Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Lebanon finally has a government, though the months of sectarian politics that preceded it have not gone away. This government is going to have a very difficult time unifying Lebanon, and it will likely fail. There is an awkward balance. While Hizbullah (and its Shiite ally Amal) are the dominant played in the political coalition…
Turkey is now paying the price for its coziness with Iran and Syria. What was probably an inevitable pitfall of its decision to orient itself toward regimes in direct opposition to Israel, Turkey may soon feel the anger of a revolutionary Syrian population eager to cut off ties with Turkey. It would be a satisfying…
I have no idea why, but the Obama administration has been very warm toward the Syrian regime, calling the dictator/son of a dictator Bashar al-Assad a “reformer”. This leads to the obvious question, what does that make Pol Pot? While Syrian police have been killing protesters en masse, the US has been silent. In fact,…
In Israel, Druze are overrepresented in the Israeli Defense Forces and the Knesset relative to their population. In Lebanon, Druze had their own militia during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and have their own political party today. In Syria, Druze rebels were instrumental in fighting the French during Syria’s 1925 uprising. The basic idea is…
Syria Captial: Damascus Population: ~22,000,000; 70% Sunni Arab, large minorities of Kurds, Christians, Druze and Alawite Muslims President: Bashar al-Assad Former President: Hafez al-Assad __________ The revolutions that started in North Africa are creeping into Israel’s domain. The Levant – the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Ocean that is home to Israel, the Palestinian territories,…
This week my group took a little trip up to the Golan Heights. We spent one night in a hotel and two days hiking and sight seeing around the area. On the first day, we went to Mt. Bental, an old inactive volcano that houses an old army barrack turned tourist attraction. The mountain is…