The tragic unraveling
By Hassan Nafaa, Al-Ahram Weekly, 19 - 25 September 2002
The last 12 months has seen the world propelled towards a threefold polarisation: It would never have occurred to me on my way home from work on 11 September a year ago that an event of such cataclysmic proportions was about to happen. It was just after four o'clock when I entered my house and switched on the TV, so that I could catch a bit of news before changing my clothes and taking a short siesta. All thought of sleep was driven from my mind as I beheld that image of smoke pouring out from the top of one of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and heard the newscaster announce that a civilian airplane had crashed into it. The cameras remained fixed on the scene of the disaster as one reporter after another confirmed that something mysterious was happening, though no one was quite sure what.

Qalqilya… Can Apartheid Get More Obvious?
By Isabelle Humphries, Islam Online, September 22, 2002
In ancient times they built walls to keep invaders out. In Qalqilya the wall is being built to keep the occupied in. Farmland and water resources out of reach beyond the boundary, the occupation of this West Bank city has entered a new phase: the concentration camp. Isabelle Humphries accompanies UN Development Program staff and the mayor of Qalqilya on a tour around the prison wall. Just 8 miles from the Mediterranean coast, Qalqilya is the closest West Bank town to Tel Aviv. It is here that the new Israeli Wall is almost finished, leaving the citizens of Qalqilya in their own ghetto. In the past three months, over 50% of Qalqilyan agricultural land has been confiscated to build the Israeli security zone. In the past, the rich water resources of the area enabled Qalqilyan farmers to have a market so successful that fruits and vegetables were exported to places as far as the Gulf.

A Eulogy for the United Nations
By Thomas J. Haidon, Islam Online, September 17, 2002
"It takes one bold act to transform the unthinkable into the thinkable, and a second or third to make it a normal course." The United Nations and to a certain extent international humanitarian law are embarking on a rapid decline to irrelevance. To be sure, this trend is not a novel phenomenon, for nearly as long as the United Nations has existed, it has failed to live by its purpose(s). The events of the past year, including the September 11th attacks with the subsequent “war on terror” and an impending war of aggression against Iraq, have certainly exacerbated this decline. President George W. Bush offered a memoriam to this decline and degradation of the current state of the United Nations and international law, in his September 12th speech before the United Nations General Assembly.

Why my film is under fire
By John Pilger, The Guardian, September 23, 2002
The pro-Israel lobby intimidates journalists to ensure that most coverage remains biased in its favour: An unforeseen threat to freedom of speech in British broadcasting emerged last week. It was triggered by the showing of my documentary, Palestine is Still the Issue, on ITV. The film told a basic truth that is routinely relegated, even suppressed - that a historic injustice has been done to the Palestinian people, and until Israel's illegal and brutal occupation ends, there will be no peace for anyone, Israelis included.

A 'liberated' Iraq could end up like Weimar Germany
By James Fallows, The Guardian, September 23, 2002
Assume the US has won its war: that's when the nightmare begins: Recently I interviewed several dozen authoritative people about what could be expected in Iraq after the US dislodged Saddam Hussein. The assumption behind the question was that sooner or later the US would go to war - and that even with limited allied support US forces would win. What then? The people I asked were spies, Arabists, oil company officials, soldiers and diplomats. Some supported a pre-emptive war against Iraq; more were opposed.

Someone is not telling the truth
By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz, september 24, 2002
Either the political and security hierarchy of the Palestinian Authority has conspired with senior American and European diplomats to weave a web of lies, or for more than three months the political and security hierarchy in Israel has been deceiving everyone - and in particular themselves. Here are some selected Rashomons.