Ibrahim Sharqieh

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MundoOriente Próximo

In 2011, Yemenis rejoiced at the toppling of their dictatorial president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ruled for 33 years. It was the third successful revolution of the Arab Spring, following the overthrow of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt. But, as elsewhere, reconciliation did not follow revolution.

Over the weekend, after a weekslong siege of Sana, the capital, rebels suddenly ousted Yemen’s prime minister and captured the Defense Ministry, the government television station and the central bank. On Sunday, President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi signed an agreement dictated by the rebels, known as the Houthis, and facilitated by a United Nations envoy.…  Seguir leyendo »

Smoke is seen billowing from the Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike. (Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo,

A popular colloquial definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Israel launched military campaigns in 2008 and 2012, purportedly to eliminate Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities from the Gaza Strip. Obviously, the campaigns failed: Hamas is again unleashing a barrage of rockets and Israel is again bombarding Gaza. Israel cannot win this war, primarily because it is fighting only the symptoms of the conflict with the Palestinians — rocket launching — not the underlying causes, which are the Gaza blockade and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The range of Hamas' rockets was about 50 miles in 2012, reaching cities such as Ashdod.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

“We probably need a fair dictator,” my friend told me during a January 2013 visit to Libya. He was referring to the general sense of hopelessness that had started to grow within the Libyan public. The security situation had deteriorated and Libyans were looking for a savior.

In the midst of this bleak situation, a Libyan general, Khalifa Hifter, has emerged and appointed himself as the rescuer of the deeply divided country. While he seems to respond to the desire of my friend and many Libyans for a “fair dictator” to lead the country through its troubled transitional period, General Hifter also raises the specter of Col.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica

At the January national conference of the Association of the Families of the Abu Salim Prison Massacre in Tripoli, I saw the Libyan legislator Abdel Wahab Mohamed Qaid lead a chant in support of the country’s proposed “Political Exclusion Law.”

The law, which Parliament has accepted in principle, will disqualify anyone associated with the regime of Muammar el-Qaddafi from holding public office in Libya — not just senior regime officials, but potentially the country’s upper- and mid-level bureaucracy as well.

In the expansive auditorium in Tripoli, victims’ families responded in unison, cheering Qaid and calling on him to push the law.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

During a recent visit to Yemen, I was sitting in a cafe in Sana when we suddenly experienced a power outage. I asked the waiter what happened, and he replied: “Saleh’s men keep attacking the main power plant in Mareb to disrupt life in Sana. Saleh is still working against the revolution. He won’t give up.”

Regardless of the real causes of the outage, the waiter’s explanation reflected a general sense that the uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his aides is far from over.

Officially, the uprising, which was inspired by the Arab Spring and led to hundreds of deaths, ended last February when the former vice president, Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was installed as president.…  Seguir leyendo »