AP Photo
January 31, 2009
"George Mitchell and Hamas"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"The United States cannot avoid Hamas any more than it could avoid the Viet Cong or the British could avoid the IRA. Hamas is legitimate because of its actions -- but mostly because it raises the issues that concern all Palestinians."
AP Photo
January 23, 2009
"Good News in Washington Nuance"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"Barack Obama's inaugural address, Hillary Clinton's confirmation testimony, George Mitchell's appointment, and Obama's remarks at the State Department are as good a start as we in the Arab world could expect from the new administration in Washington."
AP Photo
January 20, 2009
"The Post-Gaza Political Battle"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"The post-Gaza political battle to come in the Arab world will be far more complex and far-reaching than the military attacks that Gaza has witnessed in the past three weeks."
AP Photo
January 19, 2009
"Ceasefire in Gaza"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"The core issue to watch in the coming weeks and months is the balance between Israel's desire for unilateral control and dominance versus the Palestinians' determination to achieve liberation from the Israeli-American-led siege of Gaza and desire for explicit political legitimacy by formal diplomatic engagement."
AP Photo
January 14, 2009
"Israel's Siege of Washington"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"Israel is using the two arsenals it is most comfortable with - military force to kill, injure, terrorize and displace thousands of Palestinian civilians, and the equivalent political overkill to bludgeon the American political establishment into total submission."
AP Photo
January 10, 2009
"Moving Toward Gaza-Israel Diplomacy"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
The U.N. Security Council resolution is "a welcomed move if it stops the immediate killing and suffering, but it will not achieve anything lasting because it does not address the core issues in the conflict. I would list these as: From the Israeli side, ending attacks by miniature missiles and other small, home-made projectiles into southern Israel; and from the Palestinian side, ending Israel's attacks on and strangulation of the Gaza Strip."
AP Photo
January 7, 2009
"Gaza's Impact on the Arab World"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
"As governments in existing Arab states effectively ignore what is happening in Gaza -- to judge by their political immobility -- we will continue to witness the weakening impact, control and even the legitimacy of many of those regimes. We will also continue to see the rise of non-state actors who become so strong and credible that they should be called parallel states."
AP Photo
January 5, 2009
"Why Hamas (and Hizbullah) Will be Difficult to Defeat"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
Hamas and Hizbullah are the ideological step-children of the Likud Party and Ariel Sharon, and they are movements which fill the vacuum created by failed secular governing entities that have been inept, often corrupt, and sometimes Israeli puppets.
AP Photo
December 31, 2008
"Hanukkah and Hamas"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
The correct context in which to understand and analyze the current situation is that it is a war -- an active, bilateral Palestinian-Israeli war -- not unilateral Hamas rocketry. Imperial power and indigenous nationalism can go on fighting for decades, to no avail.
AP Photo
December 30, 2008
"A Marginalized Region"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, Middle East Initiative
A year-end analysis of the global status of the Arab world -- its problems and trends.
