For well over a century this statue of the Virgin Mary has stood in Bethlehem, before the French hospital, observing the endless procession of pilgrims to worship at the town's holiest sites. But last week it became one more casualty of Israel's undeclared war, hit by indiscriminate Israeli fire, the nose and hand blown off, the body of the statue left pockmarked

Opinion

INTIFADA IN FOCUS

Countdown to Beirut
Dina Ezzat reports on preparations for, and the likely agenda of, next week's Arab League summit in Beirut

'Killing with ease'
The US peace mission to Israel has not stopped Israel's slaughter of Palestinians. Khaled Amayreh reports from Jerusalem

Political mercenaries
The appointment of a new hard-line chief-of-staff for the Israeli army is likely to mean more of the same, writes Jonathan Cook from Jerusalem

Egypt

'We are not afraid'
For a second week, student protests, expressing solidarity with Palestinians and opposition to Sharon's crimes, continued in most Egyptian universities. Khaled Dawoud reports

Veiled freedom
The case of a Shorouq Airlines co-pilot, fired for wearing the veil, will be heard by the Labour Court later this month. Mona El-Nahhas reports

Region

A spectacular miscarriage
The integrity of the Lockerbie trial is under question following the denial of Abdel-Basset Al-Megrahi's appeal against his life sentence. Judit Neurink reports from Camp Zeist

Rehabilitating Libya
Now that the Lockerbie case is over, Libya and its former Western adversaries, the US and Britain, are expected to launch talks on how to close that chapter, reports Anayat Durrani from Washington

Economy

Running out of rice
A shortage of rice on the market has led to an unprecedented increase in prices and a crisis for exporters. Mona El-Fiqi investigates

Reining capital in
Egypt is liberalising trade, but, Salah El-Amrousy argues, it does not need to liberalise capital movements

International

Bonds that blind?
Gamal Nkrumah wonders why African leaders are seeing Zimbabwe's recent elections through rose-tinted glasses

Berezovsky's revenge
Accusing fingers are being pointed at Russian President Vladimir Putin for masterminding a bombing campaign originally blamed on Chechen separatists, writes Negar Azimi

Features

Travel