Middle East Politics.Net » Arab League http://middleeastpolitics.net Facts, News, Trends, Analysis Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Just What is The Middle East Anymore? http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/08/just-what-is-the-middle-east-anymore/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/08/just-what-is-the-middle-east-anymore/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:06:18 +0000 davidhulme http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3888 Robert Kaplan, writing in the NYT today, proposes that what is understood by the term “Middle East” needs revision. What recently happened in the terrorist attack on Mumbai requires recognition that South Asia cannot be left out of the ME definition. Students of the region know that it often also includes North Africa, due no doubt to the gradual spread of Islam beginning in the 7th century and in part to the creation of the 22-member Arab League in the 20th. But Islam also spread north, east and then south. In his analysis, Kaplan makes clear that his elongated Greater Near East is, in fact, dependent on an old alignment when Kabul and Delhi were ruled by a single Muslim power, the Mughal dynasty, in the 16-18th centuries. Anticipating Kaplan’s point, it’s interesting that India has had observer status in the Arab League since 2007.

David Hulme

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/08/just-what-is-the-middle-east-anymore/feed/ 0 Libya and Arab League Want End of Gaza Siege http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/04/libya-and-arab-league-want-the-end-of-the-gaza-siege/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/04/libya-and-arab-league-want-the-end-of-the-gaza-siege/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:38:13 +0000 dcrowley http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=3546 Libya, backed by the Arab League, has called for a UN Security council meeting to discuss the dire situation in the Gaza Strip in regards to Israel’s recent actions. In a statement today, the Arab League called for the UN to take action and allow humanitarian supplies to enter the Gaza Strip.

This comes after Israel recently turned back a Libyan vessel in Palestinian waters that was carrying humanitarian aid, forcing it back to Egypt. This event was the first time an Arab nation tried to break the Israeli siege and it is likely that the vessel will attempt to deliver its cargo again.

Israel has blockaded Gaza for the past year, since Hamas legally won elections in the region and seized control. At this point, Israel is just tarnishing its global image even more. It is time for Israel to recognize Hamas’s political grievances and legitimacy, while still targeting the Al-Qassam Brigade. Only then will any significant progress in the peace process be made.

David Crowley

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/12/04/libya-and-arab-league-want-the-end-of-the-gaza-siege/feed/ 0 Syria and Arab League President Discuss Gaza Strip and Israel http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/16/syria-and-arab-league-president-discuss-gaza-strip-and-israel/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/16/syria-and-arab-league-president-discuss-gaza-strip-and-israel/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:35:14 +0000 sanene http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=2442 Syrian President al-Assad and Arab League Secretary Amir Moussa met to discuss events in the Gaza Strip and the seemingly threatening actions of the Israeli government. Assad expressed his concerns over the depreciating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and apparent Israeli willingness to escalate conflict within the region. The President also looked for the Arab League to accept its role in stopping the Israeli siege of the Palestinian people and at the same time to leave the meeting with tangible and feasible solutions to the conflict. Assad also said that Arab foreign ministers had to establish unity among the Palestinian people, expressing his own support for the achievement of Palestinian unity in the region. Moussa later told reporters that the meeting was focused on the regional Arab situation, but was successful in that it pinpointed and discussed the Palestinian situation specifically. He said it also demonstrated his support of Syria as one of the emerging stabilizing factors in the region.

Samuel Anene

]]> http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/11/16/syria-and-arab-league-president-discuss-gaza-strip-and-israel/feed/ 0 The Arab League Returns to Iraq http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/06/the-arab-league-returns-to-iraq/ http://middleeastpolitics.net/2008/10/06/the-arab-league-returns-to-iraq/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:07:39 +0000 hackenda http://middleeastpolitics.net/?p=1264 An ambassador from the Arab League arrived in Baghdad on Monday, ready to reestablish a relationship with the Iraqi government. Egyptian diplomat Hani Khalaf was sent by the organization, as there has not been a representative from the Arab League stationed in Iraq in over a year. The previous ambassador, Mukhtar Lamani, quit in early 2007, citing extreme disillusionment with the organization’s lack of action in response to the suffering in Iraq.

The U.S. has urged many predominantly Sunni states in the region to renew ties with the now Shiite-led government in order to make Iraq less politically isolated from its neighbors. Many Arab states have been hesitant to do so, believing their compliance with these requests could be interpreted as endorsing or condoning the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Jordan was the first to jump on the bandwagon – King Abdullah II was the first leader of an Arab nation to visit the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein when he traveled to Iraq this past August.

Haley Hackendale

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