On 3 January 2009, Arab Media Watch chairman Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi wrote to the Daily Mirror to refute false claims made in an article about Dubai.

By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

31 December 2008

When diplomacy fails to deliver in the Middle East, other options come to the fore, usually in some form of violence practiced in different ways by both sides. The current violence is by Israel's armed forces, which are waging a fierce and disproportionate attack against mostly unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip - killing hundreds at a time, injuring thousands, and destroying huge elements of the Palestinian civilian infrastructure - for the fifth or sixth time in the past 50 years. This follows Israel's strangulation of the territory that causes hardships for every civilian by reducing the flow of food, medicine and essential needs.

24 December 2008

Earlier this month, Israeli authorities deported Professor Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who had arrived in the country to conduct his duties to investigate rights abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Arab Media Watch adviser Victor Kattan interviewed Falk about the motivation behind his deportation, comparisons he has made between Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and Nazi crimes committed during World War II, his dual role as an academic and a human rights advocate, and how defenders of Israel deflect attention from what is happening on the ground by attacking critics of the state's policies.

By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

29 December 2008

God punished the arrogance and hubris of the Hebrews in the Old Testament by making them wander the wilderness for 40 years before allowing a later, more humble, generation to enter Canaan. The current generation of Israeli Jews is not as proficient at learning these 40-year lessons, it seems, to judge from Israel's current ferocious attack on Gaza.

By Rami Khouri, Arab Media Watch adviser, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.

30 December 2008

A year-end look at trends in the Arab world during the past 12 months reveals little to be optimistic about. The core weaknesses, distortions and dysfunctionalities of the Arab world all seemed to worsen during the past year. Here are the major trends that I believe define our region these days, and will persist for some years to come.