Middle East & North Africa

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What does Taekwondo and Volleyball have in Common? And How does that Relate to Iran?
September 17, 2009 2 min. read

Both taekwondo and volleyball associations have announced that they will allow women wearing hijab to compete.  There is a definite tendency in the West to vilify hijab.  And while I am against women being forced to wear hijab, I am also against women being denied equal rights due to the fact that their head is […]

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Goldstone Report Also Troubling for Anti-Israel Bias
September 16, 2009 3 min. read

While troubling in some of its findings, the recently released United Nations Goldstone Report on Israel’s recent strike in the Gaza Strip represents flawed methodology and one-sided bias against Israel. The President of the U.N. Human Rights Council provided a commission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone with a mandate to “to investigate all violations of […]

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Engaging with Iran: A Step Forward.
September 16, 2009 6 min. read

Mark your calendars. October 1st is the date when Iran and the five UN Security Council members plus Germany will hold talks about the Iranian nuclear program.  The State Department spokesman Ian Kelly announced yesterday that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns – who was also at the Geneva talks – would […]

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An Israeli Woman Wins Again
September 16, 2009 2 min. read

It appears that Israeli women just might be among the most incredible females out there. Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated featured Israeli model Bar Rafaeli on the cover of the Swimsuit Issue. Now, another Israeli woman won a major international contest when she triumphed as the winner of Fox’s hit dating show “More to Love” […]

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Prospects for a Renewed Peace Process
September 15, 2009 2 min. read

Bitterlemons has another great series, this time about the renewal of a U.S.-brokered peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Two of the scholars in the series seem to differ on the need for an immediate renewal of negotiations. George Giacaman expressed urgency, calling the current proposals a “last chance,” in attempting to solve the […]

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Converting in Prison
September 14, 2009 2 min. read

When we think of religious conversions in U.S. prisons, we conjure up images of Islamic fundamentalism infused with the roots of anti-Americanism. The issue resulted in high-level officials issuing worried statements about the phenomenon, with Congress even holding hearings with expert testimony on the radicalization of prisoners. However, just last week, prisoners began embracing a […]

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Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish Movement
September 14, 2009 2 min. read

My Master’s thesis dealt with the effect of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan on the Kurdish movement in which I specifically examined what effect increasing the level of autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan have had on Kurdish secessionist groups in Syria, Iran, and Turkey.  Considering I spent last whole year engrossed in researching the operations of Kurdish […]

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Israeli Film on Lebanon Wins Venice Prize
September 13, 2009 1 min. read

Israeli directors seem to have a knack for making great films about Israel’s wars with Lebanon. The latest film, “Lebanon,” won the top prize at this year’s Venice film festival and received wide acclaim as an “astonishing piece of cinema.” Director Samuel Maoz personally experienced the first Lebanon war from inside a tank, a claustrophobic atmosphere […]

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What does the AHDR do, exactly?
September 12, 2009 2 min. read

The Arab Human Development Report, a publication from the UNDP that consistently draws commentary from anyone and everyone interested in Middle East politics, typically inspires a lot of positive response from the development community. For one, members of the Arab intelligentsia collaborate to write it, so it derives some credibility from that. Second, it doesn’t […]

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Dubai launches public education campaign
September 12, 2009 1 min. read

… to teach people how to behave on the train. The sheer number of people who want to use the Metro, combined with the newness of the project, has meant chaos for the system.

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Shots Fired
September 11, 2009 1 min. read

Two katyusha rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon today, and minutes later Israel returned fire with a barrage of 14 artillery shells of its own. The rockets that were fired into Israel landed outside residential areas, and no injuries were reported as a result. The return fire from Israel also landed in an unpopulated […]

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Democratic Reforms in PA Evident in New Show
September 11, 2009 2 min. read

A Palestinian Authority-funded radio station launched a new televised satire that pokes fun at the government, religion, and sex. Actors on the “Homeland on a Thread” show imitate government officials, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Chief Negotiator Saeb Erakat. Even though the television station requested permission from the PA to run the most controversial […]

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