by JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary, on DECEMBER 30, 2012: Below are excerpts of a couple commentaries and articles about Muslims and Christmas — including observing the holiday, volunteering, making charitable donations, and interfaith collaboration. This photo (front page and left) is of Arab American Associations of New York volunteers sorting Christmas toys [...]
by JULIE POUCHER HARBIN, EDITOR, ISLAMiCommentary on OCTOBER 31, 2012: With the weekend Eid al Adha “ceasefire” broken in Syria, and continuous fighting since, there appears to be less and less hope of a resolution to the sectarian conflict in Syria that is turning into a civil war and an international quagmire. Noted Syria scholar, [...]
by RAKAN AL-FAKIH for THE DAILY STAR on OCTOBER 8, 2012: HERMEL, Lebanon: The northeastern border with Syria was once porous but calm, with smugglers regularly ferrying food and fuel between the two countries. But now, the dynamics have changed: Fighters and weapons have replaced consumer goods as the hot commodities, and fighting erupts frequently [...]
Juan Cole: Top 10 Ways the Middle East Has Changed
by JUAN COLE for INFORMED COMMENT on DECEMBER 29, 2012: 1. The end of any potential ‘two state solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel’s far right wing Likud government, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, built or committed to build thousands of new family domiciles for Israeli squatters in Palestinian territory. In the absence of a Palestinian [...]
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