The Middle East: Theater of ConflictThe Middle East: Heartland of Islam Country Reports
Algeria (Peoples' Democratic Republic of Algeria)
Bahrain (State of Bahrain)
Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)
Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran)
Iraq (Republic of Iraq)
Israel (State of Israel)
Jordan (Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan)
Kuwait (State of Kuwait)
Lebanon (Lebanese Republic)
Libya (Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyya)
Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania)
Morocco (Kingdom of Morocco)
Oman (Sultanate of Oman)
Qatar (State of Qatar)
Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
Sudan (Republic of the Sudan)
Syria (Syrian Arab Republic)
Tunisia (Republic of Tunisia)
Turkey (Republic of Turkey)
United Arab Emirates
Yemen (Republic of Yemen) Articles from the World PressNew! 1. Egypt Vote Shows Unease with Democracy, Dan Murphy, The Christian Science Monitor, June 12, 2007
The election of June 11, 2007 for the upper house of parliament was marred by police beatings, wide-scale arrests among the most popular opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood whose members were also prevented from voting in many polling places. Recent changes to the electoral laws have just given a democratic face to a process that ensures that only the ruling National Democratic Party controls the government. This phenomenon has been happening in many Arab countries. New! 2. The Bloody Stalemate Persists, The Economist, July 14, 2007
Iraq is stuck in a military and political deadlock while American generals on the ground continue to urge patience. Bitter rivalries persist not only between Shiites and Sunnis, but also between the Sadrists and Prime Minister Maliki's other Shi’a ally, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. General David Petraeus, the overall commander, and his 160,000 American troops may not be given more than half a year to turn things round. New! 3. Time for a Bi-National State, Leila Farasakh, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2007
As the Palestinians watch their territory being fragmented into South African-style Bantustans with poverty levels of over 75%, the area is heading to the abyss of an apartheid state system rather than to a viable two-state solution. This is why it may be more promising to return to an old idea of a bi-national state which was first suggested in the 1920s by Zionist leftwing intellectuals. New! 4. From Crisis to Crisis, The Economist, July 7, 2007
As the country slides towards political deadlock, echoes of civil war could be heard. Since the Israeli invasion of 2006 which left 1,200 dead and thousands homeless, a split between the Western-backed parliamentary majority and the pro-Syrian opposition widened into a deep divide that raised sectarian tensions, caused a series of political assassinations and crippled the state. 5. U. S. Group Reaches Deal to Provide Laptops to All Libyan Schoolchildren, John Markoff, The New York Times, October 11, 2006
Libya agreed with One Laptop Per Child, a nonprofit US group, for the supply of computers to all 1.2 million Libyan schoolchildren by June 2008. The idea, which appealed to the Libyan leader, may make Libya the first country in the world where all school-age children are connected to the Internet through educational computers. The $100 computers come with a wireless connection, a built-in video camera, an eight-hour battery and a hand crank for recharging batteries. New! 6. Deadlock in the Desert, The Economist, March 8, 2007
After Spain ceded its Western Sahara colony to Morocco and Mauritania in 1976, a local nationalist guerrilla led by the Polisario fought for independence until the 1991 cease-fire. Since then, Morocco, which occupies most of the territory, has since backed away from any UN referendum that includes the option of independence. France, Spain and the United States are unlikely to pressure it to accept a vote that includes the independence option. New! 7. Avoiding Political Talk, Saudis and Chinese Build Trade, Hassan M. Fattah, New York Times.com, April 23, 2006
For decades, many Middle Eastern countries saw China as a source of low price, low quality goods or, worse, as a Marxist threat that armed rebel groups in the region during the 1950's and 1960's. But relations warmed in the 1990's, and oil trade boomed. Now, interest in China and other Asian countries is rising throughout the Arab world. New! 8. Guns and Votes, The Economist, June 23, 2007
The Kurdish nationalists used to be bitterly divided but times have changed and they are beginning to unite, especially in northern Iraq where 4 million Kurds live in almost full-blown independence. For the Turkish military an independent Kurdish state may stimulate separatist passions among Turkey's 14 million Kurds. In June 2007, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out an incursion into Iraq’s Kurdish area for electoral concerns. New! 9. Fearful of Restive Foreign Labor, Dubai Eyes Reforms, Jason DeParle, The New York Times, August 6, 2007
After several years of unprecedented labor unrest, the government of Dubai is seeking peace with this army of sweat-stained migrants who make up 85 percent of the population and 99 percent of the private and sustain one of the world’s great building booms. This one million construction workers have finally won some humble victories. New! 10. Social Security: How Palestinians Survive a Humanitarian Crisis, Lori Allen, Middle East Report, Fall 2006
After Hamas won the legislative elections in 2005, Israel stopped transferring customs revenue owed to the Palestinian Authority and international donors halted their financial aid. To survive, public employees, who were not paid for many months, borrow from each other and make the most out of what they can do to survive. 11. Lifting the Veil, Henry Munson, Harvard International Review, Winter 2004
Feelings of impotence, rage, and humiliation pervade the Islamic world today. The author presents findings from recent public opinion polls taken in the Middle East. He concludes that defeating terrorism requires diluting the rage that fuels it. New! 12. The Human Rights of Women and Social Transformation in the Arab Middle East, Hayat Alvi, MERIA Journal, 2005
Although recently much attention has been paid to signs of reform and liberalization in the Arab world, there is also considerable evidence of trends in regressive social transformation. One such manifestation is the prevailing attitudes and social policies that continue to deny women their fundamental human rights and freedoms. Arab women continue to suffer major deficiencies in both oil-rich and poorer Arab countries. 13. A New Day in Iran?, Afshin Molavi, Smithsonian, March 2005
Perhaps the most striking thing about anti-Americanism in Iran today is how little of it actually exists. Nearly three-fourths of the Iranians polled in a 2002 survey said they would like their government to restore dialogue with the United States. Though hard-line officials urge “Death to America” during Friday prayers, most Iranians seem to ignore the propaganda.
