Apartheid by any other name Why the rush to embrace Barak? Gamil Mattar sees only a racist in dove's clothing

On the eve of his departure Barak has taken his time, writes Abdel-Qader Yassin; and the battle is not yet begun

Restructuring the UN The UN was conspicuously absent from the resolution of the Kosovo crisis, highlighting its own deep crisis. Mohamed Sid-Ahmed discusses the need for a new approach to the UN veto prerogatives as the key to updating the organisation's role A chosen community, an exceptional burden In the third part of a series, Abdelwahab Elmessiri explains why Jewish communities fit the functional group paradigm Close up By Salama Ahmed Salama Carpe diem In a discussion of economic conditions in Egypt and the world held recently at the Mubarak Library, Kamal Darwish, vice-president of the World Bank, brought to the attention of the journalists and intellectuals who were present the problem of ageing societies that currently faces developed industrial countries, and especially Western societies. --read on--

Naguib Mahfouz The pulse of the pen A young man recently asked me: "How are you able to write of people's hope and pain, their joys and sorrows, in this way? --read on--

Soapbox
Expectations
and reality
Abdel-Alim Mohamed

This week: Sheikh Gaber Al-Sabah