English
ItalianoCampaigning for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Justice
19 Dec 2011 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
Articles
Israel completes swap deal by freeing 550 Palestinian prisoners
Agencies, 19 Dec 2011
Israel released 550 Palestinian prisoners in the second and final phase of a swap with Hamas militants that brought home an Israeli soldier after five years in captivity.
Their release Sunday night completed the deal to exchange 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Gaza militants in June 2006. Shalit returned home in October when Israel freed the first batch of prisoners.
Cairo Crackdown: Weekend of Violence Casts Shadow Over Egypt's Elections, Army Rule
By Erin Cunningham , 18 Dec 2011
It was another case of brutal abuse at the hands of Egyptian security forces that sparked this weekend's wave of deadly and ongoing clashes in downtown Cairo, deepening the country's political crisis as it heads to the polls in the first free elections, and underlining that one of the revolutionaries' key demands — security sector reform — has yet to be fulfilled.
Secular Democracies in the Middle East: Future or Fad?
By Nima Khorrami Assl, 16 Dec 2011
Much to the credit of Israeli analysts and politicians, who were arguably the first bunch to predict the revitalizing effects of Arab Spring on political Islam, it is now indisputable that the Arab Awakening has empowered, and will continue to empower, Islamist forces in the Middle East and North Africa; so much so that it is no exaggeration to say that governance in the ‘new Middle East’ will have a strong Islamic flavor. In the course of a month, elections in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have empowered Islamist parties giving them the right to lead coalition governments for the very first time in modern history; a development that will be likely replicated in Libya, Algeria, and Yemen once elections are held.
A single match, an act of defiance: the fire that swept the Arab world in 2011
By Catherine Solyom, Postmedia News, 16 Dec 2011
(…) Mohamed Bouazizi had suffered through police bullying and injustice for years trying to make a living to support his family. But when a policewoman on Dec. 17 slapped him across the face for refusing to hand over his scales and produce one more time, it was the last straw.
He pushed his cart over to the municipal government offices, and when he couldn't get a hearing with local authorities, right then and there he doused himself in paint thinner and struck a match.
Bouazizi would never know that this singular act of courage and desperation, leading to his death in a hospital three weeks later, would not only see the policewoman banished, but force an abrupt end to the 23-year dictatorship in Tunisia and the beginning of a revolution that would quickly spread from Morocco to Saudi Arabia as youths armed with Twitter and Facebook and Al Jazeera took to the streets to demand greater freedom and democracy.
Bahrain blogger Zainab al-Khawaja 'detained in protest'
BBC, 16 Dec 2011
Police in Bahrain have detained prominent blogger and rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja during a protest near the capital Manama, reports say.
Security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters trying to block a main road, according to witnesses.
Russia’s UN Resolution on Syria Violence Criticized by U.S.
By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Nicole Gaouette, 16 Dec 2011
Russia introduced a draft resolution today at the United Nations Security Council in response to the violence in Syria, drawing criticism from the U.S. and France. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Washington that the U.S. doesn’t support the resolution because it presents “a seeming parity” between the Syrian government, which has used deadly force against opponents, and “the peaceful protesters and other Syrians who are trying to defend themselves.”
Read More
US flag ceremony ends Iraq operation
BBC, 15 Dec 2011
The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.
The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.
He said the years of war in Iraq had yielded to an era of opportunity in which the US was a committed partner.
Morocco's PM-elect: no Islamic dress code for women
By Reuters, 12 Dec 2011
The man set to become Morocco's first Islamist prime minister said his government would not try to make women dress more modestly.
Abdelilah Benkirane is to lead a coalition government after his Justice and Development Party (PJD) became the latest Islamist movement in the Middle East to win an election in the wake of the "Arab Spring" revolutions.
The party is anxious to reassure powerful secularists in the Moroccan establishment, foreign investors, and the tourists who provide much of the country's revenue, that it will not try to impose a strict Muslim moral code, Reuters reports.
