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November 2012
UN General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to recognize Palestinian state
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to recognize a Palestinian state. There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. Three countries – Australia, Britain and Germany - did not take part in the vote to upgrade the Palestinian Authority's observer status at the United Nations to "non-member state" from "entity." At least 17 European nations voted in favor of the Palestinian resolution, including Austria, France, Italy, Norway and Spain. Palestine Authority President Mahmood Abbas had focused his lobbying efforts on Europe, which supplies much of the aid the Palestinian Authority relies on. The Czech Republic joined the United States, Israel, Canada, Panama and tiny Pacific Island states likes Nauru, Palau and Micronesia in voting against the move. Read More
Where Liberty Lies: Civil Society and Individual Rights after 9/11
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: During the last decade when the civil rights of citizens were violated in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Congress has proved to be a source of law violations and abuse of the civil rights, says Professor David Cole of the Georgetown University Law Center. Read More
Can U.S. Citizens End Israel’s Legal Impunity?
Stephen Zunes: Each time international law has attempted to censure Israel for its recent violations of human rights, the United States has stepped in to stop the process. If anyone is in a position to do something about this, it’s the U.S. public. Read More
The Gaza War, Congress and International Humanitarian Law
Stephen Zunes: The large-scale killing of civilians during Israel’s three-week assault on the Gaza Strip in 2008-09 received widespread condemnation from human-rights advocates and international legal scholars the world over. In both Europe and North America, public reaction to the grossly disproportionate Israeli response to Hamas rocket attacks was the most negative ever expressed against an Israeli military action. In Israel itself, soldiers who had witnesses some of the atrocities joined Israeli peace activists in exposing war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). However, the U.S. Congress, under the leadership of the Democratic Party, overwhelmingly defended the Israeli offensive, even to the point of attacking leading defenders of international humanitarian law. Read More
Manufacturing an anti-Taliban icon: Project Malala
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Just like opinion polls, Year End listing of prominent people in various fields by media is an effective propaganda tool to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. Perhaps, this in mind, the Washington Post Company’s agenda driven magazine, the Foreign Policy, has listed Malala Yousefzai, a 14-year-old student from Pakistan as the sixth among the 100 top Global Thinkers. Malala was attacked by the Taliban (as they claim) in Swat on October 9, 2012 and the Foreign Affairs magazine’s listing came amid western-led efforts to nominate her for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize which has no relevance to peace as probably the Norwegian Nobel Committee has redefined “peace” in George Orwell’s proverbial quote, “War is Peace.” Read More
85 percent Muslims voted for President Obama
By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali: More than 85 percent of American Muslim voters picked President Obama in Tuesday's election, according to an exit poll released Friday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. Read More
After 17 years: Arab American activist removed from terror list
By Abdus-Sattar Ghazali: The U.S. Treasury Department has de-listed Muhammad Salah as a "specially designated terrorist," lifting onerous restrictions on the Palestine-origin American now living in Bridgeview, the Chicago Tribune reported. Read More
The GCC states: Between democracy and prosperity
By Abdulateef Al-Mulhim: Whenever I read long articles with rich vocabulary in many European papers about the Gulf states, I find them to be transparent and direct in their analysis. But, they all are not clear and they fail to give a real analysis about the Gulf states. I have always thought the Europeans knew the Gulf region very well. Read More
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