Delayed expectations
Arab countries may take small steps towards reform and even smaller ones to resolve acute regional problems, Dina Ezzat follows pan-Arab efforts to grapple with a region in turmoil, and interviews the interim foreign minister of Iraq

Undeterred by violence
Iraqi foreign minister, Houchiar Zibari, spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly as his country was mourning a day of violence

Whose human rights?
While Americans promote occupation as a potential vehicle for human rights, Arabs stall on enforcing the rights they honour on paper

'Suicidal, spectacular and symbolic'
While American and Iraqi officials fear the Tuesday Ashura attacks on Shias in Baghdad and Karbala will inflame sectarian violence, Shia hostility targets neither Sunnis nor Kurds, but rather Americans, writes Ramsey Al-Rikabi in Baghdad

A Caliphate in the mountains
The Americans insist that Al-Qa'eda and Ansar Al-Islam are now the main "strategic" threat facing Iraq. Graham Usher went to the mountains on the Iran-Iraq border where Ansar was born

Devil in the details
After some serious disagreements, common ground was reached on an interim constitution for Iraq and mechanisms of sovereignty. If it sticks, it could be the first of its kind in the region, Ramsey Al-Rikabi reports from Baghdad

In the air
The war against Iraq marked a watershed in the strategic environment in the Gulf. Its repercussions will determine security and defence arrangements in the region for years to come, writes Mohamed Darwish

The end of Arafat?
After three days of acrimonious discussions in Ramallah, the Fatah Revolutionary Council adopted decisions to save the mainstream PLO faction from what seems an incipient state of disintegration, Khaled Amayreh reports

Success story needed
The Bush administration is holding intensive negotiations behind the scenes to renew implementation of the road map ahead of upcoming presidential elections, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

The whistleblower returns
With less than two months left before Mordechai Vanunu completes his prison term for revealing 18 years ago the existence of a large Israeli arsenal of nuclear weapons, the government launched the first stage of a damage limitation exercise. Jonathan Cook reports

No Arabic at McDonald's Israel
Discrimination against Israel's Palestinian citizens has been expanding to include a total ban of the use of Arabic language by workers, reports Jonathan Cook

'Reform is a revolutionary process'
Mustafa El Labbad talks to Dr Mohammed Reza Khatami in an exclusive interview for Al-Ahram Weekly

A plague on both houses
Though Iranian reformists were soundly defeated in last week's parliamentary elections, the result was not a ringing endorsement of a conservative agenda, Rasha Saad reports