No rules, no borders
After the carnage in Gaza City Palestinian factions are united in vengeance. It may be what Ariel Sharon wants, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem

GOLDEN JUBILEE OF THE 1952 REVOLUTION

Offices of the Foreign Ministry building on the Corniche lit up to spell "50 years -- 23 July Revolution" --enlarge--

Egypt

Appeal to reason
Consultations continue while the picture on the ground grows more grim, reports Nevine Khalil

Church discipline
The defrocking of a monk and excommunication of members of the 'New Testament Group' came in response to a classic case of deviation from church teachings, Coptic Church sources told Omayma Abdel-Latif

Prosecuting Ibrahim -- again
Prosecutors dramatically upped the ante in the retrial of prominent human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim, reports Khaled Dawoud

Nasser's bickering children
On the 50th anniversary of the 23 July Revolution, the Arab Nasserist Democratic Party, which was founded to keep alive the legacy of one of the revolution's main architects, is in total disarray. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

Region

Fostering grief and revenge
Nine children were among the 15 people killed when Israel assassinated a Hamas leader in a pre-dawn air strike on an apartment building in Gaza. Khaled Amayreh, in Jerusalem, writes

The ghosts of Jenin
In April the Israeli army and Palestinian militias fought the battle of Jenin camp. Three months on, the dead are exacting vengeance. Graham Usher revisits a battleground haunted by ghosts.

Where did all the love go?
Arafat's political welfare does not appear to be figuring very high on the Arab agenda. Dina Ezzat reports

Change of heart
The recent breakthrough in negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLA promises a new beginning for Sudan, but sceptics doubt the signatories' sincerity, writes Gamal Nkrumah

Interview

Economy

Fear and loathing in America
Nyier Abdou talks to American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee President Ziad Asali about hate crimes, secret detentions, playing by the rules and the American way

A closer look
John Sfakianakis comments on the controversial UNDP Arab Development Report issued earlier this month

Sliding into the fourth world
Industrialisation in the Arab world has fallen way behind other developing countries. This is the cause of the region's chronic underdevelopment, writes Salah El-Amrousi

International

Interesting times
The call for early elections in Argentina is giving rise to the hope that the transitional period the country is undergoing may finally be approaching a long-sought era of stability, writes Hisham El-Naggar

A president for all people
India's new president, a Muslim missile scientist, is an unusual man who manages to be all things to all people, writes Mukul Devichand

Bridging the Irish divide
The IRA have finally apologised to their victims -- a step that may place the initiative for Northern Ireland's future in Catholic hands for the first time, reports James Corbett

Portrait of an American ally
The US dishes out lofty "democratic" principles but only when it is politically expedient, writes Mumia Abu-Jamal

Living

Features

Manual snobbery
Rana Allam discovers how reluctant middle-class Egyptian men are to use their hands around the home

Travel

Heritage

The talk of Washington
"The Quest for Immortality" is the summer blockbuster, writes Thomas Gorguissian in Washington