Supporters of Hamas gathered in Gaza City on Sunday to mark the 21st anniversary of the Sunni organization’s founding. Presumably in recognition of the occasion, a meeting involving Israeli and Egyptian officials took place in Cairo in an attempt to seek renewal of the current ceasefire agreement between Hamas’ military apparatus and opposition forces in Gaza. Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the stadium was electric, as an estimated 150,000 demonstrators fervently waved green flags (considered to be the traditional color of Islam) in what is perceived to be an intentional showcase of Hamas’ strength. Gazan Hamas leader Ismail Haniya is reported as saying “We tell the occupation and the world we are here steadfast on our land and we will defend ourselves and we will defend our land and we will defend our right.” If it was not a political rally, an objective observer might even have mistaken it for an athletic event due to the concerted effort to display symbols of loyalty throughout the venue. Some speculate that, though the rally serves to commemorate the group’s anniversary, its timing is also related to the reality that the ceasefire agreement may not be renewed. Both Hamas and the Israelis accuse the other side of failing to honor its side of the truce.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: ceasefire, Gaza, Hamas | Category: conflict | Leave a comment
Public sector employees in the Gaza Strip have recently encountered difficulties collecting their salaries due to the severe cash shortage faced by area banks. The shortage is in part a result of the Israeli blockade that has prevented many from traveling freely to and from Gaza – a detrimental effect on business, especially with regard to the Palestinian banking system. In an effort to ease the stress, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has requested that the Israeli blockade allow money to enter the Palestinian treasury from outside the borders in hopes of avoiding more widespread financial collapse. Subsequently, Israel allowed an armored truck carrying $25 million in currency to enter from the West Bank. This amount is half of that which Prime Minister Fayyad requested of Israeli officials in order to pay Gaza’s civil servants.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Gaza, Palestinians, West Bank | Category: conflict | Leave a comment
Late into the hours on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter met with Khaled Meshaal, the militant leader of Hamas who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria. We know that the major issues discussed in that meeting include the fate of Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Hamas back in the summer of 2006 and has been held captive ever since. The 2nd issue is a broader negotiation for peace. There has been a six-month ceasefire that has by and large held in Gaza. That peace agreement ends this week. We will have to wait and see how that plays out. Jimmy Carter’s last meeting with Meshaal was in April. When he returned to the United States, he was under great criticism from the Bush administration, which called the meetings unhelpful. The United States classifies Hamas a terrorist organization.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Carter, Hamas, Shalit, Syria, U.S. | Category: conflict | Leave a comment
Early Monday morning, December 15, more than 220 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israeli authorities arrived in the West Bank. They were greeted by a crowd that seemed to be overjoyed with the release, a move that Israel has termed a gesture of goodwill towards Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. However, comments made by Palestinian prisoners minister Ashraf al-Ajrami seemed to detract from the action, accusing Israel of taking unilateral action with regard to which prisoners were released rather than heeding to Palestinian demands, saying “The Israelis decided to release these prisoners without any negotiation or any connection with the Palestinian side.” Al-Ajrami seemed to be implying that Israel’s true motivation in the release was merely the illusion of diplomatic efforts on an international stage, as opposed to a genuine desire to adhere to Palestinian requests. Such accusations hinge on the estimated 10,000 Palestinian prisoners who remain in Israeli custody.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Israel, Palestinians | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Twenty Palestinian prisoners were removed from the list of prisoners to be released from Israeli custody, Tuesday, December 9. In what they described as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government had stated that it would release 250 Palestinian prisoners – the list is now down to 230. The move to release these prisoners was intended to honor Eid al-Adha, “…the Muslim festival marking the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,” according to the Israeli Ministerial Prisoner Release Committee. All of the prisoners are associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular nationalist Fatah movement rather than Hamas – the organization currently in control of the Gaza Strip territory – which the Israeli government has classified as a terrorist organization.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Israel, Palestinians | Category: conflict | Leave a comment
Undercover Israeli troops suspected that Jihah Nwada, a fighter involved with the Islamic Jihad group, was planning to carry out an attack in the West Bank town of Jenin. Nwada fled when troops attempted to arrest him outside of a café, causing them to open fire and kill him. Overnight, a total of 22 Palestinian fighters were arrested and detained by the Israeli army, which often conducts raids into the West Bank region. While such incidents have recently shown a decrease in the frequency of lethal action, the incident is certain to have both political and military consequences for Israeli forces.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Israel, West Bank | Category: conflict | Leave a comment
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has garnered little support for his rumored plan to extend his term in office by an additional year. A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research indicates that almost two-thirds of Palestinians believe that Abbas’s term should end in January, rather than be extended without new elections, as some have suggested he may do. However, the same poll shows that Abbas’s secular nationalist Fatah party is enjoying a slight lead in popular support over rival organization Hamas.
Paul Shapiro
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Abbas, Palestinians | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
The central bank of Saudi Arabia reduced key policy rates by 50 basis points to help boost banking sector liquidity.
Charging or paying interest is forbidden by the Sharia, which, technically, should be the law that governs the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is feeling the effects of the international financial crisis. One of the country’s flagship development projects, King Abdullah Economic City, is definitely feeling the pressure from the drying up of investments.
Bo-yun Liu
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: Saudi Arabia | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
The Human Rights Commission, a government group, issued a statement outlining their commitment to improving human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia.
Some of the progress includes a multi-faith dialogue recently held in New York, sponsored by King Abdullah.
One of the most significant involvements of HRC is perhaps its intervention in court cases that are relevant to the human rights issue in the Kingdom. It has been involved in over one thousand cases from April to August 2008, many with notable results.
Bo-yun Liu
December 16th, 2008 | Tags: human rights, Saudi Arabia | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
If historical evidence is anything to go by, the former appears to be the case. In an effort to curb falling oil prices, which could have damaging effects on some of the petro-dollar-reliant economies, OPEC has announced production cuts since crude fell from a $150/barrel high (now at $40/barrel). However, the effectiveness has obviously not been great.
One of the prime culprits is that not all of the countries follow production quotas. This erodes OPEC’s internal cohesiveness and its external credibility.
Falling oil prices present an especially difficult scenario for OPEC. Many of its member states rely on petro income to survive, so are disincentivized against a production cut. This, of course, enrages larger producers like Saudi Arabia, which has to suffer fiscally from lower production without seeing the intended rise in price.
Previously, Saudi Arabia has pumped production to drive down the price of oil to as low as $10/barrel, effectively starving the more oil-dependent regimes of income. It proved to be effective, but will Saudi Arabia do the same this time? We consumers can only hope.
Bo-yun Liu
December 15th, 2008 | Tags: OPEC, Saudi Arabia | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
