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☆ Was Peace Ever Possible?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Moderated Emily Bazelon | A Discussion Moderated Emily Bazelon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +45 min

This was known as the Oslo peace process, named for the city where the secret talks took place. Micha Bar-Am/Magnum Photos Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel during the the Middle East peace conference in Madrid, 1991. Margalit: All the Israeli leaders who negotiated for peace, starting with Rabin, were in a weak political position. Dajani: With the First Intifada, and then subsequently Madrid and Oslo, Palestinians suddenly see the possibility of agency. But what’s important to understand is that the notion of peace for Rabin, and for most Israelis, is that peace is a lack of violence from the other side.

Persons: Jordan, Israel, Yasir Arafat, Bernard Frye, Arafat, Larry Towell, Abbas, Micha, Yitzhak Shamir, Jerome Delay, Saddam, Hussein, George H.W, Bush, James A, Baker III, Baker, Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Rabin, Shimon Peres, —, Margalit, Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak of, King Hussein of Jordan, Bill Clinton, Gary Hershon, Abu Alaa, “, ” Rabin, ” Arafat, ”, Ashrawi, Yehuda, Efraim, Susan Meiselas, Baruch Goldstein, Patrick Baz, Daoud Mizrahi, Gilles Peress, Goldstein, Matti Steinberg, Netanyahu, Bazelon, Clinton, Shikaki, Manal Jamal, didn’t, Dennis Ross, Omar, Camp David, Ehud Barak, Md, Ralph Alswang, Christopher Anderson, Motasm Amir, Barak didn’t, Barak, David, Dajani, Emily, Arafat —, Ross, Mary, Nobody, Arafat didn’t, Hosni Mubarak, Mubarak, El, there’s, There’s, Robert Malley, Hussein Agha, ” Barak, Sharon, It’s, Yarden Romann, Peter van Agtmael, Khan Younis, Yousef Masoud, Khan, Ahmad Hasaballah, Ziv Koren, they’re, Dan, Avishai, Omar Dajani, Taba, Dana El Kurd, Efraim Inbar, ‘ ‘ Rabin, ’ ’, Daniel Kurtzer, Avishai Margalit, George Kennan, Van, Khalil Shikaki, Limor Yehuda, Emily Bazelon, Nabil Ismail, Pascal, Said, Ulf Andersen, Getty, Menahem Kahana, Abdel, Shafi, Maggie Ohayon, Yigal Amir, Yoav Lemmer, Jack Guez, Olmert, Moshe Milner, Ami, Dani Cardona, Awad Awad, Obama, Ben Gershom Organizations: United Nations, West Bank, Associated, Palestine Liberation Organization, U.S, Soviet Union, Palestinian, Madrid didn’t, Bank, White, Agence France, Presse, Getty Images, Oslo Accord, White House, Reuters, Israel’s Labor Party government, Bazelon, Oslo Palestinian, Getty, West, Shin, Gross, . Security, Camp, Camp David Summit, Labor Party, NPR, American, New York Times, Polaris, Labor, United, McGeorge School of Law, University of the, Israel, Camp David, University of Richmond, Arab Center Washington, Jerusalem Institute for Strategy, Security, Shalem College, Bar, Ilan University, Sadat Center, Strategic Studies, Israel’s National Security, Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute for, Princeton, Israel Academy of Sciences, Humanities, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Palestinian Center, Policy, Research, Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, Gaza, Hebrew University, Haifa University, Human, The New York Times Magazine, Mount Locations: Israel, Jordan, Gaza, Egypt, Jerusalem, Zion, Munich, Tunisia, Oslo, American, Oslo Gaza, Palestine, Madrid, Kuwait, United States, Soviet, Lebanon, Syria, Jordanian, America, Washington, U.S, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, U.N, Independence, Palestinian, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Rafah, Hebron, Ibrahimi, West Bank, Judea, Samaria, Yehuda, Camp David, Jenin, Haram, Al Aqsa, Khan, Kfar Aza, Khan Younis, Ahmad, Old, Ireland, Bosnia, Tel Aviv, Iran, Athens, El, Camp, Israeli, Van Leer, Ramallah

LONDON (AP) — A former top aide who has accused ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being unfit for office is scheduled to testify Tuesday at Britain’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic. Political Cartoons View All 1227 ImagesJohnson is due to testify at the inquiry later in the year. Cummings, a self-styled political disruptor, was hired by Johnson after helping to mastermind the victorious “leave” campaign in Britain’s 2016 European Union membership referendum. The U.K. has one of the highest COVID-19 death tolls in Europe, with the virus recorded as a cause of death for some 227,000 people. Johnson agreed in late 2021 to hold a public inquiry after heavy pressure from bereaved families.

Persons: —, Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Johnson, Martin Reynolds, Imran Shafi, ” Cummings, Cummings, “, ”, Heather Hallett Locations: Britain’s, Downing, England, Europe

☆ Egypt’s Government Is Bulldozing the City of the Dead - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Hussein Omar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It’s the oldest continuously used Muslim cemetery in the world, and its history traces back to the seventh century. The City of the Dead has always been a city of the living as well. My visits, and the small acts of tending to the dead, helped me make meaning out of a meaningless loss. The City of the Dead does not just house my own personal memories; it is one of the last remaining open repositories of Egypt’s historical memory. Now the dead are being exhumed, the living are being evicted, and the historic buildings that house them both are being bulldozed.

Persons: grievers, Cairenes, I’ve, Abdel Fattah el Locations: Cairo, al, City, Egypt

☆ SoftBank sues social media startup it invested in, alleging it faked user numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

SoftBank's Vision Fund filed suit against the founders of one of its portfolio companies Monday, alleging that they artificially inflated user metrics, lied to the fund about performance and bilked the fund for millions. Buzzy social media startup IRL launched in April 2021 and was seemingly "one of the fastest growing social media apps for Generation Z," the complaint in San Francisco federal court alleges. SoftBank was invested in the company due to its apparently low cost, "strong" user engagement that left it "well positioned for further viral growth" in the same way Facebook and Twitter exploded. SoftBank believed that IRL had 12 million monthly active users. Past missteps from SoftBank include large positions in allegedly fraudulent crypto exchange FTX and devalued property company WeWork .

Persons: Masayoshi, SoftBank, Abraham Shafi, Noah Shafi, Yassin Aniss, Abraham Shafi's Organizations: Vision Fund, Facebook, Twitter, IRL, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission Locations: San Francisco, SoftBank

CNN —Ugandan troops discovered the bodies of 54 Ugandan soldiers who were killed during an al-Shabaab attack on an African Union base in Somalia last week, according to Ugandan officials. “During that operation, UPDF discovered the lifeless bodies of 54 fallen soldiers, including Lt Col Edward Nyororo, the commander….,” the agency said. After Ugandan troops reclaimed the base, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced that two commanders who ordered their soldiers to retreat during the May 26 militant attack would face a court martial. Ugandan soldiers are stationed at the forward operating base as a peacekeeping force. Unverified images shared on jihadi media channels showed about a dozen Ugandan troops, with arms restrained behind their backs, being captured by the militants.

Persons: UPDF, Col Edward Nyororo, …, Yoweri Museveni, Oluka, Obbo, Shabaab, ” Organizations: CNN, African Union, Uganda People’s Defense Force, Twitter, European Union, United, Somali, US State Department Locations: Somalia, Uganda, Buulo Mareer, Mogadishu, State, United States

[1/5] People look at handbags on display outside shops in a market, ahead of Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Karachi, Pakistan April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar SoomroKARACHI, Pakistan, April 20 (Reuters) - Retail sales in Pakistan have witnessed a sharp drop compared to previous years in the run up to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, retailers say, as shoppers feel the pinch of decades-high inflation. The lead up to Eid al-Fitr, expected to fall on Saturday in Pakistan to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, traditionally sees the highest sales of the year. Asfandyar Farrukh, co-founder of CAP and managing director of Hub, a leather goods store, said that Eid shopping appears to have started sooner and peaked earlier, coinciding with salary pay days, and customers anticipating price increases. The sales drop adds to the slowing of Pakistan's $350 billion economy, which has struggled in recent months amidst tough stabilisation polices, including the central bank raising interest rates to a historic high of 21%.

☆ Al-Balad: Where Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry began
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But the beating heart of this city, Al-Balad, is more than a thousand years old, and it has been immaculately preserved as a reminder of Saudi Arabia’s history – specifically, Jeddah’s role as a key point of entry for religious pilgrims. He devoted city resources to the remaining Al Balad buildings and prevented some from being torn down, Parry says. The Al-Balad area was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2014 as Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Mecca. This pale-blue color is one of the most popular for doors and windows in the old city. Over two nights, Al-Balad’s old buildings were lit up while acts like Busta Rhymes, Xzibit and Lupe Fiasco performed alongside some of the Arab world’s biggest musicians.

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