an interview with Bassam al-Salhi bitterlemons: Some say the concept of land swaps is a creative way to resolve territorial problems in negotiations. Do you agree? Al-Salhi: No. I think this idea is very dangerous. We need clear recognition of the borders of a Palestinian state, i.e., the whole area of 1967, including East Jerusalem. This is the law as embodied in many resolutions from the UN and negotiations must start from this point. Any land swap must not change this reality or the unity of the area of the Palestinian state. However, what’s happening is that Israel is making … Continue reading A PALESTINIAN VIEW A dangerous concept

by Yossi Alpher The concept of land swaps along the green line between Israel and a future Palestinian state appears to be a byproduct of Palestinian adherence to the narrative of the 1967 green line as the border of a Palestinian state. Those Israelis who accept the 1967 border as the basis for a final status territorial agreement, yet who acknowledge that it will be impossible to remove the better part of the settlers who live in settlement blocs or even in individual settlements near the green line, appear to have persuaded the PLO leadership that land swaps can allow … Continue reading AN ISRAELI VIEW The corridor is undervalued

by Ghassan Khatib The idea of a land swap with the objective of fixing agreed-upon borders between Israel and a Palestinian state was proposed during the 2000 Camp David negotiations. The concept was introduced mainly to find a way out of the contradiction between the need to adhere to the legal borders of 1967 and the Israeli demand to take into consideration the reality created by the presence of Israeli settlements in occupied territory. At the time, the land swap idea related particularly to settlements adjacent to the 1967 borders, which include a relatively large number of Jewish settlers and … Continue reading A PALESTINIAN VIEW Not valid forever

Sheikh Chafiq Jeradeh The Islamic Revolution in Iran has come to be defined for many by the concept of Wilayat al-Faqih (the Jurist’s Guardianship), instituted by Imam Khomeini – May Allah Sanctify His Soul (MASHS). Wilayat al-Faqih represents an Islamic concept that is based on the values of the Sufi-Irfan idea that it is possible for humans to ascend through a thorough knowledge of themselves to the state of a ‘Perfect Human Being’. Such a person is sometimes referred to as the ‘Pole’ or ‘the Pole of the Poles’. In the Sufi-Irfan concept, this state of being carries clear contractual … Continue reading The Experience of the Islamic Revolution in Iran – The Contemporary Debate

Commentary by Alastair Crooke New Global Studies Vol. 3 : Issue 2, Article 4. Published byThe Berkeley Electronic Press BEIRUT – Many commentators on Islam make the same mistake: They instinctively assume that Muslim resistance to western globalisation reflects the inability of Muslims to accept the social and structural change that ‘modernity’ requires. Muslims, in this view, fail to rise above the ‘closed’ world of cultural traditions, and to embrace change. They shy away from, or react against the ‘choice’ offered by modernity. The Philosopher, Henri Bergson, writing in 1932, suggested that one reason that some intellectual societies – for … Continue reading Why Can’t Muslim Societies Be More Like a Globalised West?

Submitted by dlindorff By Dave Lindorff You had to love the headline the Philadelphia Inquirer put on the jump page of columnist Trudy Rubin’s Sunday commentary about word that the Obama administration is hoping to talk with at least some mid-level Taliban leaders about giving up the fight and “coming over” to the “government” side. “Relax–No deal with Taliban is Imminent,” the headline read. “I suggest everyone take a deep breath,” Rubin wrote. “The US position toward talks with the Taliban has shifted somewhat, but no deal with top Taliban leaders is imminent, or even likely.” Phew! Thank god for that! … Continue reading Talk Now with the Taliban (We’re Going to End Up Having to Talk with Them Anyhow)