Hamas and democracy

By: Esfandiar Khodaee

Hamas really represents the Palestine nation in a clear democratic way. Nobody can deny the fact that Hamas democratically won the public election about two years ago. Yet the UN and the west and even some Arab nations do not make any political relations with Hamas.

Hamas and Palestinian people have experienced loneliness for 60 years. Now and in the 22 day war they learnt the great fact that the key of their victory is in their own hand. And they should depend on themselves and their own resistance not the timid Arab governments or the United Nation.

Filed under: Arab, Islam, Islamic countries, Middle East, muslim, palestine, Syria

The Middle East’s Water Crisis

The River Jordan has flowed freely for thousands of years, its name immortalized in the Hebrew Bible and its lush upper reaches once known as the gates to the Garden of Eden. This summer, however, large sections of this storied river were reduced to a trickle, the water so low that grass fires spread freely across the Jordan Valley between Palestine and Jordan. Steadily drained over the past half century to quench the thirst and grow the crops of the people of Israel, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian territories, the Jordan River has been dealt a deathblow recently by a severe drought and by yet another tributary dam, this one on the Jordanian-Syrian border

Filed under: Arab, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Islamic countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, muslim, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, Yemen

Human rights & peace in the middle east – Arabism & radical Islam discrimination on the «other»

Human rights & peace in the middle east – Arabism & Islam discrimination on the «other»
[Analysis] Peace will prevail when economic, social and cultural rights are granted to all … The Middle East… conflicts…  For example:

* the Israel and [so called] «Occupied Territories» (Palestine) issue

* the conflict between Hamas and the Fatah; the Iraq conflict

* the conflict in Afghanistan

* conflicts within Saudi Arabia

* the security concerns, especially the nuclear threat, that Ahmadinajad’s Iran poses

Filed under: Afghanistan, Algeria, Arab, Egypt, Iraq, Islam, Islamic countries, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Middle East, Oman, pakistan, palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Human rights

Arab League slams US raid on Syria

CAIRO, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — Such a violation undermines the efforts to establish regional security and may lead to more tensions in the region, the pan-Arab body said in a statement. The U.S. move spoils the credibility for peace efforts in the war-torn Iraq and its neighbors, said the statement. Confirming its solidarity with Syria, the Arab organization voiced its support to Syria to protect its people and sovereignty.

Filed under: Arab, Islamic countries, Middle East, Syria

NO Arab university among the top 400 in the world

The failure of Arab universities to make it to the Best 400 list is indeed a source of frustration for a region that pins big hopes on the potential contributions of higher education to national development. A glimmer of hope amid the university gloom

The publication of the THES-QS World University Rankings for 2008 brings unhappy news for aspiring institutions of higher education in many regions, including the Arab world. According to the rankings, not one Arab university is among the top 400 in the world. The THES-QS report comes on the heels of the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Institute of Higher Education, which offers an equally dismal assessment of Arab universities against global benchmarks.

Filed under: Africa, Algeria, Arab, Bahrain, Egypt, indonesia, Iraq, Islam, Islamic countries, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, malaysia, Middle East, muslim, Oman, pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen