10 - 16 April 2003 [633]
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FRONT PAGE

The writing on the wall
Ayman El-Amir examines the implications of the US's victory over Saddam Hussein

Comment: Day of the chicken hawks
By Hani Shukrallah

INVASION OF IRAQ

(De)liberation
The paradise promised in Iraq has been lost, writes Sinan Antoon
Update 13 April 13:00GMT

The battle for Baghdad
As US troops advanced, paused, then resumed their advance, analysts have been reassessing their expectations. Galal Nassar reviews the war's ever-changing course

In the shadows
Recently home to an extensive crisis of internal displacement, the towns of southeastern Turkey are full of Kurdish families stuck in limbo. With the uncertainty of war at their doorstep, people are poised for another blow, writes Nyier Abdou in Diyarbakir

Sketching Iraq
The time has come for me to take out my sketchbook of Iraq. It may be a sad time to do so, but it is undoubtedly time...
By George Bahgory

Pride and prejudice?
The Kuwaiti campaign against Amr Moussa is off -- for now. Dina Ezzat reports on a peculiar tug of war

Out of the White House Loop
Northern Ireland would appear to be a curious backdrop indeed for a war summit between George W Bush and Tony Blair -- the third such meeting in as many weeks. Alexander Alistair writes from Belfast

How to run Iraq
The US and Britain believe the major challenge now is running an occupied country in a volatile region. Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington

And now for Mr Hyde
David Hirst , in Riyadh, finds Saudis intensely worried that their erstwhile mighty protector, the US, is looking more and more as a grave threat

Arab anger
Four weeks into the Anglo-American invasion, the Arab street is expressing its anger over the war. Sherine Bahaa examines the regional response

Whose Iraq?
Iraq's opposition groups are becoming increasingly sceptical about the US's true intentions in Iraq. Omayma Abdel-Latif gauges reactions

Humanitarian hell
Relief agencies are warning that the overall humanitarian situation in Iraq is getting gloomier. Rasha Saad reports

Strength in numbers
The Iraqi Shi'a majority's claims to equal political rights may well prove to be a cohesive factor in the chaos that will face post-war Iraq. Sayed Ali Al-Ridha writes

If the opportunity arises
Since war on Iraq began, the shift in British opinion appears to be dramatic. Alexander Alistair reports from London

The lesser of three evils?
The Turkish government has unexpectedly decided to launch a regional axis with Iran and Syria. Gareth Jenkins argues that the Turkish army will ensure that the initiative remains stillborn

The more you watch, the less you know
Amina Elbendary reviews the war in the Arab press

War in the Egyptian press
Highlights of the Egyptian press this week included Iraqi civilian casualties, a visit by the British ambassador to Al-Akhbar, and calls for reviewing the 'strategic' ties between Egypt and the US, writes Aziza Sami

Week's events
US forces were approximately 32 kilometres outside Baghdad early Thursday, after shattering two divisions of the Republican Guard, US officials said...

EGYPT

Back to Cairo
Both parties to the decades-long civil war in Sudan would like to see more of an Egyptian and less of a US role in their efforts to reach a peaceful settlement. Leaders from the two sides spoke to Mahmoud Murad in Cairo

Caption
Future plans: Sudanese leaders say that Egypt can still play an important role in ending the Sudanese conflict and repairing post-war Sudan...

Relief back home
A limestone relief stolen a decade ago from Isis Temple in Giza has been recovered. Nevine El-Aref attended its arrival from Paris

Symbolic proceedings
Arab lawyers are seeking to have George Bush and Tony Blair stand trial as war criminals. Mona El-Nahhas reports

Demonstrating the rift
The US-UK led invasion of Iraq continues to sow rifts between government policies and people's sentiments, writes Amira Howeidy

Dealing with disaster
Civil aviation has been hit hard by the war. Amira Ibrahim investigates

Week three for the NDP
The ruling NDP has not been having an easy time playing a whole lot of ends against the middle, as it tried to cope with the domestic fallout of the invasion of Iraq. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

On the road to Baghdad
Witness to the growing brutality of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, thousands of Egyptians are clamouring to join in the battle. But as Shaden Shehab finds out, the gateway to Iraq appears firmly shut

Newsreel
On monday Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui announced that the ministry's crisis management plan has been launched to tackle the current setback in tourism caused by the US-led war on Iraq, reports Rehab Saad...

REGION

Common images
Palestine and Iraq are two faces of the same coin. Jonathan Cook from Tulkarm explains how

Palestinian sit-in for Iraq
As anti-war demonstrators converge across the globe, Palestinians join the worldwide outcry. Annika Hampson reports from Gaza

Pushing for peace
A small group of left-wing Israelis are voicing their concerns about the war on Iraq and the policies of their own government

The Sudanese issue: the view from the South
Helmi Sharawy discusses the issue of Sudanese unity, this time from a southern perspective

An Arab push for peace
Arabs are attempting to enhance stability in Sudan. Dina Ezzat reports

ECONOMY

Compromising the CBE?
The long-awaited banking law bill governing the Central Bank of Egypt has been slammed by opposition MPs as coming too late and compromising its independence. Gamal Essam El-Din reports

Exports survive the odds
Despite a global slowdown, Egyptian exports have held their ground. Niveen Wahish reviews a recent report on the progress of this vital sector

Just say no
The responsibility of carrying out an effective boycott against US and British companies falls squarely on the shoulders of civil society, writes Sherine Nasr

Briefs
After long years of deliberation and almost five months of discussion in parliament, the People's Assembly finally approved the Unified Labour Law on 5 April, to regulate the relationship between workers and employers in a free market economy...

OPINION

Time for action
We may not have been able to stop the war, but we still can deprive the invasion of legitimacy, Ibrahim Nafie writes

Policing the academy
Joseph Massad on the McCarthyism stalking American campuses

The Iraqi war & the future of the UN
As the war on Iraq enters its most critical phase, Mohamed Sid-Ahmed raises questions about the future of the United Nations

Seeking to win Arab "hearts and minds" to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote an article for the Arabic daily Al-Ahram of 30 March. Al-Ahram Board Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie replied in the same issue. As a service to English-language readers, Al-Ahram Weekly reprints their debate below
Why the war ; Who will history favour?

They didn't rise
Bassam Haddad explains why Americans remain totally bewildered by the Iraqi's stiff resistance to their self-styled 'liberators'

Jews out of court
Josh Ruebner , in an open letter, calls upon Paul Wolfowitz to resign, now

Roadmaps to devastation
The only discernible roadmap is that linking the aggression in Iraq with that in Palestine, writes Azmi Bishara

UN membership for Palestine -- now
The bleak picture in Palestine and Iraq makes it even more imperative for the Palestinian leadership to take a bold step forward, writes John V Whitbeck

In the balance
Iraq's future is anything but predetermined, argues Abdallah Al-Ashaal

Nobody's smiling
Between a domestic regime's repression and welcoming a foreign invasion, "falls the shadow", writes Sharif Elmusa

Document: The right to march
The Administrative Court, first circuit, issued an important ruling on 4 February overturning a Cairo Security Department order rejecting the request submitted by Dr Abdel- Mohsen Hamouda, a veteran political figure, to organise a peaceful protest march to protest the [then] impending war against Iraq...

Editorial:
In the name of peace
After 20 days of killing scores of civilians almost every hour, American and British soldiers appear to have decided that 'liberating' Iraq requires more than simply slaughtering its people...

Close up
Animosity here to stay
While fires rage on Baghdad's horizon, Arabs and Muslims are subjected to a concerted media campaign comprising conflicting reports about the US-British invasion of Iraq... By Salama A Salama

Soapbox
Syria and the axis of evil
Syria is the only Arab state whose territory is still occupied by Israel...
By Mahmoud Shukri

War news
Now that the American war on Iraq has entered its fourth week, an interesting observation is possible: American forces went to Iraq thinking they would return victorious within days; and yet it has already taken so long, and the Americans are still trying to take control of the conflict...
By Naguib Mahfouz

Bahgory One-line: TAREK AYYOUB

READER'S CORNER

Letters to the Editor

CULTURE

Kalevala's gentle giants
Amal Choucri Catta samples the delights of the North

In progress:
Midsummer mania
Ahmed El-Attar, now 33, earned a BA in theatre at the American University in Cairo...

Plain Talk
Often important events are consciously or unconsciously overlooked by the media...
By Mursi Saad El-Din

World conquests
As the war on Iraq enters its third week, and the scuds continue to terrorise a crumbling city, there is one conspicuous winner in the battle for fame and power. The image...

Urban poetics
Sherif Iskander Nakhla journeys with the dispossessed

LIVING

'This will not happen to us, right mom?'
I was glued to the television screen one day watching Iraqi war footage when my seven-year-old and five-year-old daughters made me realise that their political orientation was in the make...
By Shaden Shehab

Under the blanket
Injy El-Kashef makes herself snug as a bug

French Toast
By Moushira Abdel-Malek

Enemy aliens?
As Egyptians and Arabs take to the streets to voice outrage at the US strike on Iraq, Yasmine El-Rashidi talks to Cairo's expatriate community

FEATURES

Mapping underdevelopment
Is human development measurable? Fatemah Farag reviews the seventh Egypt Human Development Report, released this week

South of Sohag
Can the release of statistics guide development policy and upgrade the lives of the poor? Amira El-Noshokaty investigates the human side of underdevelopment in Dar Al-Salam

Theory and practice
Is it possible to establish a link between research and implementation in development? Fatemah Farag listened in to possible answers

Ruling the airwaves
Arab satellite news networks are proliferating, with tremendous impact on the region's peoples. But with more Arabs glued to TV screens than ever before, Alaa Shahine finds Al-Jazeera still ruling the airwaves

Tea and Jazeera
Coffee shops have turned into media centres for many Egyptians. Dena Rashed hits Cairo's local hangouts

HERITAGE

The cradle of civilisation
As the war enters its third week one can only despair at the fate of the fabled cities of Babylon and Nineveh on the Euphrates, the glory of Baghdad on the Tigris, and the lot of a proud people with a strong sense of national identity, writes Jill Kamil

A heritage under siege
Countless Iraqi historical monuments have already been destroyed and we continue to hear more reports of damage. Nevine El-Aref traces the steps taken, and not taken, to preserve the country's heritage

History up in flames
I was in Washington DC when the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statues in Afghanistan, and I was invited by many TV stations to give interviews saying what I thought about it...
By Zahi Hawass

SPORTS

To Africa's best
Individual and team performance in African football in 2002 has been officially recognised. Eric Asomugha covered the awards ceremony

Complete and comprehensive
WAYNE Elcock made light of his inexperience to comprehensively outpoint Anthony Farnell at the MEN Arena in Manchester..

Winning when there's war
Most sports activities in Egypt have been suspended or cancelled outright because of the war...
By Inas Mazhar

Clubs given a second chance
TWELVE countries are to be allowed to have a second representative in the expanded African Champions League which starts next year, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Friday...

CHRONICLES

Age of intelligence
"Spies of the Great War: the astonishing revelations of undercover agents" was the title of a series Al-Ahram introduced in 1931. Written by Edwin Woodhall, an officer in the special department of the British Intelligence Agency during the war, the series ran for 38 episodes. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk describes the covert war

PROFILE

Dr Karimat El-Sayed: A scientific struggle
'When you educate a man you educate an individual. When you educate a woman, you educate a family, a nation'
By Yasmine El-Rashidi

PEOPLE

Pack of Cards
By Madame Sosostris

Limelight
By Lubna Abdel-Aziz


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