Will There Be Peace in Bethlehem This Christmas?
By Sherri Muzher, Palestine Chronicle, December 10, 2002
"O little town of Bethlehem / How still we see thee lie / Above thy deep and dreamless sleep / The silent stars go by / Yet in the dark streets shineth  / The everlasting light  / The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight" -- MASON, Michigan (PC) - These are the first verses of the Christmas song, "O Little Town of Bethlehem." More than 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in the town of Bethlehem. His name was Jesus and He came to earth to bring hope. According to Christian teachings, Jesus believed in spreading goodwill toward all men. But the current residents of Bethlehem know anything but. In fact, the town's residents who consist of Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians -- often referred to as the "living stones" of Christianity -- are mainly familiar with fear.

Invisible killings: Israel's daily toll of Palestinian children
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 10 December 2002
When Israelis are killed and injured by a Palestinian attack, the TV news networks are quick to cut to "breaking news" reports. Harrowing footage from the scene and interviews with outraged Israeli government officials are swiftly broadcast, and harsh statements are quickly issued by government and UN officials to appear in tomorrow's front page newspaper stories. Meanwhile, the steady killing of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, by the Israeli occupation army goes largely unnoticed and unreported. By consistently emphasizing the suffering of Israelis, and downplaying or ignoring the killings of Palestinians, the media conveys a false impression that Palestinian "attacks" are the principal feature of the conflict.

The wrong way to fight terrorism
By Reuven Pedatzur, Ha'aretz, December 11, 2002
The army is trapped in a fossilized way of thinking as it wages an inappropriate campaign - one that has not only brought dubious achievements, but that is heading for disaster. Nothing demonstrates it more clearly than an Israel Defense Forces unit, backed by tanks, bulldozers and assault helicopters, blundering into a crowded refugee camp for the sole purpose of arresting one wanted man and destroying his family's home. Saturday night's IDF operation in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip predictably ran into complications and led to heavy fighting that ended with a missile once again being fired from a helicopter, killing 10 Palestinians and wounding 20. It was simply one more proof of the folly of trying to attempt to "vanquish" terror with large forces - a tactic destined for failure from the start.

The big cop
Editorial, Arab News, December 12, 2002
It may now seem to many observers that the United States not only wants to be the judge, jury and executioner over Iraq, but the investigating cop as well, and maybe a bent cop at that. The way in which the US took charge of the 12,000 pages of documents that Iraq had sent to the United Nations is breathtaking in its sheer arrogance. Arguing that the United States alone possessed secure photocopying facilities, US diplomats were able to persuade the president of the Security Council to hand the mass of files over them. This amounts to a severe lack of judgment on the part of the Colombian ambassador, whose country currently holds the presidency.

Whom do you pin the medal on?
By Fawaz Turki, Arab News, December 12, 2002
"Some strategists, and not just those writing in the pages of Nation magazine, have even argued that there is a more elaborate plan afoot: If Iraq, which is now producing a fraction of its capacity, were to pump oil in a post-Saddam era at a rate to match its reserves, this could end Saudi Arabia’s domination of world oil markets. (Saudi Arabia has 25 percent of the world’s proven reserves, the largest anywhere.) Why would America, you ask, concoct such a diabolical plan? Well, because it could. And at little cost." -- Consider the tomahawk, that ax-like weapon with a piece of bone or metal inserted at the top, that was used by Native Americans to fight, albeit futilely, early American settlers who encroached on their ancestral land, their water resources, and their food supplies in the prairies of the Old West. Then consider the Tomahawk, a deadly missile that, in February 1991, hit an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, killing hundreds of civilians.

Washington at war
Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, December 12, 2002
In this city, there is no doubt: war is coming, and the Middle East will be remade  -- Coming to the hyperpower capital from peace-torn Europe, I find three things. Washington is at war. Washington is going to war. And Washington is starting to think about a peace to end both wars. People in Britain, and the world beyond, need to wake up to all three. There is some confusion here between two wars. Sometimes when Washingtonians say "the war" they mean the war against terrorism, which they are still living intensely in everyday life. Sometimes they mean the coming war with Iraq. WT and WI, as a friend tags them. The most pressing conclusion is that Washington is going to war against Saddam Hussein. Saddam's solemn claim that he has no more weapons of mass destruction is a blow to those who still hoped for a peaceful solution and a gift to those who think toppling him by force of arms is the only path to effective disarmament. My clear impression from talking to people inside and close to the Bush administration is that this war - WI - is now a matter of when and how rather than whether.

What Arabs Think About Other Countries in the World
By James Zogby, Palestine Chronicle, December 11, 2002
WASHINGTON (PC) - Americans are frequently asked by public opinion pollsters to give their evaluations of other countries in the world. Most often, respondents are asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward these other nations. Until now, no such systematic effort has ever before been made to determine how Arab public opinion feels about other countries in the world. The recently released book "What Arabs Think, a landmark view of Arab public opinion", commissioned by the Arab Thought Foundation, undertakes such an investigation.