Win-win policy
Editorial, Arab News, October 30, 2002
As one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, France’s insistence upon the authority, effectiveness and legitimacy of international action against Iraq is driving the Bush White House to distraction. Indeed, the French stand has been welcomed by everyone except Washington. It seems even the British have been grateful that the French have been saying publicly what the Blair government was only prepared to whisper in private to George W. Bush and his hawkish administration. With its stand, President Jacques Chirac’s government has won support throughout both the Arab and wider world.

Sudan Peace Act a recipe for more war
By Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi, Middle East Times, October 25, 2002
US President George Bush signed legislation on Monday calling for sanctions on Sudan if he finds that negotiations to end the country's 19-year civil war are not being conducted in good faith. One would logically assume that this applies to both parties to the conflict, but unfortunately, Bush and logic have never been fond of each other. Washington's Sudan Peace Act stipulates that the onus lie solely with the government in Khartoum. Biannually, should Bush find that the government is acting in bad faith or has "unreasonably interfered with humanitarian efforts" in the separatist south, Washington will vote against multilateral loans to Sudan and consider downgrading or suspending diplomatic ties, the resolution says. The United States will also try to prevent the government from using oil revenues to acquire weapons, and seek a UN Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo – again, the rebels are exempt from the Americans' rules.

The army must stop the olive thieves
By Ze'ev Schiff, Ha'aretz, October 30, 2002
It would be a mistake to regard the settlers' robberies of Palestinian villagers' olive harvests as merely another serious crime. This collective theft signifies a change in the current military conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and is a revolution in the history of the settlements in general. For the first time in the current conflict, Israelis are stealing and confiscating Palestinian food. Even if they won't admit it, it can be seen as laying the groundwork for Transfer, not by the state but by a group of settlers. In Yanun, south of Nablus, most of the residents have already been forced to leave their homes.

Divestment does not equal anti-Semitism
By Sherri Muzher, Jordan Times, October 30, 2002
IN THE face of the upcoming University of Michigan (UM) Conference on Divestment from Israel, the debate about what defines “anti-Semitism” is being resurrected. Setting aside the fact that I am 100 per cent Semitic and have been accused of “anti-Semitism” for my criticism of the Israeli occupation of my people, I will try to raise some points that might make people think twice before throwing labels around — labels designed to conjure images of a tragic World War II period when Jews were persecuted and systematically killed because of who they were. That was then and this is now.

Israel Uses Terror to Derail Peace Efforts and Establish Permanent Occupation
By Rachelle Marshall, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2002
The State of Israel has arisen, but our country is not yet liberated. The battle continues: it is Hebrew arms which decide the boundaries of the Hebrew State. So it is now...so it will be in the future. —Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, in a speech to Irgun fighters, May 15, 1948.  The inhabitants of Kakrak and three nearby villages in Afghanistan were celebrating a wedding on the night of July 1 when U.S. warplanes suddenly roared out of the sky firing on the crowds below. When the bombing and strafing ended, 54 of the villagers were dead and more than a hundred wounded. Most of the victims were women and children. Although similar “mistakes” have taken the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Afghan civilians, the United States intends to pay no compensation. The reason, a congressional staff member explained to Robert Collier of the San Francisco Chronicle, is that, “They don’t want to set a precedent that could come back to haunt them for the next war [against Iraq] when tens of thousands of civilians could die.”

A State for All Its Citizens—One Palestinian’s Dream of Peace
By Samah Jabr, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2002
For the past two years I have longed to be able to spend a Sunday in New York’s Central Park. I remember it as a place where people of every color, race and creed enjoy the blossom of pink spring flowers. The park’s wonderful configuration of elm trees provided shade for a diversity of people: Chinese giving backrubs; Africans selling their crafts on the sidewalks; a gorgeous black model in a flimsy dress sitting next to a young white man; an Eastern-looking scholar with a long beard and a short cloak leaning on the grass and enjoying his privacy; young boys with kippas playing competitively on their skateboards; sporty women in every possible outfit and hairstyle, looking after little kids, jogging or walking their dogs along the green grass. It is a diversity in which I revel. South Africa, too, is a rainbow nation. After the defeat of constitutional prejudice and the barriers of apartheid, South Africa is on the right path for peace. Freedom was the first step—now the battle for advancement, and against crime and disease goes on. I yearn for these places precisely because, just as the walls have come down in South Africa, they are being raised in my homeland.