Middle East
Middle East
Fair Observer provides inclusive, insightful and contextual analysis of the Middle East with its manifold cultures and civilizations.
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360° Analysis / Egypt / Morsi / Muslim Brotherhood / Politics / Middle East / AfricaThe political unrest in Egypt over President Morsi's decree has significantly polarized the country even further. Egypt, as an abstract concept, is often associated with the ancient, and with riddles. So here is an ancient riddle to ask of Egypt: does objectivity exist? Perhaps we can make the following points without much controversy. Egypt had a revolution against a military dictatorship in January-February of 2011. This military dictatorship stacked Egypt’s judiciary, army, state security services, and professional associations with loyalists, making up what political scientists refer to as the “deep state.” The army, under the auspices of the Supreme Council of the...
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360° Analysis / Egypt / Morsi / Muslim Brotherhood / Politics / Middle East / AfricaBy Omar FarahatThe widespread protests triggered by Morsi's recent decisions are symptomatic of profound distrust that characterizes the relationship between different segments of Egyptian society. On November 22 2012, Mohammed Morsi issued a constitutional declaration that he described as “revolutionary”, granting the constitutional assembly additional time to complete the drafting job, prohibiting the dissolution of the one remaining branch of parliament, and granting his own immunity from judicial scrutiny. Minutes later, protesters stormed into Tahrir Square and other public places in Egypt, and several of the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters were attacked. Major courts...
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360° Analysis / Gaza / Israel / Jerusalem / Palestine / Politics / West Bank / Middle EastBy Atul SinghFair Observer's Editor-in-Chief, Atul Singh, argues that the triumph of lunacy over sanity will result in tears for Israelis, Palestinians and the wider region. On 2 November 1917, Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Rothschild promising that His Majesty’s government favored the idea of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The consequences of what has since come to be known as the Balfour Declaration live with us today. Israel and Hamas have just clashed over Gaza. Israel’s closest allies, the US and the UK, have been upset by its plans to build 3,000 new homes for settlers in East Jerusalem and West Bank, a move that is illegal under...
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360° Analysis / Egypt / Gaza / Hamas / Israel / Palestine / Politics / Middle East / AfricaBy Gabriel RomThe Sinai Peninsula has exploded with violence in recent months. Cooperation between Egypt and Israel seems unlikely even though it works in both nations' short-term interest. On August 16, 2012, militants from Palestine, Egypt, Yemen and beyond, disguised as Bedouins, raided an Egyptian army base in the town of Rafah on the Israeli-Egyptian border. Sixteen Egyptian soldiers were killed and 2 armored personnel vehicles were stolen. The militants, many of whom were reported to be wearing suicide vests, then entered Israel where they were killed by the Israeli army. The Egyptian government was humiliated, the Israelis were put on high alert, and the Rafah checkpoint, the only opening for...
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360° Analysis / Beer / Democracy / Infographic / Politics / United States / Wine / Europe / BRIC / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaBy Fact BlinkOn the coherence of liquor and liberty. Many people know that beer is the world’s third-most popular drink, after water and tea. Fewer are aware, however, of the remarkable correlation between a preference for beer, and a preference for democratic institutions. A coincidence? We are not so sure. A priori, there are strong cognitive associations between the brown brew and rule by the people. After all, more than any other drink, beer is the quintessential beverage of the common man. While wine and cocktails may be instinctively elitist; beer, by nature, is egalitarian. So perhaps it is not so surprising that across the world, beer-drinking countries have granted universal...
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360° Analysis / Gaza / Hamas / Israel / Palestine / Politics / United States / Middle EastAs political realities in the Middle East shift, the United States must redefine its relationship with Israel or risk losing strategic influence in the region. It has been just over a week since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire ended Israel’s eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. As the fog of war recedes, two issues have become uniquely apparent. The first is that US news coverage of the conflict was weighted towards Israel. Considerable time was given to Israeli lawmakers, spokesman, and military representatives with little or no time given to Palestinian lawmakers, the people of Gaza, or Arab Israelis. Secondly, and probably because of the former, 60% of Americans...
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360° Analysis / Israel / Palestine / Politics / Middle EastThe Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s biggest problem is that it will not work. This is the final part. Read part one here. “The Problem with BDS is the Ambiguity of the Goal” Even Prof. Norman Finkelstein, an outspoken critic of Israeli policy who lost his tenured position at DePaul University because of his views, has criticized the BDS approach. In an interview on the occasion of the publication of his book Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel Is Coming to an End, he stated: "I’ve written a little book on Gandhi, and one of the significant insights of his is that it’s important not only for your tactics to be...
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360° Analysis / BDS / Israel / Palestine / Politics / Middle EastThe Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s biggest problem is that it will not work. This is the first of two parts. As we marked the 45th anniversary of the occupation this June, I would support any effective nonviolent strategy that will end the occupation of the West Bank and lead to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, with mutually agreed-upon land swaps — what is known as a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders — which I believe is in the genuine interest of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples. If BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), clearly a nonviolent tactic, could produce such a...
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By Noura ErakatThe recognition of Palestine by the UN General Assembly as a non-member observer state has diplomatically affirmed the Palestinian cause for self-determination, argues Noura Erakat. The bid will not, however, work to salvage the two-state solution, which has long been declared dead. The Palestinian UN bid for non-member observer status was certain to pass as the majority of UN member states had expressed their support for the initiative. The positive vote will do little to alter the course of Israel's ongoing settler-colonial expansion in the West Bank or its racially-motivated policies aimed at the forced population transfer of non-Jewish Palestinians throughout Israel and the Occupied...