SPME
What is the role of the intellectual in public life? Opinions differ. In those Arabic-speaking countries ruled by dictatorships, the dominant view is that such people should be soldiers in backing the regime and its aims. In Western democratic states,…
read moreThe era of democracy promotion as the main theme of US Middle East policy is over, for all practical purposes. Having found constructive forces in the region to be close to non-existent, America is back to the strategy of a…
read moreThe UN Security Council ceasefire resolution is not so bad in theory but everything will depend on how it is implemented–and there are some very big problems on that front.There are two basic parts of the resolution. The introductory (“PP”)…
read moreOne of the most remarkable aspects of the current fighting and rise of radical Islamist groups in the Middle East is how faithfully it sets the clock back by 40 years. When Hizballah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and other extremist Islamists…
read moreIsrael Under AttackBarry Rubin Six years ago, Israel offered an independent Palestinian state under President Bill Clinton’s plan. Ten months ago, Israel withdrew from all the Gaza Strip and announced the intention of pulling out of most of the West…
read moreThe kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and an 18-year-old civilian, by the Palestinian group Hamas is not merely another incident in the long conflict but a turning point of tremendous importance.Why this is so should be very clear:–…
read moreA careful and balanced evaluation of Mahmud Abbas’s new strategy is tremendously important. While in some respects it represents a step forward, it is also couched in the tricky double meanings Palestinian political groups have used to conceal their continuing…
read moreHow times change–or rather don’t. Back in 1971, Egypt’s leading journalist Muhammad Husanayn Heikal wrote, “There are only two well-defined goals on the Arab scene: erasing the traces of the 1967 aggression by Israel’s withdrawal from all the areas occupied…
read moreIs there going to be a Palestinian civil war? Probably not. But there is a major struggle going on that could be described as the biggest internal Palestinian conflict in memory, perhaps in history.On one level, the battle is between…
read moreThank you for your note. The best full critiques of the paper have been done by Alan Dershowitz, Mitchell Bard, Martin Kramer, and Benny Morris, all touching on different aspects. All are available online. On Halimi, I assume this was…
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