"Asked whether the war criminals should be allowed to contest the elections, Shaher said it is an 'internal matter' of Bangladesh. “It is not our concern whatever party comes to power in Bangladesh. Arab countries will closely work together whatever party comes to power," Shaher Mohammad said." (thanks Tanweer)

These are Arab rulers. Bush dancing with Sheikh Mo's family members. (thanks Fadi)

Bush Doctrine Update: "As Mr. Sneid began reading, witnesses said, Sadrists and other opponents of the agreement continued to trade shouts with lawmakers who supported it. Then, Ahmed Masu’udi, a Sadrist lawmaker, approached the dais. Mr. Masu’udi said later in an interview that he was simply trying to reach Mr. Mashhadani to persuade him to stop the reading; several other witnesses said Mr. Masu’udi tried to attack Mr. Sneid. The security guards rushed toward Mr. Masu’udi, who said that they grabbed him and struggled to push him away. At that point, witnesses said, the hall was filled with shouting, lawmakers rushed toward the front and the session ended in chaos."

"Israeli security forces on Wednesday tore down a tent in which an Occupied Jerusalem Palestinian family had been living since being evicted from their nearby house earlier this month. The tent housed Fawzia al-Kurd and her ailing husband since their November 9 expulsion from their home of 52 years that had become a symbol of Palestinian resistance against the pressure of Jewish settlers seeking to gain more land in Arab East Jerusalem." As Mahmud Darwish had said:
"All that you have done
to our people is
registered in notebooks."

My sources explain to me why James Zogby is defending the fanatic Zionists of the new administration. Apparently, he wants to be an ambassador in an Arab country.

"Egyptian police announced Wedneday they had arrested more than 550 teenagers suspected of sexually harassing girls outside schools in several Cairo districts in a single day. The culprits were awaiting interrogation and trial Thursday." They were promised amnesty and blenders if they vote for Jamal Mubarak.

The feminism of George and Laura Bush: "Five years after his last visit, our correspondent finds the Taliban back in charge of their spiritual home – and girls attacked with acid simply for attending school." (thanks Zaki)

You have to see how excited the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan was when the UK foreign minister visited its offices in Beirut. The minister said that the visit is to support "freedom of the press." He said that he will next visit the dungeons of Prince Nayif in Riyadh to support freedom of worship.

"Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire says the United Nations should suspend or revoke Israel's membership." (thanks Marcy)

I have a deal to offer to the Zionists: you may steal the claim to Hummus provided you return Palestine to its owners.

"The ministry has okayed negotiations and sales between Israeli dealers and several Arab states including Iraq, Libya and Yemen, say the sources." (thanks Electronic Ali)

I apologize to Lebanon because Iraq beat it to this honor: "Iraq is perceived as being the world's third most corrupt country, with only failed state Somalia and Myanmar's military junta below it, according to the Transparency International index." (thanks Olivia)

"A group of Jewish settlers have graffitied messages insulting the prophet Mohammed on a mosque in the West Bank."

"He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood. “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”" (thanks Selina)

Zeee Plane. Zeeee Plane. Apparently, the plane of the Lebanese Air Force is bothering residents of Beirut as it is being flown daily over the city in preparation for the Air Show on Lebanon's so-called Independence Day. The last time this plane was used when it bombed Palestinian refugee camps back in May 1973.

Norman Finkelstein sent me this (I cite with his permission): "In the link for the Riad Malki item, one reads at the bottom:
In addition, this year's conference featured a very special event: the announcement of the first annual Washington Institute Book Prize. This lucrative prize is awarded by an independent jury to recognize three outstanding books that advance America's understanding of Middle Eastern politics and U.S. politics. There's an amusing story here. The three-person jury was starred by Bernard Lewis. The book given the Silver Prize was Ginor and Remez, FOXBATS OVER DIMONA. Their book is an out-and-out hoax. Should you want to look at my documentation, I can forward it."

Lebanon may be closer to peace than ever. The Hariri family just opened the King Fahd Garden in Tripoli.

From the demonstration against Peres at Oxford University yesterday (thanks to one of the demonstrators).

Political Economy of the US permanent occupation treaty by comrade Fawwaz

Yesterday, outside the State Department, Walid Jumblat thanked the Bush administration for "stopping the Israeli aggression" on Lebanon. I kid you not.

An Ethiopian maid in Lebanon tried to kill herself but consuming poison. She is being hospitalized.

The coverage of the pirates is typically sensational and one-sided in the US. You wonder: is it better to be suspected (as an Arab) of piracy or of terrorism? Piracy is not terrorism of course, and Johnny Depp--I thought--made piracy cool. But AlJazeera Arabic, for example, had a report yesterday about the background of the pirates: it spoke about the plight of destitute fishermen who were made unemployed by large fishing ships and corporations. That is missing from US news coverage.

You can look for this in vein in English language publication. I tried to find one English reference but I did not: a UAW newspaper (Al-Imarat Al-Yawm) was ordered to close down for 20 days because it offended the...horses of the brother of the head of state.

A Lebanese Marxist theater director awaiting the fall of capitalism.

Memoirs of Revolutionary Days. I received today the memoirs of Fathi Al-Biss (thanks Rami for sending it and for Leila for transporting it). Could not put it down. It is a story of a Palestinian refugee (born in 1951) who came to Lebanon in the late 1960s to study at my high school (International College) and later at AUB on a scholarship from a quaker foundation. He is nine years older than me but he was a famous name in studnet activism at the time I was a young student at IC. I remmber his name from the reportage of the Arab nationalist/leftist newspaper, Al-Muharrir which was the Akhbar of its time. He led the strikes and demonstrations at AUB in the pre-war period (and in the during-the-war) period. He was in the Fath movement. It brought many student days memories for me: of the time when this great guy in Fath wanted to recruit me when I was in high school: he was one of the non-showy types (unusual for Fath) and was decent and low-key guy (some of you know him and he is still a dear friend). He succeeded in recruting students at many schools: he was effective in non flashy ways (also unusual among Fath types). He got quickly mad at me when he discovered that I really detested Fath leadership and that I fiercely opposed Fath's ideology--or whatever you want to call it. He became very unnice to me when I would run into hin in those days (although he now denies it). Fathi tells a very interesting story and you re-live those days: with their hope and their frustrations and defeat. The book was banned in Jordan although the author was extremely careful in not offending the Jordanian regime. But what do you say about a regime that does not tolerate "extending one's tongue"--literally, that is the language of the law in question--against the rulers. I wonder whether it was about the story of when the mukhabarat guy `Abdul-Karim Al-Kabariti (later a prime minister of Jordan) was kidnapped from AUB in the early seventies (the Jordanian government suspeted Fath but the PFLP was behind it). A friend that I later knew was tortured by the Lebanese police to obtain information about Kabariti. The title of the book is Inthiyal Adh-Dhakirah: Inthiyal is an old word and I don't know why he used it. It has the meaning in old classical Arabic of digging out sands in the bottom of the well. So he wanted to say digging out the memory. The story of the period has to be told, and I often think about writing my own memoirs but I don't feel that my story has been completed, or that my tale is close to being told. I shall wait. The other day, my uncle (in his seventies) called me from Paris where he lives in retirement. He was active in the Movement of Arab Nationalists and was a close of comrade of Nayif Hawatimah. Wadi` Haddad, George Habash, and Hawatimah used to fight it out in my grandfather's house in Tyre (I had written about him before). He used to write for Al-Hurriyyah magazine in the 1960s when it was the mouthpiece of the Movement of Arab Nationalists. He was a close friend of Ghassan Kanafani, and was influenced by his stories. I urged him to write his memoirs, and he said that he thought about it. I told him that it may be hard for somebody of his personality: modest and very low key. He said that he would think about it. I asked him to write a chapter, and I would get it published. He said that he would write it but only for my own eyes and would not want it to be published. He told me how he first rebelled: against the family itself (the AbuKhalil feudal family). He got so influenced by leftist writings that he felt that his revolution should be first directed against his own family: he packed and left the home and went to Jordan (where he joined Haddad and Habash and then went to Cairo to study in College during the Nasser days). Fath Al-Biss tells an amazing story: in that Lebanon has changed. There were people who fought for Palestine from different Lebanese sects: this was before the rise of the wawa culture and the era of Arab rulers' dancing for Bush. This was prior to the Sunni-Shi`ite war. My friend `Issa recently told me during a visit to the US that he believes that the Iranian Revolution really changed it all for those of us in the secular left, and he is right. I will be writing soon in Arabic about the underlying causes of the decline of the Arab left. He tells the story of the AUB student, Toni An-Nims who heroically died fighting the Lebanese fascist parties near Sannin. And then things changed, and the guru of the Fath's Left, Munir Shafiq, himself became an Islamist. The sad part is the ending: you feel there is a shift from activism to business. He tells us about his business deals (book publishing and pharmacy) as if we give a hoot about that. But it is an interesting story nevertheless and the author succeeds in making you live those times. I don't want to say more lest I get too emotional.

PS And he tells the story of a cruel American principal at our school, the International College. I still remember his name: Mr. Sullivan. He was blatantly abusive and treated the natives like they were slaves. I detested that man at the age of 10, and he represented to an earlier leftist the epitome of American imperialism. He also was an art teacher, and we did not see the fruits of his art work (although he once later took me aside and gave me good tips about how to draw the human head). Once, I was singing a song by Wadi` As-Safi in art class. I still remember the song:
لارميلك حالي من العالي وقلك هديني
For me, it was a hilarious song. Wadi` As-Safi was singing to the beloved: I shall throw myself at you from atop, and tell you to catch me. The image of As-Safi` throwing himself into the arms of the beloved was--and will always be--very hilarious. So he was pissed that I was singing in art class. He gave me a disciplinary report and I could not understand the offense. I still don't. In later years, I would take my revenge at him. When we no more had to take art classes, I would to his art class when they were asked to go outside to sketch nature, and I would sketch all their notebooks. And as soon as they returned to class, he would tell them: that was AbuKhalil, go back again.

Peres at Oxford (thanks Reem)

"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced Wednesday that Israel has made a final decision to boycott the United Nations "Durban II" conference on human rights this spring, fearing it would be used once again as a forum for anti-Israeli sentiment." Why would anybody invite racists to attend a conference on racism to begin with.

.

"But the inescapable fact is that the Arabs of Palestine never got the state the UN promised them, and those in the West Bank and (until recently) Gaza have spent the past 40 years under Israeli military occupation, with no citizenship rights at all. That, the authors imply, is another story, separate from the one that interests them: the internal quality of Israeli democracy and the rights of Israel’s own Arabs. In logic, maybe. But in the eyes of the Palestinians, and others, it is hardly surprising, after all the stateless decades, that the two stories have merged."

"Noting that Saudis play chess without the bishop or the queen—for which they substitute an elephant and a vizier—he comments wryly: “No Christians or women were going to be checkmating any king in Abdel Aziz’s Saudi Arabia.”"

"As Mr Ottaway records, the prince became virtually part of the administration, able to enter the White House unannounced and enjoying the rare privilege of a State Department security detail."

"One of the draws for the Bedouins is that the Sharm al-Sheikh tourist industry churns out rubbish all year round. "

A Bangladeshi domestic servant in Beirut set herself on fire and died.

"From the outset of their detainment, Bulgarian officials did not portray the nurses' arrest as a human rights violation, even as scores of Western medical professionals presented evidence that the Libyan hospital system was to blame. Instead, Bulgarian officials treated the nurses as citizens who had committed a crime abroad and should be extradited, and tried domestically."

Is this not nice and kind? "SECRETARY RICE: I think we are all very much following what is going on in Lebanon, and I’m looking forward to listening to Mr. Jumblatt as he tells me about the preparations for the election. And we continue to support a democratic and sovereign and independent Lebanon, and everything that the United States is doing is to that cause. And anyone and any state that demonstrates its commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence should be welcomed to that cause. I just think it’s important to demonstrate it."

"Pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted President Shimon Peres' speech Tuesday evening at Britain's Oxford University. The angry students called Peres a "war criminal" and called for an end to the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories." A student at Oxford sent me her impressions (I use with her permission): "I am an avid reader of your blog and I have a story for you from Oxford. Tonight, on 18th November 2008, Balliol College of Oxford University hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres in our university's most prestigious venue, the Old Sheldonian Theatre. They honoured him not only with this platform, to speak on the topic 'The Globalisation of Peace'(!), but also with the announcement that this would constitute the first in a lecture series entitled 'Peace Lectures: Inaugurated by Shimon Peres'. We, the Oxford Arab Cultural Society and the Oxford Students' Palestine Society, alongside the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and concerned members of the public, held a demonstration outside starting over an hour before the talk, and lasting - audibly - throughout Peres' speech. Some of us attended the lecture and, at intervals, nine students got up and made loud statements beginning 'I represent all the Palestinians who...' One such student was bundled out of the lecture hall. Peres was visiblyfazed by these interruptions and the sound of the protestors outside, while the audience were thus made aware of the point of view being stifled by Peres' presence today in Oxford, and every day in Palestine. Several letters of opposition have been presented to the Master of Balliol, Andrew Graham, among which was one from a prominent group of South African anti-apartheid activists (attached below). We hope that there will be publicity for this opposition, and for the events of today, as part of our ongoing protest to show that the head of the Israeli state is not welcome here..."

"THE hollowness of Israel’s rhetoric about “united Jerusalem” is never starker than on local election day, when the city’s 537,000 adults, together with the rest of Israel, can go to the polls to pick their new mayor. Among Jerusalem’s Palestinians, who make up some 30% of the citizenry, hardly anyone bothers to vote. In East Jerusalem, the mainly Arab part of the city captured and annexed by Israel in 1967, polling stations in schools and public buildings stay yawningly empty, apart from a trickle of municipal employees and their families."

"A senior ministry official was arrested recently on suspicion of stealing hundreds of thousands of shekels allotted to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The inmates, most of whom are jailed in Nafha Prison in the Negev, were meant to use the money to purchase products at the jail's canteen."

"It turns out Islamophobia is no myth. Researchers in psychology and medicine have found that anti-Muslim sentiment is a very real phenomenon with potentially dire effects on safety and medical care."

Obama very impressed with Arab surrender plan.

PA blames other Palestinians for Gaza blackouts. (thanks Olivia)

"The American security company Blackwater is planning to cash in on the rising threat of piracy on the high seas by launching a flotilla of gunboats for hire by the shipping companies."

"An association representing international news organizations is campaigning for an end to an unusual Israeli policy barring foreign reporters from entering Gaza that has lasted for almost two weeks." Unusual? Why unusual? Remember when Henry Kissinger back in the late 1980s advised the Israeli government to close off the occupied territories in order to kill and injure without media presence? (thanks Marcy)

"The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah has blocked access to a popular news website because of the site's reporting on widespread corruption among the entourage of PA President Mahmoud Abbas." (thanks Electronic Ali)

Riad Maliki was a PFLP commander. Now he is a token Arab at WINEP's events.

Right-wing complexes by comrade Khalid

"Peru sets potato exhibition" (thanks Maryellen)

"But he has stopped short of supporting Schakowsky and Senator Bernie Sanders's legislation seeking a ban on using Blackwater and other armed contracting companies in Iraq. One of his top foreign policy advisers told The Nation earlier this year that Obama "can't rule out [and] won't rule out" using these companies in Iraq."

Who says Arab royalty are not talented? "The reclusive singer is alleged to have accepted the huge sum to sing tracks composed by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Bin Isa Khalifa." (thanks Ibrahim)

What on earth is "founding director of the Center for Middle East Research, 1992"??

"The applied research institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ) reported that Israel, since the Annapolis conference held in October last year, has embarked on building tens of thousands of settlement units in the West Bank and demolished 90 Palestinian houses at the pretext of illegal construction."
"As Mahmud Darwish had written:
"All that you have done
to our people is
registered in notebooks."

"Södertälje, just south of Stockholm, are being subjected to harassment and hate crimes, according to police." (thanks Ali)

""Barack Obama had to make a choice between his Jewish supporters and his anti-Israel supporters like Jimmy Carter, and he did not choose Jimmy Carter. And that was an embarrassment for Jimmy Carter and a show of disrespect. And I'm very glad he made that decision. It was a good decision, a wise decision, a moral decision."" For Dershowitz to speak on morality is like Larry Flynt talking about good taste. (thanks Naseer)

Walid Jumblat is visiting LA. My sources tell me that he is avoiding criticizing Hizbullah this time around. He will then move to DC where he will meet with Cheney and Abrams. He will thank them both for "liberating" Lebanon for him. Yesterday, Jumblat said that "it is certian that Lebanon occupies a special place in the hart of the Americans and the present and future administration." No, I did not make this bullshit up.

Abu Mazen censors this site in Palestine because it aired criticisms of him and Dahalan. (thanks Marcy)

You blame the American occupation and the Shi`ite sectarian militia of Badr for this outrage: "Al Tanf camp for Palestinian refugees from Iraq has to be in the top five of worst situated refugee camps in the world. It violates every principle of proper camp siting. In the no man's land between Syria and Iraq, it is within the border zone itself. It is completely exposed on one side to a highway, where trucks alternately speed by or sit idle for hours at a time waiting to make the border crossing. A 20-foot high concrete wall forms a second boundary. The site itself is in a culvert about 10 feet below the highway, making it a flood plain when it rains heavily. Refugees live in tents in the exposed area, forced to endure summer temperatures that climb well over 100 degrees and winter weather that drops near zero. Last winter, tents collapsed under a heavy snow fall."

The Prince is angry: ""Piracy is against everybody. Like terrorism it is a disease that has to be eradicated."" (thanks Jad)

"Saudis label pirates 'terrorists' after $100m loss." Saudi princes will label you a terrorist after a $1 loss.

"Yet this priceless legacy is swiftly being lost. "Years from now, I don't know what archaeologists will find when they do excavations here," laments Salah Al-Houdalieh, director of the Archaeology Institute at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. "They are destroying a cultural heritage that belongs to every Palestinian, to every human being."" Some Westerners don't mind the bombing of Iraq and West Bank, but they sure get upset over the looting of artifacts, especially from the pre-Islamic era.

"According to the Iraqi official, one agreement would be related to the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the other one would determine the framework for political, economic and legal cooperation between the two sides."

"government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here." Who does not love the expression "Western standards of accountability"? Wow. In other news, a Senator from Alaska is on trial for adhering to Western standards of accountability. (thanks Olivia)

"Thirty-five rights advocates from Adalah-NY and Brooklyn for Peace rallied Monday evening outside the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York's Times Square to protest a fundraiser held there by the Brooklyn-based Israeli settlement group the Hebron Fund, the right groups said in a statement." But James Zogby disagreed. He said that Arabs were wrong in juging the Hebrong Fund. In return for his position, Zogby was permitted to have his picture taken with directors of the Hebron Fund. (thanks Mohammed)

"Regardless of U.S. policy, regional resistance is likely to persist, frustrating efforts to maintain the status quo or impose a peace that fails to deal with fundamental injustices and inequalities. There have been two Palestinian intifadas (uprisings) against Israeli occupation in the past 20 years, and there are warnings of a third. Israel will find it increasingly difficult to justify its policies to global public opinion and will face a growing challenge from the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Efforts to pursue Israelis accused of war crimes in the Occupied Territories through universal jurisdiction will intensify and may begin to bear fruit. Palestinians in Gaza will refuse to remain besieged. Palestinian citizens of Israel will continue their own struggle for democracy."

This just in. James Zogby said that Arab Americans were too hasty in misjudging Bush. He said that Bush really would like to liberate Palestine, if he obtained the support of Arab Americans. In return for his position, Zogby was permitted to have his picture taken with Bush.

"أما على مدونة http://angryarab.blogspot.com اللبنانية فقد تناول المتدخلون صورة العاهل السعودي عبد الله بن عبد العزيز وهو يشرب كأس، قالت مصادر سعودية لاحقا إنها كأس عصير، إلى جانب الرئيس الأمريكي جورج بوش وغيرهما من زعماء الدول في قمة مجموعة العشرين."
But there is no discussion on this site as the comments' section was closed down. There was a discussion about the Saudi King's toast on my facebook page. The CNN reporter was confused.

Bush Doctrine has not died. "US President George W. Bush Monday called Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to discuss the end of the "painful chapter" between the two countries that included the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, the White House said Monday. "The president called Libyan leader Colonel Kadhafi to express his satisfaction that the claims settlement agreement was fully implemented on October 31," said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe of a 1.5-billion-dollar payment to compensate victims of terrorism. "The two leaders discussed that this agreement should help to bring a painful chapter in the history between our two countries closer to closure," he said....A senior State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity that Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam would meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here in Washington on Tuesday. "He is here on a private visit but very often times when you have significant political figures who come to the US for a variety of different reasons, the secretary as well as others will see them," the official said."

John sent me this: "Enter a blog (BETA)http://

The analysis indicates that the author of http://angryarab.blogspot.com/ is of the type:
ESTP - The Doers
[ESTP]
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time. Analysis This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.
http://www.typealyzer.com/index.php?lang=en

PS I should say that I hate physical out-door activities (except running).

Zeee plane. Zeee Plane. The Lebanese Air Force introduces its only plane to the Lebanese skies. It will be used in the airshow on Lebanon's (so-called) Independence day. Let us hope it does not crash.

""I was in the meeting in Ramallah. Then-senator Obama did not say this, the story is false.""

"The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem." (thanks Marcy)

"According to the White House, tonight's dinner to kick off the G-20 summit includes such dishes as "Fruitwood-smoked Quail," "Thyme-roasted Rack of Lamb," and "Tomato, Fennel and Eggplant Fondue Chanterelle Jus." To wash it all down, world leaders will be served Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003, a wine that sells at $499 on Wine.com."

This party is one of the reasons for the failures of the Arab left.

This is probably the most sovereign leader in the world today: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday he would guarantee security for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar if he ever wanted to negotiate and said Western allies should remove him or leave if they disagreed with that." (thanks Wassim)

"Lebanon's Salafists, often equated with terrorists in much of the Arab world, have teamed with Saad Hariri and his mainstream Future Movement to become part of the country's political order." (thanks Olivia)

"Iraq also obtained a significant degree of jurisdiction in some cases over serious crimes committed by Americans who are off duty and not on bases." Of course, non-serious crimes in other cases will be rewarded by the Iraqi puppet government.

PS Nir sent me this comment (citing with his permission): "this is a scam. its not vietnam where they go to bars and brothels. americans dont go off bases in iraq when they are off duty. so there will never be a case of an american soldier or marine committing a crime off duty, they are always on duty, but it allows the iraqis to claim a small victory".

"Among the known Clinton Foundation donors are the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a foundation linked to the United Arab Emirates, the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, and a tycoon who was the son-in-law of Ukraine’s ousted authoritarian president."

Madawi Al-Rasheed on the Saudi interfaith dialogue. When Madawi speaks on Saudi affairs, you listen.

Proud to serve. "The U.S. military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed."

"Mark Kimmitt, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs, briefed AIPAC leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., on a range of strategic issues in the Middle East, including recent arms sales to a number of Arab