All because of a small olive
By Uri Avnery, Arab News, November 6, 2002
Why has the Sharon-Ben-Eliezer-Peres government collapsed? Because of a small olive. It started like a children’s tale: Once upon a time there was a small olive in a Palestinian village. It grew and ripened on a branch of an old tree in a grove on the top of a hill. “Pick me! I want to give my oil!” the little olive pleaded. But it went on ripening, and the pickers did not come. They could not reach it, because the settlers had set up two mobile homes on the hill, and the whole area became a “security region” of this outpost. When the owners of the grove approached, the settlers cursed them, beat them up and started shooting. This happened at dozens of locations all over the West Bank.

Goodbye and Good Riddance: The End of the Two-State Solution
By Will Youmans, Palestine Chronicle, November 4, 2002 
BERKELEY (PC) - Recent political developments in the Israeli government point to a larger trend--the demise of two states as a viable option for peace in Israel-Palestine. This may open up an opportunity for a movement based on addressing the core issues of the conflict, and to reaching a truly historic solution in the form of one democratic, secular state--an old PLO position worth resuscitation.

Not all Americans are the same
By Jaser Al-Jaser/Al-Jazirah, Arab News, November 5, 2002
What is it that drives a young person in Australia, Britain or another European country to come out in the streets to protest a war against Iraq? And what is it that makes an American demonstrator protest against his or her government and the country’s elected president? The only reason that makes these people do what they do is the unity of mankind. Their action is a reply to those who believe in the clash of civilizations that humanity is one. The protesters who reject war do not do this because Iraq is the targeted party but because they feel they are part of the human race and that the affiliation requires them to stand up to aggressive tendencies and to act to prevent harm being inflicted upon fellow human beings.

Your New Enemies
By Said Shirazi, Dissident Voice, November 3, 2002
As the U.S. debates war against Iraq in response to the actions of Saudi exiles who were trained by Pakistan and harbored in Afghanistan, it is worth taking a moment to examine the ability of Washington’s decision makers to distinguish one Middle Eastern nation from another.  To do this, one might revisit the most recent foreign policy must-read, an academic work well stocked with charts and graphs of projected data which is presently being assigned in top international relations programs all over the country, Samuel Huntington’s 1996 text The Clash of Civilizations and The Remaking of World Order. Huntington’s thesis is that post-Cold War conflicts will be between civilizations rather than nations or ideologies.  He divides the world into “seven or eight” major civilizations, the ambiguity being one of the book’s few charming moments until you learn it’s because he can’t make up his mind whether Africa has any real civilization of its own or is simply half Islamic and half post-colonial.  The seven others are Western, Latin American, “Orthodox” (Russian), Islamic, Hindu, “Sinic” (Chinese) and Japanese.  Jewish and Buddhist civilization are considered to be separate entities but are dismissed because they don’t control large territories.

Hidden Islam: Beneath the Western stereotypes lies a rich cultural heritage
By Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle, November 3, 2002
The tragedy of Saddam Hussein is more than just a tragedy of war and killing and suffering. It's a tragedy of imagery and information. For more than 20 years, Hussein has been the only Iraqi that Americans have really known. While we learn everything there is to know about his madness and personal habits (his ex-mistress told ABC recently that Hussein dyes his hair, regularly uses Viagra and wears relaxation masks to reduce wrinkles), the rest of Iraq remains much of a mystery. Three years ago, when the great Iraqi poet Abdul Wahab al-Bayati died at age 73, the nightly TV news programs in the United States ignored it. Al- Bayati was one of the Muslim world's greatest living poets, a man who could write about love and passion and betrayal with poignancy and verve, as in his poem "Secret of Fire".

What do Arabs think about?
By Dr. James Zogby, Arab News, November 6, 2002
To the anti-Arab polemicists of the world, the answer is simple: the Arabs are driven by their hatred of Israel and the West. Three decades ago, Golda Meir, then prime minister of Israel, captured the racism and perverse self-absorption inherent in this view when she observed that she pitied the Arabs because while Israelis had fun, enjoyed life and created art and music, all the Arabs did was hate and make war. The tragedy, of course, is that after decades of anti-Arab public relations propaganda this racist view of the Arab world has taken hold. When we have conducted focus groups in the United States ordinary Americans often ask the question about the Arabs, “Are they like us?”.

Why Are Our Troops Training With Accused War Criminals?
By Sherri Muzher, Palestine Chronicle, November 5, 2002
MASON, Michigan (PC) - Amnesty International finally came out with a long-awaited report about the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF) war crimes during attacks on the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin and the West Bank city of Nablus earlier this year. But I've seen these reports before and what got my attention was a report by USA Today discussing Israel's secret key role in U.S. preparations for possible war with Iraq by helping to train soldiers and Marines for urban warfare - this according to U.S. Defense and intelligence officials.

Because of the stammering
By Shimon Peres, Ha'aretz, November 6, 2002 
When the nation has people hungry for bread, the social issue must be at the top of our agenda. But it is impossible to correct the social situation without correcting the economy itself. As long as investments in Israel are not renewed and tourists don't come back, as long as the flow of capital out of Israel isn't stopped and budgets are disbursed according to parochial demands, the economy will not recover. And as long as the security situation is unstable, the basic conditions for social and economic deterioration will not change.