Islamist victory in Tunisia, but still hope for Arab democracy
October 26, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Here is something that I would not have been able to write until today: with election results pouring in, Tunisia’s Enahda party has declared victory. In its breakdown of the results thus far, Tunisia’s fledgling English-language news agency Tunisia Live has reported that Enahda has won 43 of the 101 seats so far declared in the 217-seat Constituent Assembly and is expected to win a further 45, making a total of 88 seats or roughly 41% of the total. The Assembley will be tasked with appointing an interim government and will then have a year to design and implement a new constitution, allowing for Parliamentary and Presidential elections to be held.
Al Jazeera‘s live election blog has reported that as it searches for coalition partners, Enahda issued a press statement indicating that it would cooperate with other parties and attempt to represent all Tunisians.
“We are pleased to see that the political climate has left behind the tension that was naturally part of the election campaign, and we are pleased to hear mature and responsible stances from political leaders. We certainly need to learn new democratic principles, including the fact that the opposition has an important role to play…
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Canada’s Palestinian envoy in antisemitic twitter impasse
October 25, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
According to AP reports, the Palestinian Authority (PA) envoy to Canada, Linda Sobeh Ali, was recalled yesterday after she tweeted a link to a Youtube video calling upon “millions” to “destroy the Jews”.
Of course, the Canadian Authorities were very hostile towards the video and pressured the PA into recalling Ali. The PA, however, not only made excuses for the poem but went on to blame the “Jewish Lobby” for having to bring their envoy home.
Joseph Lavoie, a spokesman for Canada’s foreign affairs minister, said Monday it was a serious enough matter for the Palestinian Authority that they recalled Sobeh Ali…
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The Shalit prisoner swap agreement – The Arab reaction
October 25, 2011 | Or Avi Guy
Many reactions in the Palestinian street and media to the release of prisoners in exchange for the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit reveal a worrying and disturbing narrative of glorification of the returning terrorists and support for their heinous crimes and violent ways. Calls for future abductions of Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips for future prisoner releases were also common.
Gaddafi’s death, Libya’s future
October 25, 2011
The death of long-standing Libyan Dictator Muammar Gaddafi on Thursday has led to the effective end of the NATO-supported Libyan revolution against his rule. This Update is devoted to understanding Libya’s outlook and dilemmas in the wake of Gaddafi’s death.
First up is noted American Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami, who comments that the end of a despot like Gaddafi is always odd and somewhat anti-climactic, revealing the mighty dictator as only a petty, frightened man – and comparing Gaddafi’s end to that of Saddam Hussein.
Elections in Tunisia
October 24, 2011 | Sharyn Mittelman
On Sunday 23 October, Tunisia held its first truly free election since its independence. Tunisian Hadiya Al Sabie said:
“It’s the first time I have voted from my heart….Not for something that I am forced to vote for, but from my heart.”
The polls have now closed after a voter turnout out of around 90 per cent of the country’s 7 million registered voters. Tunisians voted to elect a 217-seat interim government to write a new constitution and govern until proper parliamentary and presidential elections can be held.
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Media Week – Shalit editorials; The Price; The Prisoners
October 21, 2011 | Jamie Hyams
The Australian (13/10) titled its editorial about the deal to release Gilad Shalit “Upholding a hallowed principle”. With typical insight, it concluded, “It is galling to see terrorists released. We take comfort however from Shalit’s imminent release from detention, which was against all international norms. We will share his joy when he is reunited with his family. The Israelis emerge with honour, having upheld the principle that human life is sacred and needless suffering cannot be endured. We can only hope that the returning Palestinians will do the same.” A Sydney Morning Herald editorial (14/10) also sensitively considered Israel’s dilemma, stating “To accede to the demands of any kidnapper is repugnant. It is all the more so when Hamas, which controlled Shalit’s fate, has never abandoned the destruction of Israel as its stated aim. Yet equally, to abandon a captured soldier goes against human nature, as well as political good sense and the interest of Israel’s defence force.”
Gilad Shalit is free… What now?
October 19, 2011
Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is free after five years and four months in captivity in Gaza, and the elation in Israel is overwhelming. (An excellent collection of news and analysis on the release and its aftermath has been assembled by Britain’s Telegraph. Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s remarks welcoming Shalit home are here.) This Update focuses on the significance and aftermath of his release.
Does Australia have the strength to show weakness like Israel?
October 19, 2011 | Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz
Interviewed last night by ABC Lateline‘s Ali Moore, former Haaretz editor David Landau, who once infamously told then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he wished to see Israel “raped” in a US intervention forcibly imposing a settlement to the conflict, expressed his horror at the “weakness” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is displaying to the world. According to Landau, Netanyahu did so through his sudden reversal of his previous refusal to agree to a prisoner exchange for Gilad Shalit.
I find myself in a strange and invidious situation because I’m not naturally of the right. I’m very much of the peace camp of the side of the sort of, so to speak, political spectrum that’s always encouraged dealing with the Palestinians in the hope of making a final peace deal with the Palestinians, yet I find myself frankly horrified and, as an Israeli, also mortified by this shameless turnabout by the prime minister, Mr Netanyahu…
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How international NGOs failed Gilad Shalit
October 19, 2011 | Allon Lee
In the wake of Gilad Shalit’s release overnight from captivity in Gaza, major international NGOs have come in for criticism for not publicising his illegal incarceration by Hamas, an organisation on whose behalf these same NGOs have tirelessly campaigned to pressure Israel to lift its legal blockade of Gaza.
Iran’s alleged Washington plot re-examined
October 19, 2011 | Tzvi Fleischer
As noted in the last Update, the recently exposed alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US at a Washington restaurant – and commit a number of the other terror attacks in the US – is a big story which has provoked much commentary and analysis.
Some of that analysis, such as by former CIA agent Robert Baer on ABC-TV’s “Lateline” has cast doubt on the story, arguing the alleged plot, as outlined, appears too amateurish and slapdash to be the work of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp.
