As many as 30,000 Shi’as marched through the streets of Basra to demand direct elections of the new Iraqi government in June rather than the caucus system favored by the US and most of the Iraqi Governing Council. This marks an increase in the tension between Shi’as, notably Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and the Coalition Provisional [...]

The Council on Foreign Relations has posted a comparison of the the potential presidential candidates’ positions on foreign affairs. It includes positions on topics such as the global war on terror, the war in Iraq, the Middle East peace process and much else.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest Islamist group in the world, has elected a new murshid, or Supreme Guide, after the death of previous leader Maamoun Al Hodeibi last Thursday.
The new murshid is Muhammad Mahdi Akef, 75, a veteran of Nasser’s political jails and a former MP. He said his focus would be convincing the [...]

The Khaleej Times reports that Kuwait will build a “security barrier” along its 217km-long border with Iraq to prevent infiltrators from entering Kuwait and protect nearby oil facilities.
Following the 1991 Gulf War that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, Kuwait installed an electrified fence, constructed a sand berm and a deep trench to hinder infiltrators from [...]

Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud is calling for an international definition of terrorism in what seems to be an attempt to defend Hizbullah:
“It is not enough to declare war on what one deems terrorism without giving a precise and exact definition,” Lahoud said in a meeting with foreign diplomats on Monday.
He also said it was [...]

The BBC reports that Algerian opposition figures are calling for the creation of an interim government and an independent body to supervise the upcoming elections.
The statement was signed by 11 members of the opposition parties.
It accuses the incumbent Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahyia, of supporting President Bouteflika and alleges that he cannot be trusted [...]

In an apparent bid to showcase its own war on terror, Saudi TV is airing confessions of alleged Al Qaeda militants on state TV, Reuters reports.
It was not clear if any of the Islamic militants shown on Monday were directly involved in any attacks. They were not named and their faces were digitally obscured.
“We [...]

MERIP recently published a piece by Beirut and Baghdad-based journalist Nicholas Blanford as part of its Middle East Report Online Series on Iraq’s growing sectarian divisions:
Shiite political ambitions are on a collision course with Sunni Arab fears of being left out. If the Shiites fail to receive what they feel is their due and if [...]

It seems everybody these days is finally accepting that the intelligence on Iraq’s WMD program was fundamentally flawed and influenced by politics. It may be that President Bush’s recent decision to pull out the 400 WMD-finding team from Iraq that is sparking the debate, but others have been ruminating about this for a while.
The Carnegie [...]

According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Shi’a Muslim are being harassed in Egypt. A bizarre case, although not at all unlikely — similar harassment and imprisonment has happened in the past, notably with Ba’hais in Upper Egypt.
Read their press release below.

Michael Dobbs writes in the Washington Post today about the attack on Middle Eastern Studies by groups such as CampusWatch:
These are the best of times and the worst of times for the once-neglected field of Middle East studies. Enrollments in Arabic-language courses and area studies programs have boomed in the wake of the Sept. 11, [...]

The Head Heeb, an excellent blog on Africa (and much else), is beginning a series of posts on Africans in the Middle East with this piece linking to a Washington Post article on black Iraqis. Definitely worth following.

The experiment with the Iraqi economy continues, with CPA officials enacting laws that free market fundamentalists in the US would only dream of, reports the New York Times’ Daphne Eviatar:
In a stroke, L. Paul Bremer III, who heads the Coalition Provisional Authority, wiped out longstanding Iraqi laws that restricted foreigners’ ability to own property and [...]

A panel organized by the State Department has concluded that the sinking of the USS Liberty in 1967 was the result of negligence on both the Israeli and American side.
The official said that though Israel should be held responsible for the attack, the United States was also negligent for failing to notify Israel the Liberty [...]

Chris McGreal of the Guardian has written an interesting analysis of the water problem in the Middle East in light of a recent water deal between Israel and Turkey.
Last week, Turkey agreed an extraordinary plan to ship millions of tons of water in giant tankers to Israel in a deal linked to hi-tech weapons shipments [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has addressed the foreign press corps in Israel. Nothing very new in his answers — no going back to 1967 borders, no dismantling of all the settlements in what he called Judea and Samaria, and no consideration of any other peace plan than the roadmap. But still worth a read.