Salon.com > Helena Cobban

Why Washington is so blind on Egypt

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:15:00 +0000

As Egypt’s vast protest enters its seventh day, it is clear that the people on the streets -- young and old, secular and religious, men and more than a few women -- have already started to change the strategic geography of the whole Middle East. Egypt's 83 million people and its strategic location make it the most politically weighty country in the Arab world. And ever since 1974, when Nixon and Kissinger started incorporating Egypt into the pro-U.S. network in the region, it has been a linchpin of that network. The fall of Iran's shah in 1978 and Egypt’s conclusion of a peace agreement with Israel the following year further cemented its position as a key to U.S.-led regional order.

Now, the anti-regime protesters are challenging not only Egypt's president of 31 years, Hosni Mubarak, but also this regional order. The large military and repressive apparatus that Mubarak has maintained in the country -- with the help of generous arms transfers, financing and training from Washington -- is proving incapable of keeping him in power. In Washington, as the Daily Beast’s John Barry has chronicled, Obama administration officials were taken completely by surprise by the scope of the popular uprising and have felt almost powerless to intervene.

The incredible shrinking U.S.

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 13:00:00 +0000

The Bush administration has just received two pieces of welcome news from Iraq. It learned first that a U.S. attack plane had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the long-hunted leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, and then that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was finally able to name designees for the three security posts in his government. The new ministers were sworn in within hours.

However, the longer-term trends within Iraq remain grim for the administration. Zarqawi's killing might dent but certainly promises no quick end to the insurgency among Sunni Arabs in the west and center of Iraq. And though it was good for Maliki to be able -- almost six months after the parliamentary elections of last December -- to complete his government, still, even these new ministers would find it no easier than their colleagues to actually implement policies they might agree on in their offices in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Sisterhood of Hamas

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:28:00 +0000

The preschool's iron gate clangs behind us, shutting out the dust and concrete-block ugliness of Jabaliya, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world (population 120,000). In here, around the paved schoolyard, everything is clean, freshly painted and orderly. An energetic young woman in full Islamic coverup is leading two dozen 4-year-olds in some vigorous phys ed. Tiny voices echo out through the open classroom windows.

In one room, a dozen kids are working on computers, "coloring" the national flag of Palestine on their screens. In another, two teachers behind an ingenious puppet theater have puppets act out an interactive skit about the virtues of brushing your teeth. In a third room, it's time for English instruction. "Where is the orange?" the teacher asks as 22 kids look at objects arrayed on a table. "This is the orange!" some overachievers yell as they race to grab it.

Forget about old-fashioned Islamic madrasas and rote learning. This is an Islamic preschool, Hamas-style. It is part of a dense network of social-service institutions that Hamas and its precursor organizations have built up over the past 30 years in the Israeli-occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank. These institutions have provided some much-needed humanitarian aid to the hard-pressed Palestinian population. They have also served a number of political purposes.

Who is the real Hamas?

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:50:00 +0000

The decisive victory of the militant Islamic group Hamas in the Palestinians' Jan. 25 elections stunned just about everyone involved in Palestinian affairs and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Hamas' victory raises a host of questions, but it is clearly one of the most significant developments in decades in this debilitating and frequently lethal conflict, which even more than the war in Iraq remains the greatest source of anger and misunderstanding between the U.S. and the Arab/Muslim world. As a long-standing observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with many close contacts among players on both sides, I wanted to see for myself how Hamas' triumph was playing out. To find out, I embarked on a 20-day reporting trip to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

For Palestinians and Israelis alike, Hamas' victory has been likened to an earthquake. Some Palestinians are apprehensive about the rise of the hard-line group, but many more applaud the fact that they will now be represented by negotiators who are as tough as the Israelis. For Israelis, the Hamas victory has created fear and uncertainty. Most Israelis see Hamas as a murderous group of religious zealots who refuse to recognize the Israeli state, want to see it destroyed and are willing to be very patient in seeking its doom. For them, the triumph of Hamas confirms their worst fears about Palestinian attitudes and intentions. And nothing that any of the Hamas leaders can say -- short of immediately recognizing Israel and unconditionally renouncing violence -- would reassure them.