By Jonathan Spyer

An interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared in the Sunday Times this week. The interview took place in Jerusalem’s American Colony Hotel. It was concerned with Blair’s role as the Quartet’s Middle East envoy, and was written by journalist Lesley White. Journalist Lesley White is evidently not a specialist on the Middle East. I say “evidently” because the article contains a series of ludicrous errors which leave one slack-jawed in astonishment at the standards apparently now prevailing in this august publication.

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by Cinnamon Stillwell*

One can always count on University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole to excuse violence and hatred directed at Israel. At his blog, Informed Comment (which, judging by the references to the mythical Jenin “massacre” and the USS Liberty canard in the comments section, is read avidly by anti-Israel conspiracy theorists), Cole takes pains to explain away last week’s horrific bulldozer attack in Jerusalem.

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By Barry Rubin

The Israeli prisoner exchange with Hizballah is a psychological victory for both sides. Nevertheless, I don’t like the decision, I understand both ends of the debate over it, and my job is to analyze them. So rather than make some simple conclusion, I want to think out loud with you about all the factors involved.

For Israelis, the prime consideration–something a world which so often demonizes them fails to understand–is to feel that they have acted in a proper humane manner. Everyone can put themselves in the place of the two families who want their son’s bodies to come home rather than to be in the hands of their murderers.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Good afternoon dear people!

Well, this time, the mainstream media is actually beginning to cover the honor murder in Atlanta. I do not understand why they never covered the honor murder of the Said sisters in Dallas about which I have previously written many times at this blogsite. But–in only a matter of days, CNN not only wrote about it; they also turned to an alleged expert who says that honor murders are no different than domestic violence cases world-wide. …

Continue reading…

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by E. Haldun Solmazturk*

Policymakers and future historians may get whiplash from divergent analyses of where Turkey is headed. Some Turkish writers—The Turkish Daily News‘ Mustafa Akyol and Zaman’s Ali Aslan, for example — argue that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) have succeeded at melding Islam to modern democracy. Other writers — The Turkish Daily News’ Yusuf Kanlı or the Washington Institute’s Soner Cagaptay — are far more suspicious.

—The Editors

At the heart of the political debate in Turkey lies the tension between Islam and secularism. Is the former democratic and the latter, at least in Turkey, autocratic? Ömer Taşpinar, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institute, recently argued this case in Foreign Affairs (”The Old Turks’ Revolt,” November/December 2007). His thesis is trendy in certain circles, but it is dishonest. He bases his argument on false assumptions, cherry-picks data, and ignores context. What results is not so much scholarship as propaganda.

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By Andrew Whitehead

The chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has resigned.

Citing concerns that included frustration over CAIR’s failure to be more “proactive and positive in its promotion of Muslim civil rights”, to be “more inclusive of younger, less-religious Muslims and encourage regular turnover of leadership ranks to ensure an infusion of new ideas”, Parvez Ahmed has left the organization he served for many years.

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By Barry Rubin

We all know–though the Western media often doesn’t–that radical Arab nationalists, Islamists, and terrorists lie all the time. They then slander and threaten those who point out the truth.

Yet often, governments, journalists, and academics split the difference or even find the liars more credible since they are not governments, Westerners, or Jews.

There is one case after another of this situation. Some make global headlines like the Dura case, where French television covered up its staged broadcast claiming that Israel killed a boy in Gaza even when a French court found it was phony, or the supposed Jenin massacre, reported on the basis of one unknown Palestinian witness and maintained by many even after the UN found it phony.

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By Andrew Whitehead

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); has responded to residents’ concerns regarding the distribution of free copies of the Koran in a Houston, Texas neighborhood:

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/
0,3566,375061,00.html

Apparently some residents are upset over the free distribution of the books.

Sue Ann Pieri is quoted as saying,

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by Daniel Pipes*

“Since 9/11, there have been over 2,300 arrests connected to Islamist terrorism in Europe in contrast to about 60 in the United States.” Thus writes Marc Sageman in his influential new book, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century (University of Pennsylvania Press).

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By Jonathan Spyer

Since the agreement on the tahadiyeh (lull) was reached between Hamas and Israel on June 19, the border crossings between Israel and Gaza have already been closed six times in response to Palestinian rocket fire. Israeli officials acknowledge that none of these attacks was carried out by Hamas. Hamas, nevertheless, is keeping itself busy.

The organization’s military wing is putting in place preparations based on a comprehensive strategy for facing an expected eventual large IDF operation into Gaza. Hamas gunmen are training extensively to play their allotted roles within this strategy.

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by Cinnamon Stillwell*

While the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has long dominated the field, its highly politicized leadership’s inability to withstand criticism, inattention to radical Islam, and apologetic approach towards the West’s foes has left many Middle East studies scholars feeling unwelcome by their umbrella professional organization.

Enter the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Founded last year by Professors Bernard Lewis and Fouad Ajami, ASMEA offers an alternative to MESA’s post-colonialist biases and a venue for studying those elements of Islam and the Middle East that MESA’s leaders ignore or downplay.

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By Barry Rubin

Each day we’re told that radical Islamists, terrorists, and assorted extremists are going to moderate, so why not negotiate with them, appease them, defuse their grievances, have dialog, and then everything will be okay.

But, those who are doubtful, argue, shouldn’t we have learned from history that militant ideologies are not prone to compromise and ruthless dictators don’t change their stripes. You cannot appease them, they don’t go away; displays of weakness make them more aggressive.

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by Milena Uhlmann*

Conversion to Islam among native Europeans is on the rise. Many converts live at peace within their native societies; some convert only for marriage, and reject neither contemporary culture nor Europe’s Judeo-Christian values. A minority, however, embraces radical interpretations of Islam and can pose a security risk. The involvement of Muslim converts in recent terrorist attacks has raised concern in Europe about these “converts to terrorism.” While intelligence agencies and security services track international communications and guard borders, such homegrown terrorists pose just as potent a threat to the security of Western democracies. European security services and politicians remain unprepared to handle this growing phenomenon.

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By Barry Rubin

Here’s the most important thing I can tell you about the Middle East.

For more than a half-century, the region’s politics revolved around Arab nationalism. Individual states sought to have influence, leadership, or just to survive. The Arab-Israeli conflict was an important issue in this framework, though not the sole or even the most significant one.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

An Israeli Jew (Defense Minister Ehud Barak) shakes hands with a Shiite Arab (Iraqi President Jalal Talabani)… While I can understand why something like this is considered a “historic” moment, it is at the same time pathetic that it is considered a “historic” moment.

It is historic because an Arab/Muslim leader overcame years of convention and prejudice against Israel, and actually, formally recognized an Israeli leader. Perhaps the Coalition forces and contractors in Iraq have rubbed off on Talabani. Perhaps Talabani is starting to understand the democratic system he is operating in.

On the other hand, this moment is anti-climactic — two humans shaking hands. Israelis are almost always eager to be accepted on the international stage. Yet Arab leaders have treated Israelis as if they were dirty; as if when shaking hands, something Jewy would be left on Arab hands; as if there were no such thing as politeness or decorum.

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