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Reluctant Embrace

Syria is about to step into the stream of Arab political reform, but with as little fanfare as possible.

Reforms in the Arab World - The Limits of Pessimism

Those who are pushing for reform in the Middle East above all need us to believe that change is possible.

"No to Another Term of Mubarak in Office"

Egyptians will be voting in September on whether to extend the term of Husni Mubarak as president once more. Opposition to the move is growing, says Ahmad Hamad, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre

New Geopolitical Rules and Guidelines

In the Iraq War, an Arab state was defeated and occupied by a non-regional power for the first time since decolonization. The US are now the strongest military power in the Near East, supplanting previous regional leaders such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. By Volker Perthes

The Islamic Struggle for Palestine

The informative and entertainingly written book "Hamas – the Islamic Struggle for Palestine" by the historian and journalist Joseph Croitoru offers readers a better understanding of Hamas and the Middle East conflict. Jürgen Endres takes a look

"Islam Protects Us"

The burgeoning fundamentalist religious forces have not only radicalized the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A new generation of Palestinian women is also increasingly looking to the Islamists for salvation. Kai Adler reports

An Opportunity to Revive the Peace Process

The European Union should take the chance offered by the new government to end the isolation of the Palestinian Authority and get the peace process back on the right track, comments Muriel Asseburg

Germany Has Mixed Record as Mediator

Germany has begun playing an active role in pursuing a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. It's not the first time German diplomats have gotten involved in the region and this conflict. Peter Philipp reports

Wartime Has Never Begun So Quickly

"For Lebanon it was the most sudden transition from peace to war that the country had every experienced. From 9:15, 12 July, on Wednesday morning onwards, everything was suddenly different," Hassan Dawud writes from Lebanon.

European-Muslim Cultural Dialogue

The Objective of ifa's CrossCulture Internships is to increase the intercultural, political and specialist knowledge and competence of future representatives and multipliers of the Civil Societies from predominantly Muslim countries and Germany