Articles

The election of Ariel Sharon as prime minister of the zionist state was supposed to be a statement of intent that Israel was tired of talking to the Palestinians and had turned away from the peace process in favour of a hard response to the Palestinians’ continued uprising.

After nearly a decade of silence, former Algerian president Chadli Benjedid has spoken. In statements to Algerian journalists last month, Benjedid responded to criticism describing his 10-year presidency as the “black decade” and accusing him of making a deal with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique de Salut or FIS).

With the opening of the 2001 World Economic Forum (WEF) meetings in Davos, satellite-TV viewers worldwide have once again seen drastic security measures against the threat of protests. From Seattle to Switzerland, in recent years global economic policy meetings have come under fire from a broad coalition of what the media call ‘anti-globalization’ or ‘anti-capitalist’ forces.

Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, urged business leaders gathered at Davos, Switzerland, on January 29 to help him to achieve his goal of getting a thousand corporations to back his Global Compact.

The decision of the three judges sitting in the special Scottish court in Zeist, Holland, to convict one Libyan for responsibility of the Lockerbie bombing, and to acquit the other, may cynically (but realistically) be seen as a politically astute judgement, giving every party involved some ground for satisfaction.

Ten years after the overthrow of general Siad Barre, and the collapse of state institutions, Somalia remains shattered — despite the ‘election’ of a new president and parliament that enjoy considerable international diplomatic support, including the approval of the UN, countries of the region and most members of the Arab League.

HADITH AND SUNNAH – IDEALS AND REALITIES edited by P.K. Koya, 2nd. edition, 2000; Islamic Book Trust, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Email ibtkl@pd.jaring.my). Pp: 360. Price: RM36.

Every February, Muslims around the world mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which established the prototypical Islamic state of the modern era in Iran. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the American assault on Iraq in 1991 (the US bombing campaign began on January 16, 1991, and the land war — if that is the right word — lasted from February 23-27).

As Muslims from all over the world begin to travel to the Hijaz for Hajj, ZAFAR BANGASH, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), discusses the true nature of the annual pilgrimage.

Two more Palestinians were killed by Israel on January 25. One was a 22-year-old youth shot dead by troops; the other was a 16-year-old boy who died in hospital, one day after being shot by Jewish settlers.