Al-Ahram Weekly | Focus 2000 (Year-end supplement)

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001 Issue No.514
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

REGIONAL UPHEAVAL:

The pursuit of Arab unity went into overdrive with the onset of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in late September -- during which the overwhelmingly Palestinian death toll has topped 300 -- and a changing of the guard among long-time Arab leaders. Palestinian civilians clash with heavily armed Israeli forces (top left and above); the death of long-time Syrian leader and strident Arab nationalist Hafez Al-Assad (top right) in June was followed by a swift series of events setting the stage for the election of his son, Bashar Al-Assad, formerly an ophthalmologist and now the youngest Arab leader; the blasted side of the doomed American destroyer the USS Cole gapes open after a suicide bombing while the ship was refuelling in the port of Aden, Yemen, on 12 October (right); Iranian reformist President Mohamed Khatami offers his prayers on "Jerusalem Day," established by the late Ayatollah Khomeini (below); a scrap of the destroyed Gulf Air Cairo-Bahrain flight floats off the coast of Bahrain, where it crashed on 24 August, killing all 143 passengers and crew (middle right); the final pullout of Israeli forces from south Lebanon in June ended 21 years of Israeli occupation and was a victory for the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah (below)

HEALING WOUNDS:

Outgoing US president puts on a brave public face after meeting with President-elect George W Bush after the five-week-long vote-counting saga that divided America (top); a long-awaited and unexpected thaw between North and South Korea led to an organised reunion of some 200 family members separated since the Korean War (centre right); newly-elected Mexican President Vicente Fox hails the crowds that helped him topple the 71-year-long rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after his inauguration (bottom right); the breakdown of a peace accord offering sweeping amnesty to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their controversial leader Foday Sankoh led to further violence in war-torn Sierra Leone (left)

REINVENTING EUROPE:

Mass popular protests followed world financial institutions and international organisations around the globe as part of a growing anti-globalisation movement, launched last year with the devastating demonstrations that shut down the Seattle World Trade Organisation talks. At the December European summit in Nice (top right), one protester's dog carries a banner that reads "The Cradle of Mad Cows", alluding both to capitalist and First-World-centred organisations and the fear of so-called mad cow disease spreading through Europe (bottom right); Russia's dark horse Vladimir Putin (top left) easily won the presidency in March after unexpectedly being named acting president by a beleaguered and emotional President Boris Yeltsin on New Year's Eve; the dramatic 5 October uprising (bottom left) that forced Socialist stalwart and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to admit defeat and installed opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica has brought Yugoslavia back into the international community and put the republic back on course for European integration

(photos: Reuters, AP and AFP)

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HEALING WOUNDS:


Outgoing US president puts on a brave public face after meeting with President-elect George W Bush after the five-week-long vote-counting saga that divided America (top); a long-awaited and unexpected thaw between North and South Korea led to an organised reunion of some 200 family members separated since the Korean War (centre right); newly-elected Mexican President Vicente Fox hails the crowds that helped him topple the 71-year-long rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after his inauguration (bottom right); the breakdown of a peace accord offering sweeping amnesty to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels and their controversial leader Foday Sankoh led to further violence in war-torn Sierra Leone (left)

REINVENTING EUROPE:

Mass popular protests followed world financial institutions and international organisations around the globe as part of a growing anti-globalisation movement, launched last year with the devastating demonstrations that shut down the Seattle World Trade Organisation talks. At the December European summit in Nice (top right), one protester's dog carries a banner that reads "The Cradle of Mad Cows", alluding both to capitalist and First-World-centred organisations and the fear of so-called mad cow disease spreading through Europe (bottom right); Russia's dark horse Vladimir Putin (top left) easily won the presidency in March after unexpectedly being named acting president by a beleaguered and emotional President Boris Yeltsin on New Year's Eve; the dramatic 5 October uprising (bottom left) that forced Socialist stalwart and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to admit defeat and installed opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica has brought Yugoslavia back into the international community and put the republic back on course for European integration
(photos: Reuters, AP and AFP)