Links for May 16-23 2010

I'm halfway through a trip to New York and Rabat, with not much time to blog. Yesterday I got around to putting up a bunch of links for the past week, although I'm sure there's a lot I missed. Here are they are...

• New report about carcinogens and fetotoxic materials in Gaza war wounded

  It never ends.

• West doesn't want a democratic Middle East | The Japan Times Online

  Which may lead to, ultimately, an undemocratic West.

• The Muslim Brotherhood's (and Egypt's) Qutb Conundrum - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  This piece raises an important and interesting question but I wonder: maybe the MB clings on to the Qutb of "In the Shadow of the Quran" and "Social Justice in Islam" rather than the one of "Milestones"?

• Palestine: the forgotten mandate - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition

  Read this: "With the scholarly work of the Israeli new historians Ilan Pappe and Benny Morris, plus Catling’s records, the truth surrounding the creation of the state of Israel becomes clearer: the Jewish Agency provisional government did not accept the Jewish state designated under UN resolution 181 with the intention of abiding by the General Assembly goal of providing a state for two peoples in the land of Palestine. Rather, it sought to use it as a means of gaining control of all the land and ridding it of its indigenous people so far as possible."

• Christopher Hitchens: 'I was right and they were wrong' | Books | The Guardian

  Hmm, not really. His new book is well-written, as always, but self-indulgent.

• Youth Against Fashionism « THE BOURSA EXCHANGE

  TBA is back to fight the new trend of wearing shorts in Egypt - ma yenfaash!

• OneMideast.org

  New site on Aran-Israeli conflict.

• BBC News - Saudi editor Jamal Khashoggi resigns from of al-Watan

  Won't miss him but he went for wrong reason - criticizing Salafism. These Saudis and Salafis are a threat to humanity.

• Mélange des genres en Arabie saoudite : quand la photo est bonne ! | Culture et politique arabes

  Good post on the Saudi royals' finally having their picture taken with women.

• Lebanon and Syria agree to back Hizbollah - The National Newspaper

  It's either one extreme or the other in Lebanon, never the middle ground.

• I'm baffled by Noam Chomsky's contradictions on Palestine - Ali Abunimah

  Abunimah goes after Chomsky on the Fayyad issue. I don't wholly agree but food for thought.

• China-Arab Cooperation Forum and Hunan’s garlic farmers

  All that hummus, made with Chinese garlic?

• ElBaradei’s prolonged absences from public confuse followers - The National Newspaper

  People are getting nervous...

• Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture | Found in translation

  Renowned Egyptian translator Bashir El-Sebaie wins prize.

• The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment | The New York Review of Books

  The article that everyone is talking about.

• Israel impatient with international effort to thwart Iran's nuclear ambition - WaPo

  I'm pretty impatient with international efforts to thwart Israel's territorial ambitions.

• Beware the Warnings of al Qaeda - International - The Atlantic

  Good post on taking Morocco's allegations of recent "al-Qaeda" arrests with a grain of salt.

• South Sudan president sworn in; referendum is next

  Crucial year ahead for Sudan.

• Look how they portray Israel: that it is patient for letting Obama try sanctions before bombing.

  To fix the NPT and tackle the Iran question, you have to address the problems of Israel and India.

• Fluffy Farhad By Negar Azimi | Bidoun Magazine

  On controversial Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri - a good read.

• gary's choices | Giving the finger to Iran (and Turkey and. . .)

  Gary Sick has a very good piece on the bad timing of the new sanctions against Iran.

• Head of Egypt`s mint resigns after cash is stolen - Reuters -

  Wow.

• From Fermilab, a New Clue to Explain Human Existence? - NYTimes.com

  Reality can't seem to make up its mind.

• Cairo 2030: New vision, new city

  A call for the government to step up to the plate.

Comments

[palestinian]

I would like to hear you thoughts on Fayyad and which points exactly, in Ali's article, do you disagree with?

Chomsky has always criticized the neo-colonialist attitude permeating American foreign policy by letting the natives do the dirty work for the head in Washington (or other European capitals, for that matter). Suddenly he is praising exactly these forces, or at least a symbol of these policies, in Palestine.

Is there something lurking in the shadows we know nothing or little about in regards to Palestine? Something which Chomsky and others might know but does not get publicized?

Will the nightmare of multiple Palestinian statelets be realized in the next two years? Is the corrupt PA working towards realizing that goal? Is this what Chomsky is referring to?

Or is he simply "losing it"?

[issandr]

Although the general attitude of Fayyad does appear to be doing others' dirty work in many respects, I do like some of his approach, re: creating facts on the ground, not waiting for a deal. I think some of that is important and positive. Of course it is outweighed by his weak response to constant Israeli violations, such as the recent burning of the trees of Hebron, and his inability to use Palestinian security forces to counter it. I think Palestinians should make the best of a terrible situation and leverage Fayyad's facts-on-the-ground rhetoric to subvert the rest of his (or Abbas's) agenda. Between division and the international conspiracy against them, Palestinians have very little room to maneuver - I'd like to see them quietly take advantage of openings rather than do ineffective grandstanding.

As for Abunimah's argument about Chomsky's inconsistency, I suppose it stands. But I am less inclined to believe that there are politicians who are 100% puppets and those that are 100% independent in a globalized world and imperially-controlled region.