The dark underside of Yosef Lapid
By Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, December 22, 2002
The success that is being predicted for the Shinui party in next month's elections says more about the voters than about Yosef Lapid's solo party. Lapid's supporters want to be dark nationalists but give the impression of being enlightened; to be Avigdor Lieberman but look like Yossi Sarid. It turns out that the lowest common denominator of the majority of Israelis who define themselves as enlightened, civil, educated and non-extremist continues to be hatred of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), despite everything else that is happening all around us. Moreover, this is apparently the only issue around which it's possible to build a relatively broad party. Not the occupation and its wrongs, not the huge social gaps and not our near-military regime - it's only hatred of Haredim that induces the center of the political map to take a trenchant position.

Looking at Islam with blinkers of ignorance and prejudice
By Dr. Khaled Al-Rowaitea, Arab News, December 24, 2002
The savage smear campaign to which Islam and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have recently been subjected in some sections of the American media has served both to deepen and widen the misunderstanding of the Kingdom and Islam, especially in the US but also in the West in general. The prevailing Western view of Arabs and Islam is a factor that determines the Western view of Arabs and Islam in the American media; it is an important source of the misunderstanding. As Edward Said has said, it is impossible for any researcher or for the Western media to write of Arabs or Islam or even to imagine them outside the preconceived limits set by Western ideas of Arabs. This also represents the new conservatives’ central frame of thinking in the United States — and provides the moral dimension of America’s hegemony and an introduction into the American political decision-making related to this region.

Why Powell’s project was met with sarcasm
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, Arab News, December 22, 2002
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to establish a strong base of hope,” said Colin Powell, the American secretary of state, in a long speech at the Heritage Foundation. The speech received no positive comment in any Arab newspaper. In fact, despite its upbeat content, it was attacked aggressively. In the speech, Powell introduced a US political, cultural and economic project for the Arab world; the idea of the project was to support regional reforms in these areas. It also went further and proposed a special partnership between the US and many countries in the Middle East. Why Powell’s suggestions met with silence or sarcasm, in my opinion, had nothing to do with the project itself but everything to do with the country proposing it. That country is, of course, the United States. The problem is that the US has a long-standing reputation for offending the people of the Middle East and showing little regard for their wishes and aspirations. Why then should any country in the region cooperate with Washington?

The assault on Palestine’s soul
By Fawaz Turki, Arab News, December 26, 2002
The symbolism was striking: Almost exactly four weeks ago, on Nov. 27, around 3 a.m., several Israeli occupation soldiers emerged from a hiding spot in one of Nablus’ narrow streets, aimed their guns at 22-year old Jihad Natour as he banged his tambourine-like drum, and shot him dead. Natour was a mossaher — a cultural fixture dating back centuries in Muslim cities around the world during the month of Ramadan — whose job it is to wake up the faithful around that time in order for them to eat a meal before the beginning of their fast from sunrise to sunset. Natour died in the street after the soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to pass through an army checkpoint to take him to a hospital.

Crimes against children
By Dr. Abdul Qader Tash, Arab News, December 26, 2002
Children in Palestine live under conditions of unimaginable horror. Many international organizations have cited, backed by documented evidence and eyewitness accounts, Israel’s occupying forces for their savagery, inhumanity and mercilessness. --- Child abuse is worldwide phenomenon. While a number of international organizations dedicated to the defense of children are trying to save and protect them, their conditions remain pathetic. The most common kind of abuse is neglecting children’s basic needs, which is then followed by moral, verbal and physical abuse. In its annual report a few days ago, UNICEF addressed "the condition of children around the world." The report included some very disconcerting facts and statistics concerned with children’s living conditions.

A right-wing government without makeup
Akiva Eldar, Electronic Intifada, December 23, 2002
Why is this Christmas Eve different from all other Christmas Eves? Because on this Christmas Eve, the hundreds of millions of Christians who will see the Jewish soldiers besieging Jesus' birthplace will not hear a Nobel Peace Prize laureate explaining that it is all the fault of his fellow peace prize laureate, Yasser Arafat. This year, the world will get Ariel Sharon's policies, net, with Shaul Mofaz as the executor and Benjamin Netanyahu as the public relations man. This time, Israel has a foreign minister who is not welcome at the home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the international leader closest to President George Bush. Blair, who opened the doors of 10 Downing Street to Syrian President Bashar Assad and will also open them for Labor Party Chairman Amram Mitzna, explained that as prime minister, he does not receive foreign ministers.

Celebrity Politics, Iraq and Palestine
By Ramzy Baroud, Palestine Chronicle, December 24, 2002
"Daring as it may seem, taking an anti-war on Iraq stance requires much less risk than defending Palestinian rights." --- It comes as no surprise that top Hollywood stars are getting their say regarding the war on Iraq, or does it? Traditionally, Hollywood has been a vocal platform where a wide variety of causes are championed, such as the fight against deadly illnesses, human rights in general, and children’s and women’s rights in particular. Unlike the intellectual rebellion of the 1960’s and 1970’s however, celebrities these days seem to be more interested in causes that are unlikely to bring about controversy, somewhat fashionable causes you may say, “Free Tibet”, breast cancer, the use of animal fur, and most recently, the increasingly fashionable, fighting for Afghani women’s rights.

Defacing the Holy Land
Editorial, Jordan Times, December 26, 2002  
THIS CHRISTMAS, churches all over the world should dedicate a special prayer to the many Palestinian Christian families who were forced to leave the Holy Land and those who remain under Israeli occupation. Israeli policies, not only under the government of Ariel Sharon, but under successive governments of all colours for the past 35 years, have aimed at systematically driving Palestinians out of their homeland. This policy is generally referred to as “transfer.” It is time it is given its real name: Ethnic cleansing. The specific question of Christian immigration from the very lands that Jesus treaded has already assumed huge proportions. The alarm bell has already been rung: In a few decades, there may be no Christians left in the Holy Land.