The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Links for October 8th

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 8th:



  • FT.com / World - Vision of Palestine at odds with the world - "Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu grabs a green marker and jumps from his seat to sketch a map of the West Bank on a whiteboard. With vigorous strokes, the former Israeli prime minister and current leader of the rightwing Likud party outlines his plan for tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    What emerges is not what the Palestinians and almost the entire international community have in mind, which is a contiguous Palestinian state that follows broadly the borders in place before the 1967 war and the Israeli occupation. Instead, Mr Netanyahu wants to see the West Bank divided into a collection of disconnected economic zones with dedicated business projects."

  • Syrian troops gather on Lebanese border - Yahoo! News - Again. Or is it ongoing?

  • McCain'sh - Moroccan play on words: McCain'sh = there isn't = No McCain. They even made a T-shirt!

  • Of Kif & Remittances - Parminedes' Fallacy on the dramatic rise of remittances in Morocco, and the continuing importance of hashish cultivation as an export-oriented cash crop

  • MB boycott Cairo and Ain Shams SU elections - "The Muslim Brothers are boycotting the student union elections in Cairo and Ain Shams Universities to protest security interference." Note that this previously led to the 2006 "martial arts demo" as clashes between thugs and MB students escalated.

  • Dar Al Hayat - Arab Pessimists - Muhammad Salah on pessimists and optimists in the Arab media

  • Egypt family attacked in sectarian dispute - Reuters.com - How terribly sad: "CAIRO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - An Egyptian Christian man angry at his sister's conversion to Islam and marriage to a Muslim broke into her Cairo apartment and sprayed gunfire on the family of three, killing the husband, security sources said on Tuesday."