Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree, has a series of articles on war that are worth reading. They are dated, before the most recent Lebanon-Israel conflict, but still relevant.
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Shariah at the Kumback Café – NYTimes.com
Shariah at the Kumback Café – NYTimes.com. Shariah is the new hot-button wedge issue, as radicalizing as abortion or gay marriage, seized on by Republicans to mobilize conservative Americans against the supposed “stealth jihad” of Muslims in the United States and against a Democratic president portrayed as oblivious to — or complicit with — the threat. Not since 9/11 has Islamophobia been at such a pitch in the United States.
Arab Reform Issues
On March 12-14, a conference entitled “Arab Reform Issues: Vision and Implementation” was held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt. This was a semi-secret conference in which participants were invited only three days before the start. It was closed to the public and the press. The outcome and final declaration were not widely distributed. Here is what the delagation had to say in its final statement. If this was implemented and had some weight behind it, there may be hope for the Middle East.
The system at work
On the surface, this is an important development, because if every Ayatollah now denounces the attacks on US and UK troops, it theoretically becomes easier to isolate those Shi’ah, and to a certain extent Sunnis, who do carry out attacks. I’m hopeful that the attacks in Sadr city will settle down, and more importantly that the city itself will be less likely to serve as a launching ground for others in Iraq.