Middle East News
Middle East Peace Talks- Hamas Looms as Spoiler
Friday, September 3rd, 2010Middle East peace talks got under way Thursday for the first time in nearly two years with a violent reminder sent by the Palestinian terror group Hamas that it will try to torpedo any agreement struck in Washington between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist despite that acknowledgment by [...]
2 September 2010 – Crucial Middle East Talks Day
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010The U.S. will play an active and sustained role in the crucial direct talks on Middle-East peace process on Wednesday, with participating leaders arriving here and U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton holding a first round of talks with some of them.
The key officials, responsible for the talks, hoped that the direct [...]
Obama and change in the Middle East
Monday, August 30th, 2010Opinion polls give you numbers. But the coffee shop we recently visited in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia gave us the reason behind them.
When we walked into the small establishment in the oil-rich Gulf city, the air was heavy with fruit-flavoured shisha smoke. Like most cities, the patrons automatically assumed we were American.
With the assumptions made, the [...]
61 Killed in Suicide Attack at Iraq
Thursday, August 19th, 2010A suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded army recruitment centre in Baghdad killing 61 people Tuesday, officials said, as violence coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan raged across Iraq.
The attack, blamed on al-Qaeda and the deadliest this year, wounded at least another 100 people and came a day after Iraq’s two [...]
Middle Eastern tourists woo Australia in Ramadan
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010Despite sensitive Islamic issues such as the burqa ban getting Australia’s politicians all hot and bothered ahead of a national election, for the country’s tourism chiefs, Muslim tourists represent a vital source of revenue.
And although it’s better known for campaigns that focus on bikinis and beaches, the industry is now going out of their way [...]
Debate Over Possible Strike Against Iran, Fuels Speculation
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010If the United States doesn’t attack Iran’s nuclear facilities within the next eight months or so, Israel probably will.
So says journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in the September issue of The Atlantic magazine in an article that is fueling debate and speculation among many Middle East experts.
Goldberg bases his conclusion mainly on three premises: In the Israeli [...]
A Reset in the Middle East
Monday, August 16th, 2010The Middle East is smoldering again as renewed talk of an attack on Iran is making headlines. If there were an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, it would mark the beginning of an era of violence and proliferation in the Middle East. The United States and Russia must work together to reverse the deteriorating security [...]
Middle East – Bombers as bombshells
Friday, August 13th, 2010For years, Anat Berko spent hours in prisons speaking with Palestinian inmates, for the most part females, who had been involved in suicide terror attacks. No one would deny that it’s not easy to be exposed to people whose victim you could have been, to hear their hair-raising stories and develop personal relationships with the [...]
BlackBerry Ban – Middle East Hot Issue
Thursday, August 12th, 2010To ban or not to ban the BlackBerry, that is. It’s been a hot debate in the Middle East for nearly two weeks, ever since the United Arab Emirates announced a ban on messaging and other BlackBerry services, to go into effect in October. This triggered a round of negotiations with Research in Motion, the [...]
U.S. to Send Imam in Ground Zero Debate to Middle East
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010Some lawmakers have urged the State Department to rethink plans to sponsor the imam behind a controversial mosque on a trip to the Middle East.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is at the center of efforts to build a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York. He is going to the [...]