Alternet by Stephen Zunes October 1, 2001 [Source]
1. Who are the Arabs?
2. Who are the Muslims?
3. Why is there so much violence and political instability?
4. Why has the Middle East been the focus of U.S. concern about international terrorism?
5. What kind of political systems and alliances exist in the Middle East?
6. What is the impact of oil in the Middle East?
7. What is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about?
8. What has been the legacy of the Gulf War?
9. How has the political situation in Afghanistan evolved and how is it connected to the Middle East?
10. How have most Middle Eastern governments reacted to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath?
Category: Middle East
Middle East Overview
The Bush Administration & the Israeli-Palestinian Stalemate
Foreign Policy In Focus October 1, 2001 by Stephen Zunes [Source]
Whether or not the shaky cease-fire in effect since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States holds, the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace remain dim…
Don’t Bomb Afghanistan
Alternet September 19, 2001 by Stephen Zunes [source]
It appears that the United States is preparing for a major military strike against Afghanistan. There is no question that the United States needs to respond forcefully to bring the perpetrators of last week’s terrorist attack to justice and to prevent future attacks. A large-scale military action against that country, however, would be a big mistake. We are not fighting a government with clear fixed targets, such as command and control centers, intelligence headquarters or major military complexes. A loose network of terrorist cells does not have the kind of tangible assets that can be seriously crippled by military strikes…
U.S. Policy Toward Political Islam
Alternet.org, September 12, 2001, by Stephen Zunes The perceived growth of radical Islamic movements throughout the Middle East and beyond has not only caused major political upheaval in the countries directly affected but has placed political Islam at the forefront of concerns voiced by U.S. policymakers. One unfortunate aspect of this newfound attention has been the way it has strengthened ugly stereotypes of Muslims already prevalent in the West. This occurs despite the existence of moderate Islamic segments and secular movements that are at least as influential as radicals in the political life of Islamic countries. Even though the vast majority of the world’s Muslims oppose terrorism, religious intolerance, and the oppression of women, these remain the most prevalent images of the Muslim faith throughout the Western world. Such popular misconceptions about Islam and Islamic movements—often exacerbated by the media, popular culture, and government officials—have made it particularly difficult to challenge U.S. policy.
U.S. Aid to Israel: Interpreting the “Strategic Relationship” (audio)
Report from a CPAP briefing by Stephen Zunes Jan. 26, 2001
Also at: The Internet Archive, ThirdWorldTraveler.com
WindowintoPalestine.blogspot.com & Palestine Center.
“The U.S. aid relationship with Israel is unlike any other in the world,” said Stephen Zunes during a January 26 Palestine Center presentation. “In sheer volume, the amount is the most generous foreign aid program ever between any two countries,” added Zunes… He explored the strategic reasoning behind the aid, asserting that it parallels the “needs of American arms exporters” and the role “Israel could play in advancing U.S. strategic interests in the region”….
Audio: The Evolution of U.S. Policy on Jerusalem: International Law versus the Rule of Force
For the Record No. 80, 2 August 2001
[Source & Audio, 40 mins.] July 26, 2001, by Stephen Zunes
“Recent moves by the Clinton and the current Bush administrations regarding Jerusalem have surprised even the most cynical observers of U.S. foreign policy for their disregard of … international legal conventions and their departure from the stated positions of their previous administrations,” said Stephen Zunes at a 26 July 2001 Center lecture. Zunes … explained the U.S. has become increasingly accepting of Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem, which is in violation of international law…
Overview of Self-Determination Issues in the Middle East
By Stephen Zunes June 5, 2001, SelfDetermine.irc
[source is no longer available]
As in much of the third world, many of the national boundaries of the Middle East and North Africa are artificial creations of the colonial era. Because most of the region’s inhabitants are Muslim Arabs and thanks to relatively high tolerance levels for minorities in traditional Islamic societies, the denial of self-determination has not been as widespread as in many parts of the world. Still, disputes in the Middle East involving people struggling for the right of self-determination remain some of the most dangerous and intractable conflicts in the world today. The Ottoman Empire ruled most of the Middle East for nearly five centuries. Religious minorities were granted a high level of self-governance, including their own court systems…
http://selfdetermine.irc-online.org/regions/mideast.html
Palestine: History, Actors, Prospects & the U.S.
Palestine: History, Actors, Prospects & the U.S. June 1, 2001
Foreign Policy In Focus By Stephen Zunes [no source available]
History: The land long considered by many Jews of the diaspora as their homeland had also been inhabited for centuries by Palestinian Arabs. Zionism emerged in Europe during the late 19th century as a movement for the ingathering of Jews to their ancestral land, with immigration increasing during theBritish mandate period following the demise of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. A 1947 UN plan that would have partitioned Palestine in half, granting both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs their own states, resulted in a war that led to Israeli control of 78% of the country. The remaining Palestinian areas, which became known as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, came under Jordanian and Egyptian control. The new state of Israel expelled the majority of the Palestinian population…
The Failure of U.S. Policy Toward Iraq and Proposed Alternatives
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, Jue 1, 2001 [source]
Current U.S.-UN policy regarding Iraq has failed and has largely lost credibility. It is widely viewed internationally as reflecting U.S. (and, to a lesser degree, British) insistence on maintaining a punitive sanctions-based approach regardless of the humanitarian impact and it is increasingly regarded as having failed to bring about either democratic changes in Iraq or security for the Persian Gulf region. Numerous countries are challenging, if not directly violating, the sanctions regime, and international support has largely eroded. The U.S. is the driving force behind UN policy, since Washington wields effective veto power over any proposed changes…
Mitchell Report on Israeli-Palestinian Violence Flawed
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, May 1, 2001 [source]
The report on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the commission led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell is a failed effort–not for what it includes but for what it does not include. The report’s recognition that the Palestinian Authority needs to do more to curb violence from the Palestinian side and the call for Israel to end its widespread use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators is self-evident. Yet its failure to call for an international protection force underscores the commission’s unwillingness to support the decisive steps necessary…
Challenging Aid to Israel
Palestine and Israel
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, February 1, 2001
[Source is no longer available] Key Points:
* The U.S. has never supported the international consensus for Israeli-Palestinian peace, requiring the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories and an independent Palestine alongside a secure Israel.
* The current Palestinian uprising is a direct result of the failure of the U.S. to support such a peace settlement based on international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
* Washington’s policies, including large-scale military and economic aid in support of the Israeli occupation, have compromised the credibility of the U.S. as an effective mediator…
U.S. Aid to Israel: Interpreting the “Strategic Relationship”
By Stephen Zunes, January 26, 2001
Audio at Internet Archive; Also at Window Into Palestine
“The U.S. aid relationship with Israel is unlike any other in the world,” said Stephen Zunes during a January 26 CPAP presentation. “In sheer volume, the amount is the most generous foreign aid program ever between any two countries,” added Zunes, associate professor of Politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. He explored the strategic reasoning behind the aid, asserting that it parallels the “needs of American arms exporters” and the role “Israel could play in advancing U.S. strategic interests in the region.” Although Israel is an “advanced, industrialized, technologically sophisticated country,” it “receives more U.S. aid per capita annually than the total annual [Gross Domestic Product] per capita of several Arab states.” Approximately a third of the entire U.S. foreign aid budget goes to Israel…
Iraq: 10 Years After Gulf War
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, January 11, 2001
[Source] Key Points:
* The U.S. effectively coddled Hussein’s dictatorial regime during the 1980s with economic and military aid, likely emboldening the invasion of Kuwait.
* The 1991 Gulf War forced the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait and led to an ongoing U.S. military presence in the region.
* Certain provisions of the cease-fire agreement, severe economic sanctions and ongoing military operations, have limited Iraqi sovereignty and have created a severe humanitarian crisis…
The Gulf War: 8 Myths
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, January 1, 2001
[Source] The United States-led war against Iraq commenced on January 16, 1991. On this the tenth anniversary of the Gulf War, the myths that justified the war continue to be widely circulated. It is important, particularly in the light of the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iraq and the devastating humanitarian impact of U.S.-led sanctions, to challenge these myths. To fail to do so will make it difficult to change U.S. policy and could even increase the possibility of another cataclysmic war in the future…
Camp David II: Clinton Should Pressure Israel, As Carter Did
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, July 1, 2000
[Source] It is highly unlikely that the upcoming summit between the United States, Israel, and Palestine at Camp David will the kind of positive results that came from the 1978 summit between the United States, Israel, and Egypt. At the earlier Camp David gathering, President Jimmy Carter was willing to pressure Israel to withdraw from all Egyptian territory seized in the 1967 war in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. President Bill Clinton, in contrast, has not supported total Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands seized in 1967, and he has actually pressured the Palestinians to allow the Israelis to maintain control of large amounts of their land, including Arab East Jerusalem, the historic capital of Palestine…
U.S. Policy Toward Jerusalem: Clinton’s Shift To The Right
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, July 1, 2000
[Source] It is not surprising that Jerusalem has become the sticking point in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Israeli refusal to share the city with the Palestinians and the Clinton administration’s refusal to push the Israelis to compromise make successful negotiations extremely difficult…
The U.S. Must Pressure Israel to Compromise
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, June 1, 2000
[Source] As the Clinton administration pushes for a high-level resumption of final status talks between Israelis and Palestinians, we are again hearing the mantra that both sides need to compromise, both sides cannot have everything they want and other familiar exhortations. This has been the administration’s approach since the singing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993. As seemingly reasonable as this search for a middle ground may be, however, it is fundamentally flawed…
U.S. Must Insist Israel Return to the Peace Talks and Withdraw from Lebanon
Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes, February 1, 2000
[Source] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s decision to pull out of the peace talks with Syria is a shameless capitulation to Israel’s far right and raises serious questions as to whether the Israeli government is seriously interested in peace. President Clinton must demand that Israel return immediately to the negotiation table and come into full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions or risk an immediate cutoff of U.S. military and economic aid. The Israeli government broke off the talks following an attack by Lebanese guerrillas against Israeli occupation forces inside Lebanon…
The U.S. and the Israeli-Syrian Peace Process
Foreign Policy in Focus/Institute for Policy Studies,
February 1, 2000, by Stephen Zunes. Also at
TheFreeLibrary.com, February 15, 2000, and
updated at FPIF October 4 and 12, 2005 [source]
–
Key Points
* The U.S. role as a superpower with strong strategic and economic interests in the region often conflicts with its role as mediator in the Israeli-Syrian peace process.
* Syria has moderated its once-belligerent posture toward the Israelis and is now closer to accepting the existence of Israel and living in peace.
* The United States has maintained its strong support for Israel’s negotiating position, even though Israel now takes a more hard-line posture than its autocratic neighbor.