Cairo- Three years after the arrest of human rights activists Saaed Eddine Ibrahim and the shut down of his center, the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development reopened its doors Monday in a festive event.

Local Egyptian supporters and human rights activists as well as Arab and foreign experts and dignitaries crowded the center located in a crowded Cairo suburb of Muqatam. The center and its founder have become a symbol for Egyptian and Arab civil society movement. Continue Reading »

The Palestinian leadership showed political creativity when they introduced the Arabic term hudna when speaking about the ceasefire agreement that was being worked out with the Islamic and radical Palestinian guerilla movements. By using a term used more than once by the Prophet Muhammad, the Palestinian Authority succeeded in providing the Islamic movements with an ideological ladder to climb down from. Continue Reading »

The struggle in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resembles two sluggers in a never-ending duel. Both parties exhausted and unable to finish off the other, yet both refusing to give up the fight nor accept a draw.

The witnesses to this terrible fight have so far refused to get too involved. Other than words of advice between rounds and general blueprints of how to end this fight, no one has agreed to get deeply involved. Continue Reading »

The escalation of violence in the Middle East has been so predictable it is sad. No Palestinian or Israeli needed to lose their lives. More lives on both sides could be saved if Israel simply agrees on a bilateral ceasefire instead of its persistent attempts to force the Palestinians to cease-fire while it retains the right to attack and assassinate Palestinians at will. Over the years an Israeli pattern of assassinating Palestinian leaders as they are preparing to agree on a unilateral ceasefire has consistently derailed such an attempt for quiet. Continue Reading »

Ramallah — The scene at the Qalandia check point between Jerusalem and Ramallah was surreal. Hollywood superstar Richard Gere riding in a white Ford van attempting to cross an Israeli check. On the other side of the checkpoint a huge host of television and still cameras. Continue Reading »

Ramallah- The high level involvement of the United States government in the Middle East conflict presents a unique and rare opportunity for dramatically positive movement in the peace process. But for the Bush administration to succeed where others have faltered, a new direction is needed. The new direction must be based on a comprehensive approach, possibly reached in secret talks, and not the step-by-step time based process. Continue Reading »

Ramallah- The mood here among Palestinians has been quite optimistic even before the Bush administration succeeded in ‘convincing’ the Israelis to accept the quartet’s road map for peace in the Middle East. This high expectation is worrisome and potentially dangerous.

The downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime, the appointment of an empowered Palestinian prime minister and the repeated promises of statehood by President Bush, Prime Minister Blair have partially contributed to this optimism. Continue Reading »

The scores of innocent Israelis killed Saturday and Sunday in a series of Palestinian suicide attacks and the scores of innocent Palestinians killed before and since in various Israeli operations, point to the need for a new approach to resolve the Palestinian-Israel conflict. . This new approach must be based on secrecy and the need to work out a package agreement away from the pressures and pitfalls of a publicly declared process. Continue Reading »

Much has been said about the effects to the Middle East of the end of the Saddam Hussein regime. But surprisingly nothing has been said about the strategic meaning of the presence of US forces to the territorial security arguments that have blocked Palestinian-Israeli agreements. Continue Reading »

Without wanting to, I found myself in the middle of an inter Palestinian power struggle in 1997. Although Palestinians had witnessed historic legislative elections the new Palestinian legislative council was fighting for recognition and respectability from and unexpected rival. The Palestinian executive branch headed by President Yasser Arafat. My ‘sin’ was that I was helping empower the Legislative Council by broadcasting live its deliberations on a local educational television station. I was the weak link in the struggle between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I paid a price by being detained for one week after broadcasting a session dealing with corruption in the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »