Hasan Abu Nimah

Just how much influence does the Israel lobby have? Sparked by a study published by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard, a new debate on this question is raging.

by Hasan Abu Nimah

Last week's revelation in the Daily Mirror of the existence of a UK government memo recording an April 2004 conversation between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush, in which Bush reportedly proposed to bomb Al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar, only to be talked out of it by Blair, has caused universal shock. Until recently, most people still believed that the sanctity of journalism and media would be somehow respected, no matter how far any disagreement had reached.

by Hasan Abu Nimah

by Hasan Abu Nimah

Despite hard lessons and costly results, Washington continues to navigate its foreign policy using the Israeli political compass. This has been clearly harming American interests worldwide. It has particularly worsened American relations with the Arab and Islamic world at a time when such relations need urgently to be repaired.

Why Washington insists on treading the dangerous route of putting Israeli desires before its own basic strategic interests is a question that haunts many. One may ask why anyone should be able to define US interests better than policy makers in Washington themselves. And the answer to this very valid question is that neither the good nor the awful results of American policy affect America alone; they affect all of us. We share the costs and therefore we have every right to be concerned, even to question the validity and the wisdom of the foreign policy of any country when the impact of the consequences so directly bears upon us.

US foreign policy does not operate in a vacuum. We are concerned because our interests are so closely involved and often threatened.

If the US president decides to reward Sharon for any reason with American assets, then that is an American matter. But when such a reward is paid for by the Palestinian people, then the president's decision is illegal and wrong, and that gives the right to the victims to oppose and question it; moreover, those charged with defending and enforcing international legality and law also have a duty to act.

by Hasan Abu Nimah

Bombers struck again with utmost viciousness at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh last Saturday. The pattern remains relatively consistent; hitting soft targets, killing innocent civilians, attacking countries whose policies are supposed to be close to Washington. There are also some differences compared with past attacks. Last October, bomb attacks on the Egyptian resort of Taba, on the border with Israel, seem to have specifically targeted Israeli tourists. The fact that most of the victims of the Sharm El Sheikh attacks were Egyptian and Muslim will be used to argue that the bombers' violent campaign is indiscriminate and not directed by anger at Western policies. But these attacks seem to have been targeted at Egypt's tourism industry as a whole, and therefore indirectly at the Egyptian government, which, according to statements from extremist websites, is seen as being a servant of the United States. In those circumstances, the cruel logic of the masterminds of this atrocity would calculate that killing Muslims is justified. But whatever intentions we might read into these attacks, the end result is that no innocent person is safe, Muslim or otherwise.

It is clear then, that the wave of attacks the world has witnessed must be universally condemned and rejected and all efforts should be made to eradicate this threat from its very roots. The problem is how?

by Hasan Abu Nimah

Syria has just ended its military and intelligence presence in Lebanon. This, no doubt, is a step in the right direction. It will enable Lebanon to continue to build its political institutions and its struggling economy away from the direct influence of foreign intervention.

A prosperous, democratic and healthy Lebanon is a substantial contribution to renovating the entire region after extended periods of war, political stagnation and regional strife. But by completely fulfilling its obligations under Security Council Resolution 1559, will Syria be free from further international pressure? It is unlikely.

Syria was not an occupier of Lebanon although the extended stay of its military forces and the expansion of its political influence, beyond the expiry of the circumstances which necessitated Syrian military intervention three decades ago, made it look like one. But Syria has been targeted for other reasons.

The war on Iraq was the first stage in a comprehensive plan for the region. Syria was meant to be next, once the Iraq issue was settled and Saddam's regime was removed. Secretary of State Colin Powell wasted no time after the Iraq operation was "officially" over, heading for Damascus with a long list of demands, which the Syrians accepted. They agreed to curb the activities of the Palestinian opposition factions and to offer intelligence cooperation, while stopping former Iraqi officials from seeking refuge in their territory. They also agreed to monitor their border with Iraq to block infiltration of "terrorists" and they made several overtures to start unconditional peace talks with Israel.

by Hasan Abu Nimah

The argument about whether the final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians would be based on two states or on one binational state is heating up. Supporters of the two-state solution are struggling hard, in the face of adverse realities on the ground, to save that option. They know quite well that even if the validity of the binational option is in the end established, it will be a very hard and long road before such a solution can take root.

Many in the region see this possibility as a direct threat to their interests. Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher was recently quoted in Haaretz as urging the need to "push ahead with the roadmap, before it's too late". Probably the roadmap, in the minister's view is the only available scheme for implementing the two-state solution, which he described "as a Jordanian national interest today, and this explains our strong commitment to all efforts aimed at arriving at such a solution, whether the Arab initiative or later the roadmap".