By Jerry Levin President Obama’s address to the Muslim world certainly moved a significant distance down a confidence building road with Islamic States but it was not far enough. Not by a long shot. With […]

By Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria Israel is in the throes of an intense debate about its identity and future. Failure by the Olmert regime to dislodge Hamas from the Gaza and itself being replaced by […]

By Gilad Atzmon – Denver, Colorado I am very lucky to be in America this week, to watch a place being transformed, to smell the refreshing scent of restored liberty, to glance at the euphoric […]

By John V. Whitbeck  President Barack Obama’s much anticipated speech in Cairo was truly astounding. After all the months of lead-up and hype, few could have imagined that this speech would contain nothing of substance. […]

By Dan Lieberman – Jerusalem Israel’s latest strategy for complicating the peace process is to delay discussions of Jerusalem’s future. Steering debate to other agendas enables Israel to establish more "facts on Jerusalem ground," which […]

By Deepak Tripathi The upheaval in America’s relations with the Muslim world after 9/11, as well as its content and language, make the eagerly-awaited address by President Obama in Cairo on June 4 an event […]

By Ludwig Watzal – Bonn Alastair Crooke, Resistance. The Essence of the Islamist Revolution, Pluto Press, London 2009. With the failure of the ‘war on terror’ and the mess into which the Bush administration has […]

By Franklin Lamb – Near the Syrian border northeast of Baalbek I had not planned to watch Obama’s Cairo speech on June 5, since I had an appointment in the plush Bekaa Valley, near Baalbek-Hermel […]

By Terry Lacey – Jakarta President Obamas Cairo speech was intended to awaken Arabs and Muslims and invite them to a reconciliation with a new America. But the focus on Egypt and proximity of Palestine […]

By Barack Obama I am honoured to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over 1,000 years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, […]

By Remi Kanazi Who doesn’t want to blame all the problems Israel/Palestine is currently facing on newly appointed Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu? He refuses to endorse the internationally recognized two-state solution, he is far […]

By Stuart Littlewood – London Whenever western leaders lecture us about a solution to the Israel-Palestine problem, they rely on those comfortable, woolly words "negotiation" and “peace process”… it’s a convenient crutch. Kick away the […]

By Kevin Zeese There is long-time saying about politicians: you cannot trust their words, but must judge them by their actions. President Obama is very good with words, perhaps the best communicator we have seen […]

By Belen Fernandez Thomas Friedman’s June 3 Op-Ed column on the New York Times website begins with the retelling of Friedman’s "favorite Middle East joke," which he declares has just given President Obama "a good […]

By George S. Hishmeh There are great expectations that a new, friendlier era of US policy towards Arab and Muslim countries will be ushered in by Barack Obama’s trip to the Middle East. Not only […]

By Hasan Afif El-Hasan Upon his return from the much anticipated talks with President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost no time stating his government’s uncompromising positions on Palestinians’ statehood: There will be no […]

By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth  Talks between Barack Obama and the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships over the past fortnight have unleashed a flood of media interest in the settlements Israel has been constructing on Palestinian […]

Aijaz Zaka Syed – Dubai Are the winds of change indeed sweeping the Middle East, or is it my hyperactive imagination coupled with my Obamania that is playing tricks? Ahead of President Obama’s visit to […]