http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/middle+east/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Fri, 07 Dec 2001 09:58:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1369/history_lessons/ How often have you heard something or someone dismissively referred to as “history”? In modern popular parlance, this honorable vocable means over with, finished, irrelevant. But American ignorance of history and contempt for its uses is far more dangerous today than Francis Fukuyama’s silly regurgitations about the end of it—particularly with a historically ignorant president in the White House. The problems of Afghanistan and Islamic fundamentalism—and thus the current war—are direct legacies of the Cold War. And the United States is now repeating many of the same mistakes it made then. Consider: For decades we treated the peoples of the Muslim world as mere pawns in the conflict with the Soviet Union. We installed the Shah of Iran on his… middle east David Sirota Sat, 22 Dec 2001 12:58:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1381/the_enemy_within/ Jerusalem—Ariel Sharon appears determined to wreak havoc on the Palestinian Authority. Events in December suggest that the Israeli prime minister’s strategy may be to unseat Yasser Arafat in the hope of precipitating an inner Palestinian conflict, perhaps even a civil war. Israel, so the twisted logic goes, can then help set up a puppet government while changing the West Bank’s territorial demarcation—the Lebanon debacle revisited. “For Israel, September 11 was a Hanukkah Miracle,” Israeli political and security officials recently told the newspaper Ha’aretz. Thousands of American fatalities are considered a godsend—in this cynical world—simply because their deaths helped shift international pressure from Israel onto the Palestinians, while allowing the Israeli government to pursue its regional objectives unobstructed. And indeed, in… middle east David Sirota Fri, 01 Feb 2002 14:53:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1410/hemmed_in/ Ramallah, The West Bank—As Yasser Arafat sits hunkered down in his Ramallah compound, Israeli tanks surrounding his office, the Palestinian leader is hosting a stream of visitors—Palestinian artists and intellectuals, Canadian television broadcasters, Japanese journalists and whole salons of Israeli reporters. But the guests he would most like to court, U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, in particular, have yet to knock on his door. As the Palestinian-Israeli confrontations grow more bloody by the day, Palestinians sound almost desperate in their calls for international intercession. “Due to the absence of other influential parties, we continue our call for U.S. intervention,” Palestinian Legislative Council member Qadoura Faris told Al Jazeera television. “But these calls have not born fruit, particularly in the… middle east David Sirota Fri, 31 Jan 2003 19:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/423/israels_slippery_moral_slope/ Following my last military reserve duty, I was kicked out of my unit, the educational corps of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There was a surrealistic dimension to the whole experience. I had driven a few hours to a base located near the Egyptian border after having been asked to lecture about “leadership” to 60 soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade who were about to begin an officers’ training course. These young men are the military’s future commanders, its elite. I decided to concentrate, in the lecture’s first part, on the relationship between leadership and moral virtue, examining the characteristics distinguishing leaders such as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot from others like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.… government: military middle east David Sirota Thu, 20 Feb 2003 15:55:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/432/arabs_and_jews_against_the_war/ In early February, 10 Israelis from different grassroots organizations crossed the Qalandia checkpoint and entered besieged Ramallah, a city located in “Area A” of the Palestinian territories and therefore legally out of bounds for Israeli citizens. They were met by a group of Palestinian representatives, including Raja Shehadeh of the human rights organization Al-Haq and Moustafa Barghouti of PNGO, the umbrella association of all Palestinian non-governmental organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to explore new venues for cooperation following the recent Israeli elections, in which the right-wing parties won their greatest victory in history: They now control two-thirds of the seats in the Knesset. The discussion rapidly turned to the looming war against Iraq and the effects such a… social justice war in iraq middle east David Sirota Fri, 21 Mar 2003 14:21:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/438/remember_rachel_corrie/ Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old senior at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Rafah Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip on March 16. Corrie was run over—and run over again, when an army bulldozer backed up over her a second time—as she tried to prevent soldiers from demolishing a Palestinian home in the camp. She was in Palestine as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the most prominent of several nonviolent groups that in the last year have been bringing international activists—primarily Americans and Europeans—to work as peacekeepers: witnessing Israeli treatment of Palestinians, trying to provide assistance to Palestinian civilians, and afterward bringing the stories of what they see back home to… civil liberties social justice middle east David Sirota Fri, 26 Mar 2004 16:37:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/408/strange_motives/ Jerusalem—A day after Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was assissinated, the former director of Israel’s intelligence agency stated that the terrorist threat would certainly increase. Indeed, as protests and riots erupted across the Occupied Territories and the Arab world, Israel went on high alert. Ephraim Halevy, former director of Mossad, argued it would take a while before the situation would return to the level it had been before the assassination and that in the long run the threat was unlikely to decrease as a result of the extra-judicial execution. The assassination, ordered March 22 by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was opposed by some top officials, including Avi Dichter, head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, because… politics middle east David Sirota Tue, 06 Apr 2004 23:32:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/157/life_during_wartime/ From a country torn by religious divisions and ethnic violence, Broken Wings breaks past the headlines to deliver a working-class family drama that could have been from any industrial country. And although there’s no mention of the Israeli-Palestinian- conflict, one senses that Middle Eastern politics nonetheless infuses the film in its chaos and overwhelming sense of crisis and loss. The film opens with 17-year-old Maya (Maya Maron) preparing to sing with her band at a young musicians’ competition in Tel Aviv. She’s in good voice and they’ve been waiting to play out for months. But the thrill quickly dies—her mother calls to say she’ll be working late at the hospital so Maya must pick up her sister from school. Instead… middle east David Sirota Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:50:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/719/into_the_fire/ Baghdad—I heard the sound of freedom in Baghdad’s Firdos Square, the famous plaza where the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled one year ago. It sounds like machine gun fire. On April 4, Iraqi soldiers, trained and controlled by Coalition forces, opened fire on demonstrators here, forcing the emergency evacuation of the nearby Sheraton and Palestine hotels. As demonstrators returned to their homes in the poor neighborhood of Sadr City, the U.S. army followed with tanks, helicopters and planes, firing at random on homes, stores, streets, even ambulances. According to local hospitals, 47 people were killed and many more injured. In Najaf, the day also was bloody: 20 demonstrators dead, more than 150 injured. In Sadr City, funeral marches passed… war in iraq middle east David Sirota Thu, 15 Apr 2004 08:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/529/the_blame_game/ Heightened public interest in the workings of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, better known as the 9/11 Commission, is a welcome expression of public engagement. But the scope of that interest has been severely constricted by the Commission’s limited focus on a partisan blame game. For two days of Commission hearings in late March, the public heard a parade of experts, staff aides and ex-officials talk about the failures of intelligence and policymaking that allowed the attacks of September 11, 2001. The highlight of the hearing was the dramatic testimony of former counterterrorism director Richard Clarke, who charged that the Bush administration failed to prevent the attacks. Clarke’s testimony and recently published book, Against All… government: administration international affairs middle east David Sirota Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/415/jobless_recovery/ Hassan Jum’a is an impressive negotiator. As head of the 10,000-member Southern Oil Company Union in Iraq, last December he successfully challenged the hiring and wage policies of Al Khorafi, a Kuwaiti subcontractor for the U.S. construction giant Bechtel and the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). Jum’a’s union first flexed its muscles against Al Khorafi in October, when its members launched a two-day wildcat strike at the Bergeseeya oil refinery in Basra. They literally dragged out the predominantly Pakistani and Indian workforce Al Khorafi had imported and demanded that the company hire Iraqi workers in their place. Union members also protested at Al Khorafi’s headquarters, and tribal leaders topped off the strike by threatening to bomb the company’s… labor war in iraq middle east David Sirota Mon, 24 May 2004 13:01:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/750/portrait_of_a_rebellion/ The Great Uprising of early April 2004 boiled along into May, leaving Iraq in continued turmoil. The Bush administration unwisely provoked rebellions in both Fallujah and Najaf (and other southern Shiite towns) by deciding to put down small symbolic acts of defiance with massive force. In Fallujah, Geroge W. Bush ordered the American military to retreat from that Sunni Arab city and to rehabilitate the Baathist forces once associated with Saddam Hussein to help restore order. Yet in Najaf, Bush has been unyielding in his determination to arrest or kill the young radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and destroy his militia. That determination could tip the Shiite south into long-term instability. Given the drumbeat of bombings and assassinations, most recently… war in iraq middle east David Sirota Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:30:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/790/inside_al_jazeera/ Samir Khader has covered and observed the war on terror through his work with the Arab news network, Al-Jazeera, which he joined after working as a journalist for French and Jordanian television. Khader’s insights recently landed him a lead role in Control Room, a new documentary by Jehane Noujaim about the war in Iraq. In These Times spoke with Khader in New York. Blunt question: Were you against the U.S. war in Iraq? Of course I was against the war. Imagine yourself an Arab citizen, living in the Middle East, with a foreign power coming to invade and occupy an Arab country whose population you consider as brothers, as Arabs like you. Most Arabs acknowledge Saddam Hussein was a dictator… media middle east David Sirota Fri, 12 Nov 2004 13:31:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1685/the_no_partner_myth/ The leader and symbol of the Palestinian people is dead. His departure from the political scene has far-reaching implications, particularly for Israeli-Palestinian relations. The official Israeli line for the past four years has been that there is no Palestinian partner and that Yasser Arafat is persona non grata. Arafat has been blamed for being personally involved in planning and encouraging terror attacks. He has been accused of using funds donated by the European Union to finance terrorist activity and of establishing close links with those “forces of evil”—Iran and Iraq. There has also been criticism over the mismanagement and embezzlement of public resources and the use of authoritarian methods to control the Palestinian administration and security apparatus. While some of… middle east David Sirota Fri, 12 Nov 2004 14:35:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1683/fallujah_101/ There is a small City on one of the bends of the Euphrates that sticks out into the great Syrian Desert. It’s on an ancient trade route linking the oasis towns of the Nejd province of what is today Saudi Arabia with the great cities of Aleppo and Mosul to the north. It also is on the desert highway between Baghdad and Amman. This city is a crossroads. For millennia people have been going up and down that north-south desert highway. The city is like a seaport on that great desert, a place that binds together people in what are today Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. People in the city are linked by tribe, family or marriage to people… war in iraq middle east David Sirota Fri, 27 May 2005 06:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2131/the_gossip/ "To speak behind others' backs is the ventilator of the heart." This pearl of wisdom from Marjane Satrapi's grandmother propels Satrapi's new graphic memoir, Embroideries, which recounts the conversation of a group of Iranian women over tea. The women at the center of Embroideries include Satrapi's family, friends, neighbors and the author herself. Their discussions of love, marriage and sex open a window into the culture and sexual politics of Iran. Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969, and her first graphic memoir Persepolis documents her life in Tehran from 1974 to 1983, where she witnessed the Islamic Revolution firsthand. The book's sequel, Persepolis 2, continues her tale--the years she spent abroad in Austria and her return to Tehran,… middle east David Sirota Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:59:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2174/hand_over_the_keys/ As Israel prepares to with-draw from the Gaza Strip, the question of what to do with the houses the settlers leave behind is becoming more and more contentious. Some policy makers argue that images of Palestinians dancing on the roofs of the handsome cottages vacated by the Jews would project Israeli weakness and embolden militants in the West Bank to step up their struggle. The only way to avoid this, they claim, is to destroy the houses before pulling out. Others warn that demolishing the homes would amount to a public relations disaster; that Israel cannot afford the kind of media coverage that comes with razing entire neighborhoods in one of the world's most crowded pieces of real-estate. The difference… international affairs middle east David Sirota Thu, 23 Jun 2005 19:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2173/no_negotiation/ Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sha-ron is a man of deeds rather than words. So on those rare occasions when he does disclose his political goals it is important to pay close attention and carefully consider every word. During his recent visit to the United States, Sharon revealed to a group of Jewish donors how he foresees the developments between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He divulged a plan he has not yet talked about in Israel, at least not in a public forum. "There won't be negotiations with the Palestinians about Jerusalem or the settlement blocks of Ariel, Ma'aleh, Edumim, and Gush Etzion," Sharon said, adding, "They will remain eternally under Israeli sovereignty within a contiguous territory." This straightforward sentence… international affairs middle east David Sirota Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:05:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2282/will_withdrawal_make_gaza_a_frontier_ghetto/ Now that the withdrawal from Gaza is underway, and the settlers being relocated have failed to transform their personal trauma into a national trauma, it is high time to ask whether or not the dismantlement of Jewish settlements and redeployment of troops will advance Israeli-Palestinian peace. Published in 2003, James Ron's thoughtful book Frontiers and Ghettos provides a convincing answer to this question. A sociology professor at McGill University and the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Human Rights, Ron examines two spatial metaphors-ghettos and frontiers. He suggests that until the mid '90s, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were Israel's ghettos. Ghettos are densely institutionalized by the state, since they are within its legal sphere of influence, and serve… military and armaments middle east David Sirota Fri, 23 Sep 2005 08:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2306/ready_for_dialogue/ "I'm afraid that if I watch a lot of TV, I will start to hate myself as an Arab, or as a Muslim or as a Palestinian," says Samar Dahmash-Jarrah, "because there is nothing out there except bias and stereotyping and hatred." Jarrah, 42, is a long way from her year-and-a-half stint as a contributor to CNN's "World Report" in the late '80s, when she was filing three-minute spots every week from Jordan. Back then, she had hope that the fledgling world news network could bridge gaps of understanding between nations and cultures. Now, she's given up on the mainstream press, and has decided to personally act as a medium for the two cultures she calls home. Since moving to… religion middle east David Sirota