By Andrew Whitehead

The Council on American-Islamic Relations - Canada (CAIR-CAN) recently issued a press release calling for “zero tolerance” regarding domestic abuse in Canada.

http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=2957_0_2_0_C

The press release involved a 16 year-old teenager, Aqsa Parvez, who was apparently strangled to death by her father for refusing to wear the traditional hijab outside her home. Her father has reportedly confessed to the murder.

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by Eyal Zisser*

On May 27, 2007, Syrians elected Bashar al-Assad to a second 7-year term as president in a referendum in which, according to results published two days later by the Ministry of Interior, Assad received the support of 97.62 percent of the voters, a slight improvement upon the 97.24 percent support he received in the first referendum.[1] Such results, though, have little significance. Syrian referendums are a government-orchestrated show and have nothing in common with normal democratic procedure. Nevertheless, the referendum is a reminder that Assad has survived seven years in power. His regime appears more stable than ever, no mean feat given that Bashar’s rule has coincided with perhaps the most difficult years the Baath regime has known in the past four decades.

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By Samir Ben-Layashi

This article discusses the social and political context of Morocco’s 2007 parliamentary elections, which brought surprising results. It attempts to explain why the moderate Islamic party, the PJD, did not achieve an overwhelming victory as was expected. It also explores why the formerly undefeatable socialist party, the USFP, lost popularity. Finally, it examines the remarkable comeback of the historically conservative Independent Party, the IP. The article points out that while the PJD may have lost on the national scale, it won in most of the big cites–the political, economic, and intellectual capitals of Morocco. The IP, on the other hand, succeeded mainly in the rural areas, where voting is largely influenced by state propaganda, notables, and family alliances.

The end of summer 2007 marked three important events in Morocco: the beginning of the academic school year, Ramadan, and elections for the lower chamber of parliament.^[1]

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By Phyllis Chesler

Last night I finally saw the film based on Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. I loved it—yes, even if it captures a pre-Taliban country more mythical than real. Nevertheless, the musical soundtrack, the recitation of classical poetry, the innocent kite-flying competitions in Kabul, (not to mention Homayoun Ershadi who strongly resembles Marcello Mastroianni), all comprise utterly charming scenes and characters carefully chosen and calibrated to help us distinguish between sophisticated and westernized Afghans who are non-violent, (I know many), and the barbarians amongst them.

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by Daniel Pipes*

Lavishing funds on Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to achieve peace has been a mainstay of Western, including Israeli, policy since Hamas seized Gaza in June. But this open spigot has counterproductive results and urgently must be stopped.

Some background: Paul Morro of the Congressional Research Service reports that, in 2006, the European Union and its member states gave US$815 million to the Palestinian Authority, while the United States sent it $468 million. When other donors are included, the total receipts come to about $1.5 billion.

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by Winfield Myers*

Whether from a desire to avoid being labeled as racist, from cowardice when confronted with the PR machine that is the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), or from slanted coverage in the mainstream media, presidential candidates of both parties take great pains to avoid commenting on jihad (Islamic holy war), even as they blame the West for terrorist acts committed against it, according to noted expert on Islam Robert Spencer.

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By Barry Rubin

The two main areas where the alliance of radical forces in the Middle East confront Western interests and pose a danger of major instability are Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons and Syria’s efforts to destabilize Iraq. This article considers these two issues. First, it examines what effect Iran’s obtaining nuclear weapons would have on Middle East politics, with an emphasis on scenarios that would occur even if Iran never actually uses them. Second, it asks why it is that the interests of Iran’s ally, Syria, compel it to destabilize Iraq.

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by Michael Rubin*

It’s been nearly two months since the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) sparked an international crisis with a major attack inside Turkey, and more than six weeks since President Bush promised Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Washington would aid Turkey’s fight against terrorism. Heady talk of intelligence sharing and cooperation followed and, indeed, may have been a factor in this weekend’s Turkish air strikes on PKK targets in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Yet at the same time the Bush administration — more precisely its increasingly assertive State Department — has embraced an ill-advised diplomatic strategy toward the PKK that will likely backfire on our long-standing NATO ally, and could serve to undermine what is left of President Bush’s “global war on terrorism.”

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By Ted Belman

Post Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority made it crystal clear that it will never recognize Israel as a “Jewish state”. Furthermore, it made it crystal clear that it will not compromise on Jerusalem making it a capital offense to do so. Yet negotiations continue. Either Olmert doesn’t believe the PA or what is more likely, he will still cut a deal where Israel is denied that recognition and will divide Jerusalem according to Arab demands.

Do not think for a moment that these entrenched Arab positions are negotiable. They aren’t and never have been.

Ever since Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State in 1896, the Arabs, with one exception, Faisal ibn Hussein, have opposed it.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Aqsa Parvez, the tragic sixteen year old slain by her father in an honor killing in Canada, was buried secretly and privately. Her teenage friends arrived hours too late at the Islamic Center where they had been told her funeral would take place. The kind of family and culture capable of honor murder (she and her family are all Pakistani immigrants) is also quite capable of denying her Canadian friends the opportunity of paying their last respects.

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By Barry Rubin

Let’s say you rule an Arab state in the Persian Gulf–Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates. How does the world look to you right now?

Remember, of course, that what you think is not necessarily what you say. Unfortunately, there are many Western observers who don’t seem to understand this simple point. Publicly, Gulf leaders complain about the United States and the alleged Israeli threat, flaunting their dedication to the Arab cause, passionate commitment to the Palestinians, and beliefs in Muslim solidarity even toward neighboring Iran.

Privately, it’s something altogether different.

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by Steven Shamrak

Israel is trying to persuade hundreds of thousands of its citizens living overseas to return home (about 650,000 Israelis live abroad). The project, dubbed “coming home”, will try to lure Israelis living abroad to come back with tax breaks, employment and small business loans. “Every Israeli, even if he lives abroad, is Israeli at heart and knows that his home is here. I call on all Israelis to return home,” Olmert said. This is another misguided publicity stunt of the desperate, politically bankrupt government.

First of all it should be, “Every Jew,” not just Israeli, Mr. Olmert. And the way things go there will be, G-d forbid, no Israel to come home to, as corrupt, leftist self-haters continue the implementation of the current policy of national self-obliteration.

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by Noah Pollak*

Daniel Levy has of late become one of the most sought-after leftist commentators on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and one of the most frequently quoted and interviewed pundits on the subject in the mainstream press. His name regularly appears in news stories in the New York Times and Washington Post, among other papers. Cultivating an image of expertise and sobriety, he is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, which advertises itself as a center-left source of serious analysis. The day after Annapolis, he debated David Frum for 40 minutes on bloggingheads.tv, the video of which was posted at the end of last week and which has now been posted on the New York Times’s website.

Levy’s performance was astonishing. His preferred tactic was to repeatedly digress from the debate in order to lecture Frum on what he claimed to be the “historic context” of the conflict; his appearance on Bloggingheads is one of the most misleading performances I’ve ever seen on the conflict from a putatively serious person. This is a long fact-check, but I think it’s a necessary one.

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by Daniel Pipes*

After the arrest of terrorist suspects, the case often goes silent for so long that one forgets about them. I published a column on “L.A.’s Thwarted Terror Spree” over two years ago. Now, suddenly, Levar Haley Washington, 28, and Kevin James, 31, have reappeared in the news, having pleaded guilty to the charge of seditious conspiracy. Washington also pleaded guilty to using a firearm to further the conspiracy. Both face up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and Washington could have an additional five years to life for the firearms offense.

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By Gary C. Gambill

The article examines the evolution of three distinct poles of Islamism in Lebanon and how they have adapted to changes in local political and security conditions over the past three decades.

Although Lebanon’s ethno-sectarian demography is manifestly unsuitable for the establishment of an Islamic state, the salience of militant Islamist movements in this tiny Mediterranean country has few parallels. Above and beyond the regional conditions fueling Islamic revivalism, Lebanon’s weak state, acute socioeconomic and political inequities, and experience of pervasive external intervention converged to create an unusually permissive environment for Islamists. Under these circumstances, radical Islamism has become a powerful instrument of communitarian social mobilization and an effective vehicle for drawing resources from the outside world.

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