September 22, 2010
"Palestinians Should Regroup, Not Quit"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri, senior research fellow at the Belfer Center's Dubai Initiative, writes: Neither Clinton nor Abbas resonated very much with anyone beyond their immediate circle of aides. Their activities seemed as much a made-for-television special event as a real life political dynamic that was anchored in their condition and wellbeing of millions of people. Only the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seemed more directly associated with his citizenry and their national politics, as he pledged to continue the settlements after the freeze ends next week in order to maintain intact his coalition of right-wing parties.
September 6, 2010
"Contempt for the Governed"
Op-Ed
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Senior Research Fellow Rami Khouri at the Belfer Center's Dubai Initiative wrote: If you're wondering why the Arab world is not very excited about the prospects of serious breakthroughs and real justice being achieved in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations that were launched in Washington Thursday, perhaps the place to look is not there, but rather in the underlying political governance and decision-making systems that define the Arab world.
September 1, 2010
"Mixing Middle East Diplomacy and Midterm Elections"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center's Dubai Initiative, wrote: Conventional wisdom says that US President Barack Obama would not make serious moves to pressure Israelis and Palestinians in their peace negotiations before the US mid-term congressional elections in November ... Well, conventional wisdom is being put to the test in a serious way this week, as Obama personally participates in the first session of the Israeli-Palestinian direct negotiations in Washington this week.
August 25, 2010
"Not An Exciting Peace Prospect"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Senior Research Fellow, Rami Khouri, of the Belfer Center's Dubai Initiative wrote: It is hard to be excited or optimistic about the prospects for resumed direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations next week. All the important factors comprising the diplomatic process are either politically anemic or totally absent.
August 18, 2010
"Zionism's Perpetual Victimhood"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri, Senior Research Fellow for the Belfer Center's Dubai Initiative, wrote: The capacity of Zionism and the leaders of Israel to be both heroic to the Jewish people and compulsive liars to the rest of the world is one of the great tragedies of our time -- and it is on display again these days in the ongoing media campaign to prepare American public opinion for a possible Israeli military strike against Iran.
July 30, 2010
Novel Good News, Same Old Bad News
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"The Saudi-Syrian lunch in Beirut is a positive and welcomed move that should keep things quiet for some months," writes Rami Khouri in his Op-Ed for Agence Global. Long-term, structural stability in this entire region will remain elusive, however, as long as domestic governance remains non-democratic, citizenship rights remain imprecise, security agencies remain all-powerful, human rights remain exotic, economic conditions remain volatile and polarized, foreign armies march around or establish bases nearly at will, and Israel continues to practice 19th Century-style settler-colonialism without hindrance."
July 19,2010
The False Promise of ‘Direct Talks’
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Rami Khouri views with pessimism the results of the recent talks held between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu on the Arab-Israeli conflict. "Left unresolved, the Arab-Israeli conflict does not go away," he writes in his weekly Op-Ed for the Agence Global
July 7, 2010
Fadlallah’s Inspiring Life
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah "went beyond Hizbullah's focus on resistance, to embrace and develop the totality of human, communal and national dimensions that he believed was the obligation of any Muslim and any human being," writes Rami Khouri in his weekly Op-Ed for the Agence Global.
July 12, 2010
The Price of Truth in Anglo-America
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"Do the US and UK governments want us to act as free men and women, except when the issue touches Israeli sensitivities?", asks Rami Khouri in his weekly Op-Ed for Agence Global.
July 5, 2010
Beyond Islamists
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
The strategies of political containment or armed opposition to powerful Islamic groups like Hamas, Hizbullah and the Taliban have yielded unsatisfactory results so far. Addressing and ultimately relieving the underlying grievances which drive the Islamist groups of all kinds from Middle East to South Asia is the key to dealing with them.
