Sheikh Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib’s declaration that he is ready to talk to the Assad regime came like a bolt out of the blue. A few days before he travelled to the Munich Security Conference, the Syrian National Coalition leader wrote…
Tag: Syria
Eyewitness: Syria is imploding
In seeking the “truth” about Syria, I came across a book by Lebanese reporter Ghadi Francis, My pen and pain: One hundred days in Syria(Beirut: Saqi Books 2012), in Arabic. I did not find the “truth” but I did find many…
The Syrian nation is a victim of the Cold War
On February 24, Tunisia hosted the “Friends of Syria” conference, in the presence of foreign ministers of western powers including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Though officially Russia has been invited, it has firmly declined, claiming it was not…
The roots of the Syrian uprising
The roots of the “Arab spring” can be found in the year 2000, a year of historic events that mark the end of an era. Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in June 2000 was without doubt a significant milestone. Twenty-five years…
The Winograd Report: Trumpeting the Next War
ON JANUARY 30, 2008, the Winograd Committee submitted its final report on the performance of Israel’s political and military echelons during the second Lebanon War (August 2006). In an earlier interim account, it had severely criticized Prime Minister Ehud Olmert…
Witches’ Brew in Lebanon
WHO won the Lebanon War in 2006? The question is hotly debated—but not so much between Israel and the Arabs as among Arabs themselves, and especially the Lebanese. In Israel the consensus is clear: the Winograd Committee, appointed by PM…
Windows of Flopportunity
US President George W. Bush has meddled in three major theatres of the Middle East: Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. As a result, the first is now in civil war and the remaining two are on the brink. Back in 2003,…
The War No One Wanted
Ben Efrat is the General Secretary of the Organization for Democratic Action. He delivered this lecture on July 26, 2006, fifteen days into the war, at Bamat Etgar in Tel Aviv. THIS WAR DOES not yet have a name. I…
Imposing Democracy, Reaping Chaos
THE New Middle East was the title of a book by Shimon Peres, today Deputy Prime Minister to Ariel Sharon. And now we have the “democratic Middle East,” ballyhooed by none other than US President George W. Bush. Each of…