, 10 August, police in the UK arrested 21 people on suspicion of plotting to blow up transatlantic passenger planes in mid-flight. While the majority of those arrested have since been released without charge from custody, a number...

The Assad dynasty: at a time of great change in the Middle East, where longstanding leaderships have been overthrown or, at the very least, are threatened, one country in particular has managed to maintain its status quo. Syria's Assad family must merit the accolade of being among the Middle East's greatest political survivors.(SYRIA)
October 1, 2006... HAFEZ ASSAD RULED SYRIA FOR 30 years, having assumed power in a bloodless coup in 1970, until his death in 2000, when power passed to his son. As president of the country and leader of the socialist Ba'ath party, Hafez Assad led Syria from...

9/11--five years on.(Tony Blair, Europe, Middle East)
October 1, 2006... BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair commemorated the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a visit to Israel, the Palestinian Occupied Territories and Lebanon, in a bold attempt to salvage a raft from the wreckage of the American-led policy...

Top 100 Arab Banks: The Middle East presents its annual review of the region's Top 100 Arab Banks and includes a special focus on Islamic banking, which has witnessed an impressive surge across four continents.(BANKING SPECIAL REPORT)(Table)
October 1, 2006... TOP 100 DATA RANKING BANK RESULTS 1 National Commercial Bank 31/12/2005 2 Arab Bank plc 31/12/2005 3 Al Rajhi...

Oil boom fuels banking growth.(BANKING SPECIAL REPORT)
October 1, 2006... The results of our survey of the Top 100 Arab banks reveal the full extent of the rise of Middle Eastern banking over the last 12 months. Sustained high oil prices over the past two years have continued to drive growth in banks based in the...

The Islamic dimension.(BANKING SPECIAL REPORT)
October 1, 2006... The rise of Islamic banking is the most striking feature of the new wave of development in the Arab world. From humble beginnings in the 1970s, the Islamic financial services industry has grown in size and significance in 75 countries spread...

Viva Dubai: 'The Las Vegas of the Middle East', 'Dubai Vegas', 'Sun City without the sin', 'The New Nevada'?(DUBAI)
October 1, 2006... WE HAVE ALL heard the comparisons between Dubai and Las Vegas countless times and most of us usually take them with a pinch of salt, which is fair enough when you look at the recent history of the two cities. In 1980, Las Vegas was busy...

The Gulf looks east: India, China and Japan are among the nations exploiting opportunities to trade with the Gulf and restrictions are slowly being relaxed.
October 1, 2006... ONE OF THE most obvious manifestations of the Gulf states efforts to diversify their economies has been the recent round of trade talks with a number of important partners. All governments in the region recognise that relying on hydrocarbon...

Sokhna Port: a 2020 vision: in 1999, the Egyptian government took a bold decision to create a state-of-the-art deepwater port on the Red Sea, south of the Suez Canal.(EGYPT)
October 1, 2006... LOCATED JUST 130KM southeast of Egypt's capital, Cairo, and 40km from the Suez Canal, Sokhna Port and Logistics Centre is strategically placed to serve one of the world's busiest commercial shipping lanes. This port has already begun to...

Qatar pay-deals worth 11%.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Salaries in Qatar's private sector grew at a rate of 11.1% in the year to August 2006, up from 7.9% in the previous year. In the UAE, they grew 10.3% , according to a report from Dubai-based online recruitment company GulfTalent.com. The...

Business gives Sokhna the thumbs-up.(Egyptian port)
October 1, 2006... Considerable forethought has gone into a number of commercial developments at the port and the North West Suez Economic Zone (NWSEZ), with projects such as a $120m sugar refinery and a $17.5m plant that will process plant oil into...

Abu Dhabi builds $27m air control centre.(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... A $27m contract to build an air navigation centre for Abu Dhabi International Airport has been awarded to Greek company, Athena Emirates. The project is due for completion by November 2007, and will comprise two buildings for area control and...

QNB first in Libya.(Qatar National Bank)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Qatar National Bank will open its first office in North Africa and the first Qatari bank in Libya, with the establishment of an office in Tripoli. The bank says the move will allow customers to gain from an economic boom in Libya and North...

The 'Scribe of Egypt': Adel Darwish bids a fond farewell to one of Cairo's most celebrated sons.(Naguib Mahfouz)(Obituary)
October 1, 2006... The death on 29 August of Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz generated a quarrel between historians, literary critics and Egyptians on one side, and Arab journalists on the other. It was a re-run of the 1988 controversy, when Mafouz won the...

Something to celebrate.(TUNISIA)
October 1, 2006... A JULY MEETING IN the Netherlands, organised by the International Academy of Law of the Hague and hosted by the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace, discussing the civil rights of Tunisian women, turned many preconceived and entirely...

Sovereign threads.(Sovereign Threads: A History of Palestinian Embroidery, exhibition, Los Angeles)
October 1, 2006... FOR MORE THAN half a century, Israel has denied the narrative of the Palestinian people, their millennial attachment to the land of Canaan/Palestine, the cultural depth of their society and even their humanity. Now, an exhibition in Los...

Losing Arab Hearts and Minds: The Coalition, Al Jazeera and Muslim Public Opinion.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... LOSING ARAB HEARTS AND MINDS THE COALITION, AL JAZEERA AND MUSLIM PUBLIC OPINION By Steve Tatham published by C Hurst & Co ISBN 1 85065 811 0 price 15.00 [pounds sterling] hardback In 2002-3 Steve Tatham worked alongside the American...

The Birth of Modern Turkey: The Ottoman Military and the March to World War 1.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... THE BIRTH OF MODERN TURKEY THE OTTOMAN MILITARY AND THE MARCH TO WORLD WAR 1 By Handan Nezir Akmese published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 85043 797 1 price 45.00 [pounds sterling] hardback The Ottoman military played a decisive role in the 'Young...

The Shi'is of Saudi Arabia.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... THE SHI'IS OF SAUDI ARABIA By Fouad Ibrahim published by Saqi Books ISBN 0 86356 903 x price 35.00 [pounds sterling] hardback This book offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution of Shi'is in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, from...

Images from the Endgame: Persia Through a Russian Lens 1901-1914.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... IMAGES FROM THE ENDGAME PERSIA THROUGH A RUSSIAN LENS 1901-1914 By John Tchalenko published by Saqi books ISBN 0 86356 735 5 price 19.99 [pounds sterling] paperback On 11 August 1913, the Tsar's consul in Persia, and officer in the...

Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... READING IRAQ CULTURE AND POWER IN CONFLICT By Muhsin Al Musawi published by IB TAURIS ISBN 1 84511 070 6 price 47.50 [pounds sterling] hardback What exactly is Iraq? As a dramatic new era of Iraqi politics unfolds, Muhsin Al Musawi seeks...

Islam in World Politics.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... ISLAM IN WORLD POLITICS Edited by A H Johns and Nelly Lahoud Published by Routledge ISBN 0 415 36267 9 price 22.99 [pounds sterling] paperback The essays in this collection examine the emergence of Islam as a force in today's international...

The last word.(Tony Blair's Palestine peace plan)
October 1, 2006... So, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he will work for peace in Palestine until he leaves office in around 10 months time, and after that, no doubt will be available for speaking engagements on his efforts in that direction....