Al-Ahram

If Israel is genuinely willing to move in the direction of peace, argues the diplomat, then Arab countries will move in the direction of normalisation. He added that several Arab capitals are receiving messages that with the death of Arafat -- who was snubbed by Sharon and Bush -- Washington is willing to pressure Israel to pick up the Middle East peace file. [more]

The meeting comes in the wake of downward pressure on oil prices which in ten days have lost 17 per cent of their value, the largest collapse in prices since the start of the Iraq war. US light crude eventually settled down $1.52 at $41.46 a barrel, the first time it has broken the $42 floor since late August. [more]

Officials, as well as most of the Palestinian public, have few doubts that Israel will seek and find another pretext to avoid engaging in any process that might bring an end in sight to 37 years of military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem [more]

This "war of posters and banners", as one Iraqi politician puts it, is about the only visible sign that this is a country which is due to go to the polls less than eight weeks from now. The Iraqi electorate, who are still trying to come to terms with a ruthless US military machine working flat out to destroy what remains of ordinary life in the name of fighting "insurgents", are simply irrelevant to pre- election campaigning activities. [more]

Occupation is the opposite of democracy, for it is a way of deciding, through military force, the future and laws of the country. Occupation undermines Iraq's right to independence, sovereignty, and self-determination, a right upheld by international laws and defended by the resolve of our people. [more]

"Cobler told reporters the initiative aimed at securing a full partnership between the transatlantic coalition and the greater Middle East, in light of US and European consensus that reforming the Middle East must be a top priority 'because reform is the basic measure required for uprooting terrorism, which is a danger to both the West and the Arab world.' " [more]

"The Palestinian leadership was infuriated by what it saw as European treachery. Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said: 'The United States, Britain and Germany ask the Palestinians not to have recourse to violence, but when the Palestinians have recourse to diplomacy they slam the door on us.'" [more]

"US officials were unmoved by accusations regarding the untidiness of 'freedom'. Instead, the hawks in the Bush administration started preparing for the next target." [more]

"Cairo played host last week to an international gathering protesting war against Iraq. Though participants sparred over whether the launch of the International Campaign against US Aggression on Iraq was a whimper or a bang, the meetings pulled Arab activists into the fold of a growing anti-war movement worldwide." [more]

"The [registration] plan is considered a major weapon in the 'war on terror' and Justice Department officials have called the registration requirement a necessary means of safeguarding national security concerns." [more]

"The Bush administration is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the post 2nd World War occupation of Japan and Germany, to install an American-led military government in Iraq. The plan marks the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation of Iraq by coalition forces, led by the United States." [more]

"If colonists and despots call acts carried out in defence of the legitimate right to self-determination "acts of terrorism" when they occur off the battlefield and involve civilians, then it should be remembered that freedom fighters and dissidents are not always capable of facing their enemies on the battlefield or of avoiding the killing of innocent people. Violence is not intended to terrorise the persons attacked but to cause society, or governments, or the world at large, to take notice of grievances suffered, and of the reality of large-scale struggles." [more]

"If the world's conscience now shows the first signs of acting on behalf of the Palestinians, it is to be hoped that this will mitigate the Palestinians' deep despair. When young Palestinians learn that academics the world over and young people on campuses in Britain, France, Canada, and United States are stirring on their behalf, this will convince them that they are not alone, and, once they are so convinced, they may be persuaded to renounce their acts of desperation. The academic boycott of Israel uses non-violent means -- it leverages moral suasion -- to reduce the violence of the coloniser as well as that of the colonised." [more]

"The US administration may resolve its problems with Saddam by overthrowing him. But this will not resolve regional problems, eliminate animosity toward the United States, or end terrorism. Actually, the opposite may be true. Instead of being a major power with a penchant for pressuring -- or blackmailing -- others into a certain course of action, the United States is seeking to become a direct partner in local regimes. This is likely to be more dangerous, for Washington would be blamed for any political mistakes that its puppet regimes may commit." [more]

"The common feeling among Iranians is that they are surrounded on all sides, with NATO- allied Turkey to the northwest, US bases in Uzbekistan to the northeast, US forces in Afghanistan, US bases in Pakistan, and the US navy in the Gulf and Indian Ocean. All that remains is for Washington to succeed in toppling Saddam Hussein, install a pro-US regime in Iraq, and the encirclement will be complete." [more]

"America's war debate has grown in intensity, dominating the agenda to the exclusion of everything else." [more]

"Over 50 years of Arab and Palestinian dealings with the US have ended in the rubbish bin, so that Bush and his advisers could convince themselves and much of the electorate that they had a god-given mission to exterminate terrorism, which means essentially all the enemies of Israel. A quick survey of those 50 years shows dramatically that neither a defiant Arab attitude nor a submissive one have made any changes in US perceptions of its interest in the Middle East, which remain the quick and cheap supply of oil and the protection of Israel as the two main aspects of its regional dominance." [more]

"The BBC this week broadcast footage of the gruesome incident, showing the tank firing two shells at the terrified children who were at close range. In a filmed interview, the murdered boys' father, Youssef Abu Aziz, told the BBC that his kids had gone outside to buy chocolate, thinking the Israeli curfew had been lifted. The Israeli army never really explained why a tank would fire artillery shells at children." [more]

"But when any foreign power, let alone one with America's clout, urges a people to vote out their duly elected leaders as a condition for achieving statehood, this represents a challenge to the very foundations of world order. To admit the right of a foreign power to change the leadership of a state, or of an authority likely to become a state in the foreseeable future, is to undermine the idea of national sovereignty, of the right of peoples to self-determination, indeed, of world order itself." [more]

"That Bush's interventionism and arrogance in addressing Palestinian and Arab concerns will further complicate American-Arab relations already strained by the administration's pro-Israel bias, is a concern raised by many commentators. The speech is also expected to fuel anti-American sentiments in the Arab and Muslim world. And despite a display of flexibility, the implied references to a number of Arab leaders will not pass unnoticed." [more]

"Many Palestinian intellectuals criticise what they view as the petition's 'decontextualisation' of the suicide bombings. The petition, these critics note, fails to mention specific instances of Israel's use of force against Palestinian civilians, such as the artillery shelling of a crowded market in Jenin on 22 June, which resulted in the killing of three children and a man, and the maiming of 20 civilians. It is such acts of terror, most Palestinians argue, that make the resort to suicide bombings almost inevitable, regardless of how one views them ethically." [more]

"I am interested in what we as a people think of our leader, and there I believe we must be absolutely clear in rejecting his entire programme of reform, elections, reorganising the government and security services. [Arafat's] record of failure is too dismal and his capacities as a leader too enfeebled and incompetent for him to try yet again to save himself for another try." [more]

"In the US and elsewhere, the fallout from 11 September may include the end of the era of civil liberties and human rights." [more]