In mid-July, more than a month after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) convened the PLO Central Council in Ramallah. The meeting began at dusk in the hall of the famous muqataa in the presence of a few journalists, mostly Palestinian. I asked them why representatives of the local …

I guess the huge “Reading for All campaign bombarding us these day everywhere we go is one of the biggest publicity campaigns we’ve had recently. If this proves anything at all, it’s that we’re a book-loving nation by nature and that we spend most of our time reading – a fact that completely contradicts all …

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s appointment of Bernard Kouchner as France’s foreign minister was a brilliant political stroke. Having beaten his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, Sarkozy decided to compound the Socialists’ crisis by appointing to his government several political figures long associated with the center-left. Sarkozy persuaded two women from immigrant backgrounds, Rama Yade and the …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Premier Olmert are reported to be engaged in secret negotiations. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has just agreed in principle to take part in President Bush s Middle East Peace conference, currently scheduled for this November. These are momentous developments, and show that the time for peace may …

When a government-run brick plant in Hongdong County of Shanxi Province was revealed to be using slave labor, a famous episode from a Beijing opera flashed through my mind. In that opera, a prostitute named Su San, after being sentenced to death, pleads for mercy to unconcerned passersby as she is marched down the main …

ISTANBUL: The extent of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) victory in Turkey s parliamentary elections has exceeded everyone s expectations, including those of the party members themselves. According to final election results, it won 340 of the 550 seats in the parliament, a majority not often witnessed in the Turkish political scene. Such success, …

The issue of reform of the PLO is one of the most complex and important issues on the Palestinian political agenda. The organization is considered the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, but it currently suffers from an inability to translate that theory into a practical reality that is accepted by all Palestinian factions. …

ISTANBUL: Despite efforts by political rivals to spin the July 22 elections as a confrontation between Islamism and secularism (and the convenient adoption of this rhetoric by some in Europe who conceptualize global affairs and Turkey s EU membership along these lines), the focus in Turkey was largely on democratisation, economic growth and stability. The …

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions seem to have died down, at least for now. The Six-Party Talks have, at long last, succeeded – thanks, apparently, to China’s solid opposition to the nuclearization of northeast Asia. Under the aegis of the Six-Party umbrella, the United States and North Korea have even held the bilateral talks that North …

Despite considerable effort by the international community in Afghanistan since 2001 to eliminate the Taliban and al Qaeda, the insurgency in the south of the country has gathered momentum at breakneck speed in recent months. Our field research shows that we are not winning the campaign for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people …

In Britain and Australia, several Muslim medical doctors and engineers have been arrested following a series of failed car bombings. The arrest of these well-educated professionals, together with the Egyptian doctor Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s role as Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, raises questions that go far beyond disaffection among Muslims and the consequences of America’s misadventures in the …

In a dramatic twist of fate, one of the world’s premier heart surgeons, Michael DeBakey, recently underwent cardiac surgery using a technique that he had devised, at the hospital where he had practiced. What gave the story added interest was that DeBakey was 97 years old at the time, and the operation was carried out …

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is the most impressive collective intellectual project ever attempted – and perhaps achieved. It demands both the attention and the contribution of anyone concerned with the future of knowledge. Because of the speed with which it has become a fixture in cyberspace, Wikipedia’s true significance has gone largely unremarked. Since its …

Head of Muslim preaching and mosques in the city of Aden Sheikh Anis Al-Hobaishi reported on Saturday that his life could be in danger after he made statements recently on the authenticity of one of Prophet Muhammad’s sayings (Hadith) regarding jihad. Sheikh Al-Hobaishi’s concern grew after a number of imams signed a petition addressed to …

Fear of finance is on the march. Distrust of highly paid people who work behind computer screens doing something that doesn’t look like productive work is everywhere. Paper shufflers are doing better than producers; speculators are doing better than managers; traders are doing better than entrepreneurs; arbitrageurs are doing better than accumulators; the clever are …

By the numbers, it is on par with some of Africa’s poorest countries – an extremely high infant mortality rate of 35 per 1000 live births, plus a rising unemployment rate of 42 percent, poor quality educational systems and extreme environmental contamination. But the UN Administered Province of Kosovo is not in Africa; it’s in …

When it comes to whether and how to regulate the economy, Western societies have a history of liberal theory upon which to rely. But when it comes to immigration, there is not much in the liberal tradition to which they can turn. As a result, in both Europe and the United States, much of the …

The Iraqi parliament voted on Wednesday in favor of the long-discussed new Iraqi oil and natural gas law, thus allowing foreign investment in both sectors. The parliament specified that this law will allow the private sector to participate in the national re-building of Iraq, and it required that a minimum 75 percent of employees at …

One puzzling and often overlooked feature of the France that elected Nicolas Sarkozy as its new president, and that gave his political allies a clear if not overpowering parliamentary mandate, is its mix of private optimism and public pessimism. Consider this: France has the highest fertility rate in the European Union (just under two children …

BEIRUT/BRUSSELS: While watching media coverage of controversial issues and bloody conflicts taking place between the West and the Arab/Muslim world, one may think that two kinds of human beings exist on the globe. On one side, people might seem to be lovers of life, peace and prosperity. On the other hand, people might seem to …

We were gathered around the dinner table at the residence of the British Ambassador in Cairo Sir Derek Plumbly. The occasion was the visit Kim Howells to Cairo. As Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Howells’ responsibilities range from the Middle East, to counter-terrorism, from North and South America to drugs and …

KUWAIT CITY: Public opinion polls show that while Arab popular support for US foreign policy is at an all-time low, the popularity of American-style higher education in Arab society is at an all-time high. Given the difficulties of obtaining student visas and the higher costs of education in the US, many Arab students are seeking …

Journalism is a matter of public trust. A journalist’s duty is, above all, to relay news accurately. This has always been the driving ethic behind The Daily Star Egypt; and so it will continue to be in our next phase under the banner of Daily News Egypt. When the newspaper first hit the newsstands, bundled …

JAKARTA: According to Samuel Huntington, wars between civilizations are arising because of differences in the foundation of history, language, culture, tradition and religion among nations of the world that eventually shape the particular worldview of a certain group toward another. Globalization has made the world smaller, allowing people to meet more often and increasing awareness …

The European Union’s military mission to ensure free and fair elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has shown what the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) can achieve in Africa. A contingent of roughly 2,500 troops from 22 countries went to the DRC in mid-2003 to support United Nations troops, and provided a …

President George W. Bush’s call for a new peace conference for Israel, Palestine, and neighboring states that back a two-state solution is a welcome, if very tardy, development. But efforts to re-start the peace process now confront a stark new reality: two mutually hostile Palestinian entities in Hamas-ruled Gaza and the Fatah-led West Bank must …

The academic boycott of apartheid South Africa is often cited as a model for the current boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The reality is that they could not be more different except in one aspect: such boycotts alone are ineffective. In South Africa, the academic boycott employed a series of international embargoes on institutions and …

Anyone interested in peacemaking, poverty reduction, and Africa’s future should read the new United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report Sudan: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment. This may sound like a technical report on Sudan’s environment, but it is much more. It is a vivid study of how the natural environment, poverty, and population growth can interact to …

Western countries got it wrong when they believed that Hamas could not win the 2006 democratic elections they promoted in the Palestinian territories. Western leaders are getting it wrong again when they suggest that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the only Palestinian player with democratic legitimacy and that he won elections in a “landslide, to …

South Orange, New Jersey – The Greatest Generation had the encroaching Axis powers to deal with. The Baby Boomers stared down the barrel of mutually assured destruction. Now the current generation is faced with the persistent threat of terrorism. Perhaps nowhere else is the damage of terrorism felt more intensely than in the Middle East. …