Ariga: February 2000

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February 2000

Feb 29 2000
Two Rivals Draw Closer Together -- From Stratfor, Inc. -- For the first time in 20 years, Syria and Iraq have established diplomatic ties. In a region that is enjoying a period of comparative stability, this development is significant. These first, tentative steps toward rapprochement between Damascus and Baghdad are initially driven by concerns over petroleum and water. But ultimately this new relationship will kick off a larger, strategic dynamic - one that draws in Turkey, Russia and Iran.

Feb 27 2000
THE LOST HONOR OF DAVID LEVY By Uri Avnery There are junkies of many kinds. Heroin junkies, Hashish junkies, Nicotine junkies, Alcohol junkies. David Levy is an honor junkie... To the full article
Feb 24 2000
Israeli Government abandons plan to legalize torture B'Tselem welcomes the decision of the Israeli government to abandon plans to legalize the use of physical force in General Security Service interrogations, but warns against a return to the use of torture with impunity. Full report

Feb 23 2000
Mubarak Supports Fundamentalists - In Lebanon From Stratfor.com DAILY GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE UPDATESIn a surprise visit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Lebanon Feb. 19 and issued a statement supporting Hezbollah in its conflict with occupying Israeli troops. In doing so, Mubarak puts a damper on the Israel-Syria peace process and supports the new government of Iran. Both actions help him contain Egypt's own fundamentalists. See the full analysis.

The Sleeping Giant is an international online resource detailing the intensifying threat of non-conventional terrorism from transnational groups and rogue nations. The latest update includes: Saddam's elite troops prime poison missiles - GF, Lies and Fairytales - Russia Accused of Violating Pact With Secrecy on Its Germ Weapons - Japan Cops Admit Defeat in Kidnap - Don't Poison the Boss: Royal Porter Fired for Talking About Cyanide - Quest for Immunity: Will the vaccine protect soldiers against airborne spores? - Two weapons incinerator workers exposed to nerve agent - Briton May be Head of Basson Empire

Feb 22 1999
Gershon Baskin of IPCRI has a report on a four-day training session for Israeli and Palestinian educators, as well as a letetr to the President of the European Parliament
A report on the state of the Middle East Peace Quilt -- from Len and Libby Traubman

Feb 10 2000
Stratfor's analysis of the Lebanon situation, especially as it regards the Israel-Syrian relationship is interesting because of its unabashedly non-partisan approach. This is an analysis that is neither Israeli nor Syrian, and by virtue of that neutrality may be more prescient than some of the stuff coming out of the Israeli and Arab press. Check it out at http://www.stratfor.com/MEAF/specialreports/special33.htm

Feb 9 2000
Regarding Lebanon -- Ariga recommends a visit to the extraordinary personal site created by Yehoshua Zamir, Survival is not Enough, dedicated to his son, Yaron, killed in battle on the first day of the Lebanon War back on June 6 1982. The site is a diary of letters and essays and includes his correspondence with some of the politicians who decided on the war. As for the current events regarding Lebanon, please go to the Ariga Middle East News page

Feb 7 2000
No return by Erwin

Photography as Art by Erwin Schenkelbach "Almost 160 years from those historical moments when the two Frenchmen, Jacques Mande Daguerre and Joseph Niecephore Niepce and, independently of them, the Englishman Henry Fox Talbot created the first photographic images, a bitter dispute has been under way: Whether or not Photography is Art" A photo essay by Erwin Schenkelbach, new at the Ariga gallery

Feb 1 2000

From: Michael Dahan at mdahan@ibm.net reports the establishment of Middle East Virtual Community (MEViC), a ground breaking regional effort to network academics and intellectuals in the Middle East through the use of information technology and telecommunications. We are seeking to create a virtual community of academics and intellectuals in order to foster joint cooperation and understanding. Aside from quarterly face to face meetings of the steering committee, all communication will take place via the Internet. At this early stage of the project, we currently have participants from Palestine, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Gulf, Turkey and Morocco and we recently met together in Amman, Jordan where the steering committee was officially founded, and have had subsequent meetings in Cairo. A concrete result of the building of the network will be the planned Virtual Conference in the summer of the year 2000. The topic of the inaugural conference has been set as "People Across Borders", and will deal with political, social, cultural and legal aspects of the issue. This conference will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and will address real human, political and economic issues facing the peoples of the region. This will be accompanied by an inclusive capacity building process that provides each participant with the necessary training and support to come online. The MEViC Website is located at www.mevic.org, where there are calls for papers and plans for conferences. For further information, please contact Michael Dahan, MEViC Coordinator at mdahan@ibm.net, or Riad al Khouri, Chair, MEViC Steering Committee, at: meba@nets.com.jo

Jeremy Traylen reports the establishment of http://www.PeaceMiracles.com, which chronicles all the many breakthroughs for world peace from the last 22 years, beginning with Anwar Sadat's voyage to Israel in 1977. He says that Peace Miracles is dedicated to the memory of both Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin and making the site inspired him to build another site, called The Peace Channel, which wants to become a forum for the youth of the world to discuss and take action on the world they are inheriting in the 21st century. That site is at www.PeaceChannel.com

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