Posted on Tue, Jul 31, 2007 @ 04:55 PM
New proposal focuses on potential cooperation between Israel, Jordan and Egypt in Middle East conflict
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Effie Eitam, MK National Religious Party |
On Monday I spoke with Effie Eitam, MK, following his meeting with the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt in Jerusalem. They were there to encourage further Israeli consideration of the Saudi-initiated peace proposal. Eitam, in return, presented a proposal of his own relative to cooperation between Israel, Egypt
and Jordan.
The full text of the interview can be found here.
David Hulme
Posted on Wed, Jul 25, 2007 @ 04:58 PM
I’ve written before about Dubai’s Burj tower project as a symbol of the Middle East’s potential for peaceful economic development. This week, the structure became the world’s tallest at 1680 ft (512 m) with 141 stories so far—that’s more than any other building in the world. Thought to be only about 2/3 finished (though its final height is a secret), it’s scheduled for completion in 2008, when some think that it may reach 800 meters.
David Hulme
Posted on Mon, Jul 23, 2007 @ 05:01 PM
Several significant events occurred in the Middle East while I took a short break from blogging for a family vacation. I’ll comment on several items as I catch up in the next few days.
Shimon Peres became Israel’s President on July 15. I have hopes that his dovish stance on Palestinian relations will pay dividends during his tenure. Michael Bar-Zohar’s biography published in English in February shows all sides of the hawk turned dove. (see Peres’ own comments on the change in his views in my interview with him. The Peres Center for Peace, under the presidency of Oslo peace negotiator Uri Savir, has attracted wide support (former Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurie is an international board member). In June it held a conference in Tuscany which brought together delegates from more than 100 Palestinian and Israeli organizations and about 60 European agencies.
Meanwhile Peres assumed another new role, as president of a new organization pan-Jewish organization to represent Israeli and Diaspora Jews around the world. Former US peace negotiator Dennis Ross publicly invited Peres to take up the role at a meeting in Jerusalem
recently.
David Hulme