Mohamed Al-Rumaihi of The Majalla magazine examines why the uprisings in the Arab world have not spread to the Gulf states.
There have been major differences between the radically-changed Arab regimes and the Gulf States. In the Gulf, authority is not completely isolated from society; equally, means of oppression and terror are not routinely adopted, and the states tend to favor persuasion. Incidents in Saudi Arabia are one example: the authorities were coping with armed citizens even before the Arab Spring.
Treating Iran as a regional power could be a more conducive step toward curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear aspirations than sanctions and threats of military action, writes Kevjn Lim in The Diplomat.
Recognizing Iran as a responsible power in the region while gently muzzling its nuclear ambitions allows its leaders to “save face,” more importantly. Often regarded with a mixture of mirth and outright bewilderment in the West, this critical concept has been one of the Orient’s historical determinants of war and peace.
From Sderot, an Open Letter to Gunter Grass
Writing for PJ Media, Sderot resident David Farer invites Gunter Grass to visit his city and see firsthand the damage of rocket fire by Iranian allies Hamas.
Iran actively helps the Hamas radical Islamists, whose only regret about terrifying that little girl is that they did not kill her, her family, and all of her friends. The Iranian friends of Hamas are now working on bigger and better rockets that can carry the nuclear bombs Iran is developing. With these big rockets, the Iranians hope to achieve what the little rockets Hamas uses on Sderot cannot: the extermination of an entire people.
In an opinion piece published by the Frontier Post, Jordan’s Prince Hassan bin Talal argues that American disengagement would only exacerbate the problems of the region.
The euphoria generated by the “Arab awakening” cannot hide the fact that the Middle East is as much of a mess as it ever was. In 2009, President Obama spoke in Cairo of how “while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.” Such engagement, which we all hope for, cannot be sustained by pivoting. American military disengagement from Iraq and Afghanistan is welcomed within the Arab world. But other types of US engagement are still needed.
Secret freedom at Tel Aviv’s ‘Palestinian Queer Party’
Michal Shmulovich of the Times of Israel goes inside a clandestine haven for gay Palestinians in Tel Aviv.
It started about 10 years ago, originally taking place in Jerusalem on weekday evenings, when some 40 or 50 Palestinian men from the area would gather. The organizers moved it to Tel Aviv about five years ago, and now hundreds show up each month. People travel from all over: Ramallah, East Jerusalem, small Arab villages in northern Israel, Yafo, everywhere. Those traveling from Ramallah have their own ways of getting into Israel – some of them with official permits, but most of them without.
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