http://www.granma.cu/ingles/reflections-i/26sept-40Reflex1a.html

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from…

Sunday, September 1, 2011

Playing with fire: Gulf Arabs and Israelis tacitly explore cooperation amid Israeli diplomatic tsunami

By James M. Dorsey

Amid the diplomatic tsunami hitting Israel with its embassy in Cairo stormed by protesters, its relations with Turkey at an all-time low, the United Nations set to recognize Palestinian statehood and the influence of the United…

In the lull after the media frenzy around Irene, it is a good time to reflect on the Israeli-Palestinian situation. In a few weeks, the Palestinians will submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly that asks that Palestine be declared a new nation-state. Regardless of where you might stand on this issue, there are a lot of practical problems with the resolution. Besides the fact that the US will veto it in the Security Council, it is politically meaningless as long as Hamas and Fatah…

Why the US must support bid for Palestinian statehood

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0809/Why-the-US-must-support-bid-for-Palestinian-statehood/(page)/2

By Ibrahim Sharqieh / August 9, 2011

Palestinian leaders need equal footing with Israeli leaders –…

USA and Iran: Pride and prejudice.

The most frequent question to me during my three visits to Iran was: How can we convince the West that our country is not going to produce nuclear weapons? The question I hear in Europe and USA is:  When will Iran have nuclear weapons? There seems to be a need for a dialogue. No one wants a war. It might still happen and may escalate into a nuclear genocide.

Iran's nuclear program -…

My latest is an out-of-the-box piece co-written with Andrea Bartoli (Director of the S-CAR at GMU) which asks:



"Imagine back in 2010 if instead of masked men with guns, trained for intense warfare at sea, boarding a ship in the dead of night, the IDF had dispatched an elite unit of conflict resolution specialists. Could the tragedy at sea been averted?" …

WWJD? A Non-Violent Conflict Resolution for Palestine

(…

By Andrew Gavin Marshall

Introduction

As the purported assassination of Osama bin Laden has placed the focus on Pakistan, it is vital to assess the changing role of Pakistan in broad geostrategic terms, and in particular, of the changing American strategy toward Pakistan. The recently reported assassination was a propaganda ploy aimed at targeting Pakistan. To understand this, it is necessary to…

Netanyahu’s address to Congress is a recipe for disaster, not peace

By Ibrahim Sharqieh - 05/25/11 01:40 PM ET

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/163245-netanyahus-address-to-congress-is-a-recipe-for-disaster-not-peace

Taking advantage of his New York accent while addressing Congress on…

Denial: A River in Egypt...

By: Firouzeh Afsharnia

“Israel would never pull back to its 1967 borders.”  There you have it -- straight from the horse’s mouth.  After decades of two step tango around multi version road maps drafted by peace players of all walks – quartets, duets, dissonant coalitions and tone deaf power brokers -- what has always been evident to the rest of us is now out in the open in the official chambers of power. Israel has no intention of giving…

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet”.

In his wildest dreams, Fareed never imagined that these lines from Juliet’s lips in the final scenes of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would perfectly describe his situation.

As protecting my source`s rights, I would only be referring to him by his first name, Fareed, 35, and thousands of Egyptian men, had never imagined that an act as normal as…

Risk is a central feature and factor of life of all communities and its management has been one of the most challenging preoccupations of humankind. This is particularly true during times of violent conflict, when risks of physical harm and the disruption of livelihoods are particularly high.

However, since most of the academic and policy knowledge on risk management is drawn from contexts of natural disasters, economic or health-related crises, the standard framework to…

This powerful book by Jen Marlowe (Darfur Diaries) should not be missed by anyone working in the area of Peace building and Conflict Transformation. 

Synopsis of The Hour of Sunlight:

As a teenager, Sami Al Jundi had one ambition: overthrowing Israeli occupation. With two friends he formed a militant cell and began building a bomb to use against the Israeli police. But their plans were derailed when the bomb exploded prematurely, killing one of his…

On the occasion of marking 1700 days of imprisonment by Hamas Aviva Shilat has pleaded with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to act to bring her son home.

 “It's been 1,700 days of an ongoing government failure to bring Gilad home, 1,700 days of indescribable suffering and solitude.



So she says - enough of the excuses for failure - 'bring my son home now'. A mother needs to be at peace - as does every mother, father, sister, brother. 



It is…

“After the first successful thrust every revolution differentiates into political and class currents. This is the moment of greatest danger. The moment when the future of the revolution is decided.” (John Rees)…

While Yasmin Revolution in Tunisia inspired population throughout Arab world and wide support to change regime got decisive role in Egypt it was clear that Tunisia was not…

The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict began on Sunday, 23^th January 2011 by the Al-Jazeera website with Britain’s Guardian newspaper. A cache of thousands of pages of confidential Palestinian records covering…

While negotiations on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva are continuing some WikiLeaks documents are highlighting the other – military – option to solve the problem. According to these classified cables, Saudi Arabia had been pressing the US to attack Iran's nuclear sites before it developed a weapon. Saudis are not alone with…