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Scholar: There is no clash of civilisations

2005-12-20 08:11:00

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Scholar: There is no clash of civilisations
by Firas Al-Atraqchi in Cairo, Egypt
Tuesday 20 December 2005 2:07 PM GMT

Armstrong was in Cairo as a guest of the American University

One of the foremost authorities on monotheistic religions and traditions, Karen Armstrong's writings on Islam have come into public focus following 9-11.

Born in 1944, Armstrong began her journey to faith as a Roman Catholic nun but left her order in 1969 when she embarked on a doctoral study of Lord Tennyson.

She later left academia and, following a brief teaching stint, began researching the life of St Paul for a documentary series.

This eventually led to a re-examination of religions and several books on the subject including A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths; Muhammad: a Biography of the Prophet; The Battle for God; and Islam: A Short History.

Armstrong is currently teaching Christianity at London's Leo Baeck College for the Study of Judaism. Her latest publication focuses on the birth of compassion in the pre-Christian Axial Age.

Firas Al-Atraqchi, Aljazeera.net's contributing editor, recently caught up with Armstrong in Cairo where she was delivering lectures on religion as part of the American University in Cairo's English public lecture series.

Aljazeera.net: What is the common denominator linking all the faiths you have studied?

Armstrong: I would say compassion and the Golden Rule, ("don't do to others as you would not have done to you") which is what they all teach. I was with the Dalai Lama a couple of months ago and he said all religions teach kindness. He said: "My religion is kindness."

Compassion doesn't mean we have to feel warm affection for people - we have to learn to feel with them, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there.

We have to do that globally to learn other nations, other people, are as important as ourselves. If we don't like people speaking against our culture, bombing or terrorising us, we shouldn't do it to others.

Which direction is Islam taking in the West? Why does there seem to be turmoil for Muslims who have lived for generations in the West?

At the moment, Muslims are reeling under the impact of 9-11 and it's very uncertain where they are going. Some have put their heads down and don't want to raise them above the parapet at all while others are horrified by what happened but find their voices are not listened to.

"Since 9-11, hostility towards Islam has accelerated which is endemic in our society"
Some - as we have seen by our own British bombers - are appalled by the pictures coming out of Guantanamo, Iraq and Abu Ghraib and daily from Palestine. This feeds into an alienation that they feel from their own British culture they were brought up in.

Since 9-11, hostility towards Islam has accelerated which is endemic in our society. On the other hand, these images of people being beheaded on TV just reinforce these old stereotypes and make it more difficult for Muslims to feel at home.

It is very difficult to know where they are going.

But there is no clash of civilisations in an ontological way.

At the beginning of the 20th century when Muslims first began to encounter the modern West, they recognised it as congenial to their own traditions. But then bad foreign policy - Palestine, Suez, the support of tyrannical dictatorial rulers, and the rush for oil (which often meant that ethics were overlooked) - has alienated many in the Muslim world and made them feel the West is a double dealer.

On the part of Western politicians, there is a failure to see the contradictions in their own policies. You can't be talking about free speech one moment and threatening to bomb Aljazeera tomorrow. This is not consistent.

I was with Desmond Tutu - I am on a United Nations committee called Alliance of Civilisations which tries to bring people together - and he was saying how appalled he was that Tony Blair was trying to push through a law allowing detention without trial for 90 days.

Tutu recalled when they were fighting apartheid in South Africa the British had always been coming to the government and telling them you can't put people in jail without trial.

You can't be democratic or part of the modern world if you practise this sort of thing and yet here they are doing that, never mind Guantanamo Bay where people have been held for a very long time without trial.

The race riots in France and Australia, they involved Arab and Muslim youth. Is this a harbinger of things to come?

I don't know much about the riots in Australia as I have been travelling, but the French riots had very little to do with Islam and much more to do with deprivation and ostracising, racism. There's been trouble brewing in France for so long with the immigrant communities which are kept in some type of ghettoes.

Similarly, with our British bombers, they were kept in a part of Yorkshire, in northern England, that I have never visited. And that is indicative - I wouldn't go there.

The riots in France were not
Muslim riots, says Armstrong
But there are places where Pakistani youths are at the bottom of the pile. They have very little chance for advancement. There were in 2001 race riots there, before 9-11. It is race and second classism, a sense that there is no way they can make their way forward in society.

Nothing much was done after the 2001 race riots in the UK. And they are now beginning to reap the rewards of that. Disaffected people look at images coming from Guantanamo Bay and Iraq and this ignites something in their soul.

We are not talking about a universal Islamic Jihad and it was wrong of the papers to call these Muslim riots; these were just riots about deprivation and discrimination.

In your book, Battle for God, you wrote that fundamentalist religious movements claim God as their own. What are the similarities and differences between the various fundamentalist movements?

I've concentrated only on the ones in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Most of them began in fear - a fear of annihilation. All groups are convinced that modern secular liberalist society is going to wipe them out.

This is true across the board.

When they feel that their backs are against a wall, that's when they become aggressive, defensive and worried.

A profound hinging on this is a loss of identity - people not knowing where they are and feeling their values have been marginalised and kicked out of the way.

This produces a sense of frustration and impotent rage. They have a desire to bring God and all religion back to centre stage.

This expresses itself in an exaggerated vision of the enemy; all of them have cultivated blown-up versions of the enemy which reflects a great deal of their own sense of menace.

In some cultures, this fear and dread is hardening into rage and it was quite clear when I finished this book; some fundamentalism was becoming more extreme and moving into a new phase.

Why is Christian Fundamentalism such a powerful force in North America?

It has gradually been making its way to the forefront and many in the US feel alienated by the secularist, intellectualist, and sophisticated discourse of New York, Harvard, Yale and Washington, DC.

Many people in small town America have for a very long time felt colonised by this ideology, just as colonised as people in Egypt felt by the British or in Syria by the French.

There is therefore a struggle. All culture is always contested. Since the 1970s there has been a concerted movement to bring what they call Old Time Christianity back to centre stage, back to the position it held before modernity really took root in 20th-century America.

People like George Bush - he isn't as stupid as he is often depicted, but he is not a great intellectual - represent many of the values of small town America. He has simplistic views of the Middle East; he's hardly ever stepped foot out of the country [before becoming president]. He's not very typical even though he comes from a very rich family; nevertheless he seems to speak for small-town America.

They have used the democratic and political process very skilfully to come from a marginalised position and over the years bring themselves back to centre stage.

It does not have universal support. In the last election, America was split pretty evenly down the middle and there are Americans who abhor this type of discourse. There are people in the Democratic party who are beginning to create a religious discourse on the left. Jim Wallace is doing that and a rabbi in San Francisco - Rabbi Lerner - has just written a book called The Left Hand of God to reclaim religion.

Americans at the moment seem to be more attuned to a religious than secular discourse.

Can you tell us about your new book focusing on the Axial Age?

I just finished it and it will be out in the UK in March and in the US in April. It is already out in Holland.

The Axial Age is the period from 900 to 200 BCE when all the world's religions which have continued to nourish humanity came into being or had their roots. You can consider Christianity and Islam as later flowerings of the Axial Age ideals of monotheism.

This included the emergence of Confucianism and Taoism in China, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism in India.

In Europe, you had the Greeks and philosophical rationalism.

It is not just an exercise in spiritual archaeology, because I hope the book will give some indications of perhaps where we may be going wrong today. It seems to me that in our various institutions we are creating exactly the kind of piety people like the Buddha wanted to get rid of.

The essential teachings of the Axial Age were in every case - except for Greece - a rejection of violence. And as a consequence of that the cultivation of compassion and the Golden Rule "don't do to others as you would not have done to you".

That seems to be the basis of religion; they weren't interested in metaphysics or doctrine or orthodox theology at all.

Some have called you a healer idealist while others point to your description of Islam and say you must be a Muslim. How do you describe yourself?

I wouldn't say I am an idealist because I am far too pessimistic to be an idealist. But I have a strong sense of dread, a prickly feeling that we have been here before and we can't go down this road again.

I first got it during the Salman Rushdie crisis - a feeling that in Europe we have been here before. We have cultivated a distorted vision of a people for a thousand years and this ended in the death camps in the 1930s. And we can never go down this road again.

When I started to hear people talking in this loose-lipped way about Islam, I felt a sense of real fear that somebody, even if it had to be me, had to correct these perceptions.

Furthermore, I really admire the Muslim tradition so much. The Prophet Muhammad is the most magnificent example who inherits the most appalling situation - in Arabia at the time there was a bloodbath - and brings peace out of it. And at a great personal cost to himself.

And not only that, but he bequeathed to humanity a scripture that has helped millions of human beings to make sense of their lives.

To have such a combination of very strong spiritual genius with political genius is extraordinary. So there is that admiration.

At the height of Islam's power, Muslim theologians were so pluralistic and daring and affirmative and inspiring; people like Ibn Arabi and Rumi.

I was very alienated from religion by my own experiences as a young nun and wanted nothing to do with religion.

But it was the study of Islam and Judaism, but Islam particularly, that brought me back to a sense of what religion could be at its best.

It gave me an entirely new perspective on things. Even though I am not a Muslim, I have absorbed so much of Islam that it has become a part of me.

I used to describe myself as a freelance monotheist because I draw inspiration from all - I cannot see any of them as superior. And that has now spread to Buddhism and all the rest.

I see all of them just equal, each with its own genius and with its own flaws.

At the moment, I would describe myself as convalescent; recovering from a bad religious experience by the study of these other traditions which continue to inspire me and feed me.

So your books, then, can be considered a spiritual quest?

Yes, yes certainly.

Have you found God?

Oh, yes. But that word - God - is not easy to define and once you do define it, what you really have is a projection because, Allahu Akbar, God is Greater than anything we can conceive. I see my study as a form of prayer.

When I am working at the library or at my desk, I have moments where I am deeply touched within and lifted momentarily beyond myself.

The discipline of trying to put myself out of my post-enlightenment 20th-century rationalism and the feeling of superiority and into the mind of the Prophet and the mystics of long ago teaches me about compassion and to feel with others.

And that spills over into my personal life. I get very upset now by unkindness in any form. I have a thinner skin than I used to have.

So have I found God? As the Chinese would say: "I am on the way." The Now is the point; what's important is the why you're actually on the way and not to be so concerned by the destination.

Aljazeera
By Firas Al-Atraqchi in Cairo, Egypt

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/91F01EE9-B0CF-4780-8B40-823C9D06B47E.htm
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    2008-08-04 22:56:33
  • Forum hopes to clear up misconceptions about Islam
    2008-07-30 12:00:15
  • 29 dead, dozens wounded as blasts hit western India
    2008-07-26 19:26:09
  • Muslim man wins human rights case of post-9/11 paranoia
    2008-07-23 23:18:45
  • Hamas, Hezbollah websites hosted by Canadian servers
    2008-07-11 19:11:32
  • Big mosque on the Prairie opens in Calgary
    2008-07-06 19:18:29
  • Rights commission dismisses complaint against Maclean's
    2008-06-29 14:15:25
  • Guantanamo detainees were tortured, medical exams show
    2008-06-18 10:13:28
  • Little Mosque producers strike deal with Fox
    2008-06-11 01:12:36
  • Race the top motivator for hate crimes in Canada: report
    2008-06-10 09:31:03
  • Emotions run high over Maclean's article
    2008-06-07 10:56:50
  • Tribunal hears final arguments on Maclean's article
    2008-06-06 21:18:51
  • Freedom of speech needs to be upheld, embattled Maclean's writer says
    2008-06-06 21:15:10
  • B.C. tribunal hears complaint against Maclean's article
    2008-06-02 20:31:01
  • Israeli soldiers told to be careful what they post on Facebook
    2008-04-11 23:47:58
  • Clash between traditional values, modern culture may be behind teen's death
    2007-12-12 13:51:30
  • Teen dead after alleged attack by father
    2007-12-11 12:46:31
  • White supremacists, anti-racism protesters clash in Calgary over veiled voting
    2007-10-17 00:07:36
  • Canada denies Muslim husband entry visa
    2007-10-16 22:18:16
  • B.C. detention was bid to silence anti-war activists, American says
    2007-10-16 04:43:44
  • After public hearing council is exploring exemptions to smoking by-law
    2007-09-20 18:38:03
  • Smoking ban threatens Vancouver's hookah tea houses
    2007-09-20 15:59:29
  • Iranian president banned from laying wreath at Ground Zero
    2007-09-20 15:07:09
  • Elections Canada chief won't back down on veiled voting
    2007-09-11 01:44:55
  • 'Chilly climate' greets Muslim university students: report
    2007-03-21 14:49:50
  • Former Israeli PM speaks to Vancouver audience
    2006-12-22 14:54:52
  • Moussaoui lashes out at defence lawyers
    2006-04-14 06:28:57
  • Israel fires missiles into Palestinian presidential compound
    2006-04-04 16:08:59
  • Ottawa cuts links with Palestinian Authority, Hamas
    2006-03-29 21:35:45
  • Israel's anti-Arab parties
    2006-03-29 20:27:45
  • Olmert declares victory in Israeli election, vows compromise
    2006-03-29 05:16:10
  • Peace falls off agenda in Israeli vote
    2006-03-27 19:07:16
  • Swedish foreign minister resigns over Prophet cartoon scandal
    2006-03-22 07:48:58
  • Canada concerned over Afghan facing death for being a Christian
    2006-03-22 07:40:05
  • Pentagon probes alleged marine 'rampage' in Iraq
    2006-03-20 19:31:51
  • Arab League, Muslim groups blame U.S., Britain for Jericho raid
    2006-03-14 20:34:28
  • Toronto marchers back right to publish Muhammad cartoons
    2006-03-12 08:36:03
  • Israel will establish borders in 4 years: Olmert
    2006-03-10 18:26:21
  • Jewish settlers terrorizing Palestinians with impunity, UN expert says
    2006-03-08 20:08:37
  • Trio detained in attack on Nazareth church
    2006-03-03 23:22:00
  • U.S., India sign nuclear deal
    2006-03-02 21:28:50
  • Iran says UN agency's report shows Tehran not trying to make nuclear weapons
    2006-02-28 22:25:24
  • Local Muslim community holds open house
    2006-02-23 06:00:09
  • US rejects Guantanamo closure call
    2006-02-17 22:31:30
  • Muslim groups praise Canadian response to cartoons
    2006-02-17 20:59:58
  • Pakistani cleric announces big reward for killing Prophet cartoonist
    2006-02-17 18:04:42
  • Comments on Klein's wife spark new controversy for Western Standard
    2006-02-16 03:00:12
  • Australian TV shows what it says are new photos of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse
    2006-02-15 17:39:59
  • Western Canadian magazine publishes Muhammad cartoons
    2006-02-15 16:22:02
  • New Conservative Magazine Launched in Canada in Wake of Alberta Report Demise
    2006-02-15 16:14:05
  • Harper 'regrets' publication of Muslim caricatures; group warns of danger to troops
    2006-02-15 16:06:07
  • The power of the press: a double-edged sword
    2006-02-07 06:47:00
  • Annan: Media should respect religion
    2006-02-07 06:46:00
  • Israeli troops, Jewish settlers clash
    2006-02-02 09:20:00
  • Christian gang arrested in Guatemala
    2006-02-02 09:17:00
  • Fearful Christmas in Baghdad
    2005-12-29 15:43:00
  • 'My kidnappers were not criminals'
    2005-12-29 15:41:00
  • Israeli sonic booms terrorising Gaza
    2005-12-29 12:27:00
  • Top US general: Iraqis want us out
    2005-12-29 10:39:00
  • Pakistani man charged in 'honour killings' of 4 daughters
    2005-12-29 09:45:00
  • Shia family murdered by Sunni insurgents: police
    2005-12-29 09:44:00
  • Two suicide attacks in Mideast leave 8 dead
    2005-12-29 06:47:00
  • Catholic patriarch calls for dismantling of Israel's security wall
    2005-12-24 18:02:00
  • New threats of violence in Indonesia
    2005-12-24 06:42:00
  • US confirms monitoring Muslim homes
    2005-12-24 06:40:00
  • European arrest warrants issued for 22 purported CIA agents in alleged kidnap
    2005-12-23 08:03:00
  • Rare 1st edition of King James Bible surfaces in Manitoba
    2005-12-22 11:06:00
  • Church urges PM to demand withdrawal of troops from Iraq
    2005-12-22 10:26:00
  • Israel threatens to cut Gaza power
    2005-12-22 09:43:00
  • Israel, Palestinians argue over tourist access to Bethlehem
    2005-12-22 07:30:00
  • Row builds over Jerusalem voting
    2005-12-21 07:10:00
  • Elections may be cancelled if Israel bars Palestinian in Jerusalem from vote
    2005-12-21 07:07:00
  • Serbs on trial for Srebrenica massacre
    2005-12-20 11:26:00
  • Israeli court upholds guerrilla's right to claim compensation for torture
    2005-12-20 10:36:00
  • Scholar: There is no clash of civilisations
    2005-12-20 08:11:00
  • Iraq election body rejects fraud claims
    2005-12-20 08:02:00
  • Iran warns Israel of swift retaliation
    2005-12-20 08:01:00
  • Final results in Iraqi election delayed; officials probe widespread complaints
    2005-12-20 07:27:00
  • Suspected CIA flight landed at Gander: report
    2005-12-19 12:14:00
  • Police investigating Sydney race riots find pistol, ammunition in house raids
    2005-12-19 08:47:00
  • Life returns to Palestinian village
    2005-12-15 07:34:00
  • US 'must fight for Palestine'
    2005-12-15 07:24:00
  • UK rules out public inquiry into London transit bombing
    2005-12-14 12:18:00
  • Progressive Muslim MeetUps
    2005-12-14 10:18:00
  • Rare Islamic texts to go online
    2005-12-14 09:12:00
  • Israel approves building of hundreds of new homes in West Bank
    2005-12-14 07:00:00
  • Iranian president calls Holocaust a 'myth'
    2005-12-14 07:00:00
  • Calls grow to free Iraq hostages
    2005-12-13 12:30:00
  • Investigator of alleged CIA prisons suspects abductions, illegal transfers
    2005-12-13 12:28:00
  • Who'd have thought it - Blinky Bill, the face of race hatred
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  • Sons of beaches: a land girt by bigots
    2005-12-12 19:54:00
  • Alan Jones: I'm the person that's led this charge
    2005-12-12 19:52:00
  • Indonesia Muslims to guard churches
    2005-12-11 12:54:00
  • How a Belgian girl next door ended up a suicide bomber in Iraq
    2005-12-07 16:34:00
  • Muslim convert lashes out at teachers
    2005-12-07 16:31:00
  • U.S. bans use of torture
    2005-12-07 16:03:00
  • Muslim clerics demand release of captive Westerners
    2005-12-07 16:00:00
  • Rice says cruel interrogation barred, leaves questions about U.S. practices
    2005-12-07 15:58:00
  • Christian agency blames U.S. for kidnappings
    2005-11-30 09:33:00
  • Britain gags report that Bush targeted Arab TV
    2005-11-23 11:16:00
  • Memo: Bush wanted Aljazeera bombed
    2005-11-22 08:17:00
  • Emotional Democrat becomes latest symbol of gathering storm over Iraq
    2005-11-18 07:41:00
  • White House blamed for Iraq abuses
    2005-11-17 07:36:00
  • Iraqi group urges prison abuse inquiry
    2005-11-16 07:05:00
  • Starved, tortured prisoners found in Iraqi cell
    2005-11-15 11:29:00
  • Failed Jordan hotel bomber had three brothers killed by U.S. forces in Iraq
    2005-11-15 08:16:00
  • EU to investigate allegations of secret CIA prisons
    2005-11-03 15:06:00
  • Low-altitude flights over Gaza a form of punishment: doctors' groups
    2005-11-03 15:05:00
  • CIA running secret prison system: report
    2005-11-02 13:10:00
  • CSIS head says Iraq war 'serious concern' for Canada's safety
    2005-10-31 20:16:00
  • U.S. soldiers accused of assaulting Afghan prisoners
    2005-10-31 12:55:00
  • Israeli defence minister: no peace with Palestinians in this generation
    2005-10-28 07:29:00
  • Iran's anti-Israel remarks: Arabs mum
    2005-10-27 12:28:00
  • Arar was tortured, inquiry fact-finder concludes
    2005-10-27 09:55:00
  • UN report says Volvo, DaimlerChrysler among those who paid Saddam kickbacks
    2005-10-27 09:33:00
  • Canada joins world in expressing dismay over Iranian leader's attack on Israel
    2005-10-27 08:26:00
  • Banish Iran from UN, Peres demands
    2005-10-27 08:25:00
  • Religious turbulence hits Indonesia
    2005-10-27 08:21:00
  • Guantanamo ordeal of Aljazeera cameraman
    2005-10-26 10:56:00
  • Relief workers warn winter could bring 2nd catastrophe to Pakistan quake zone
    2005-10-26 08:55:00
  • UN raises quake aid appeal
    2005-10-26 08:26:00
  • 4 dead in blast at Israeli market
    2005-10-26 08:14:00
  • Israel fires missiles into Gaza
    2005-10-25 07:45:00
  • Spain issues warrant for U.S. soldiers
    2005-10-19 13:32:00
  • Israel Supreme Court bans military use of Palestinian civilians as 'shields'
    2005-10-06 09:24:00
  • Israel accused of skewing elections
    2005-10-03 12:06:00
  • Aljazeera cameraman 'asked to spy'
    2005-09-26 09:17:00
  • Billions plundered from Iraq military
    2005-09-22 08:20:00
  • Israel repeats threat to hamper polls
    2005-09-21 07:35:00
  • Israeli Arabs cannot be 'terror victims'
    2005-08-31 13:07:00
  • Israel orders Palestinian land seized
    2005-08-29 07:25:00
  • Reuters demands cameraman be freed
    2005-08-29 07:23:00
  • US televangelist wants Chavez killed
    2005-08-23 07:37:00
  • US church rebukes Israel for barrier
    2005-08-17 10:51:00
  • Settler-funding a billion dollar question
    2005-08-17 10:49:00
  • Gaza evacuation begins; Israeli gunman kills 3 in West Bank
    2005-08-17 09:28:00
  • Iraqi civilian casualties
    2005-08-09 12:54:00
  • Jewish settler kills 4 Arab Israelis on bus
    2005-08-05 04:15:00
  • West Bank barrier a violation of Israel's rights obligations: UN experts
    2005-08-04 07:33:00
  • Israel to expand West Bank settlement even as it quits Gaza Strip
    2005-08-04 07:26:00
  • Al-Qaida's deputy threatens more attacks in Britain in videotape
    2005-08-04 07:12:00
  • Hate crimes against U.K. Muslims soar
    2005-08-03 13:46:00
  • Straw admits UK part of Iraq problem
    2005-08-02 07:21:00
  • Jewish leaders worried by escalating Israel-Vatican spat over terror
    2005-07-29 10:24:00
  • MI5 links bomb attacks to Iraq war
    2005-07-29 09:02:00
  • Palestinians protest Gaza smokescreen
    2005-07-28 07:47:00
  • Israeli forces kill teenager in Jenin
    2005-07-28 07:14:00
  • CSIS denies imam's charge
    2005-07-28 07:07:00
  • Italian court issues arrest warrants for more CIA agents
    2005-07-25 13:53:00
  • Man shot by U.K. police not connected to bomb attacks
    2005-07-24 00:43:00
  • Settlers kill W Bank boy, witnesses say
    2005-07-20 13:57:00
  • Britain's alliance with U.S. puts it at risk of terrorism, think tank says
    2005-07-18 09:29:00
  • Report ties London bombs to Iraq war
    2005-07-18 09:27:00
  • Geneva Convention not for al-Qaeda, U.S. court says
    2005-07-15 16:32:00
  • Dozens killed in Iraq violence
    2005-07-15 09:44:00
  • Many killed in Iraq violence
    2005-07-15 09:42:00
  • Palestinian civilians die in Gaza battle
    2005-07-15 09:41:00
  • Angered by Iraq war, bombers driven to suicide attacks, say friends
    2005-07-15 09:39:00
  • Report: civilian deaths in Iraq far exceed those of military and police
    2005-07-14 11:01:00
  • Bloody Week in Iraq; One US Airstrike Destroys an Ambulance............
    2005-07-13 15:35:00
  • Guantanamo inmate forced to wear bra, act like a dog: report
    2005-07-13 15:32:00
  • Ex-U.S. Marine: I Killed Civilians in Iraq
    2005-07-13 15:23:00
  • Top Israeli official says barrier meant to ensure Jewish majority in Jerusalem
    2005-07-11 11:17:00
  • Israel accused of redrawing borders
    2005-07-11 09:34:00
  • Thousands mark 10th anniversary of slaughter of almost 8,000
    2005-07-11 09:20:00
  • EU envoy says Jerusalem barrier raises humanitarian concerns
    2005-07-11 09:19:00
  • Israel razes Palestinian homes
    2005-07-05 11:04:00
  • Palestinians under attack from settlers
    2005-07-04 07:17:00
  • Israeli army seals off Gaza strip
    2005-06-30 06:57:00
  • Qur'an thrown in toilet by U.S. guards: ex-prisoner
    2005-06-28 11:04:00
  • NBC: Misjudging Aljazeera led to alert
    2005-06-28 07:30:00
  • Israel accused of covering up murders
    2005-06-27 13:30:00
  • Israeli military court convicts soldier in fatal shooting of British activist
    2005-06-27 07:21:00
  • US 'admits' torturing prisoners
    2005-06-24 09:03:00
  • Torture at Guantanamo Bay: UN investigators
    2005-06-23 11:08:00
  • Watchdog: Israeli military probe of Palestinian civilian
    2005-06-22 11:34:00
  • Israel signals renewed assassinations
    2005-06-22 11:33:00
  • Israel criticised over civilian casualties
    2005-06-22 11:32:00
  • The US war with Iran has already begun
    2005-06-20 09:33:00
  • Israel to build 700 new settler homes
    2005-06-20 09:12:00
  • Israeli, Palestinian killed in shootings
    2005-06-20 08:49:00
  • Israel to build sea barrier off Gaza
    2005-06-17 10:21:00
  • Jewish group wants Kazemi exhibit restored
    2005-06-13 10:50:00
  • No plans to close Guantanamo Bay, Cheney says
    2005-06-13 09:37:00
  • Russian envoy meets al-Sadr in Iraq
    2005-06-13 09:36:00
  • Saudis debate ban on women drivers
    2005-06-13 09:31:00
  • Palestinian militant groups step up threat to call off ceasefire
    2005-06-13 09:22:00
  • Outgoing chief warns extremist Jews could open fire during Gaza pullout
    2005-06-09 10:17:00
  • Rumsfeld blames Aljazeera over Iraq
    2005-06-06 13:38:00
  • Library removes Kazemi photos after complaint
    2005-06-06 13:26:00
  • Israeli army kills Islamic Jihad leader
    2005-06-06 10:33:00
  • US rejects calls to shut Guantanamo
    2005-06-06 09:48:00
  • U.S. admits abuses to Qur'an in Guantanamo
    2005-06-03 14:46:00
  • Religion, suicide terrorism link disputed in book
    2005-06-02 19:02:00
  • Israeli troops admit 'eye for eye' killing spree
    2005-06-02 19:00:00
  • War crimes court asked to investigate 7 suspects in Srebrenica execution video
    2005-06-02 18:51:00
  • Bosnian mother turns on TV to see son executed in Srebrenica massacre video
    2005-06-02 18:50:00
  • Outrage greets new Israeli military chief
    2005-06-02 14:12:00
  • Afghan mosque bombed, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens
    2005-05-31 15:42:00
  • Jerusalem engineer wants to demolish Palestinian homes for national park
    2005-05-31 15:31:00
  • Israel strikes Gaza refugee camp
    2005-05-29 16:09:00
  • Probe finds 5 cases of Qur'an 'mishandling' at Guantanamo Bay, commander says
    2005-05-26 07:18:00
  • Nuclear treaty members fail to reach consensus as UN conference winds down
    2005-05-26 07:09:00
  • Nuclear debate turns heat on Israel
    2005-05-26 07:07:00
  • Report slams Israeli, US rights abuses
    2005-05-26 02:23:00
  • FBI memo tells of Quran incident
    2005-05-26 00:34:00
  • U.S. quietly drops historic arms-control deals from brochure on disarmament
    2005-05-25 04:02:00
  • Amnesty likens Guantanamo Bay to 'gulag'
    2005-05-25 02:15:00
  • Watchdog slams Israel rights abuse
    2005-05-25 01:07:00
  • Amnesty International takes aim at U.S. in annual human rights report
    2005-05-25 00:33:00
  • Israeli troops face murder accusations
    2005-05-25 00:32:00
  • Iraqi patriarch slams US evangelicals
    2005-05-24 02:00:00
  • Israel comes first, says US politician
    2005-05-24 01:57:00
  • Protests mar Sharon's New York trip
    2005-05-22 22:57:00
  • UN says reported U.S. abuse of Afghan prisoners is "utterly unacceptable"
    2005-05-22 01:25:00
  • UN panel scolds Canada over U.S. deportation of Ottawa man to Syria
    2005-05-20 06:18:00
  • British protest reported Quran abuse
    2005-05-20 06:02:00
  • US probes Afghan prison torture
    2005-05-20 03:53:00
  • White House says U.S. suffered lasting damage from Newsweek article
    2005-05-19 04:47:00
  • Muslim woman demands apology from Amazon.com after receiving defiled Qur’an
    2005-05-19 04:37:00
  • 'The West should wash its hands of Karimov'
    2005-05-19 04:35:00
  • Israelis grilled in al-Aqsa attack plot
    2005-05-16 02:14:00
  • Tensions between U.S. and Muslims reaching new highs, say analysts
    2005-05-12 03:20:00
  • South American, Arab leaders endorse declaration on Israel and trade
    2005-05-12 03:17:00
  • US Palestine policy called hypocritical
    2005-05-11 07:17:00
  • Gaza pullout diverting media gaze
    2005-05-11 02:16:00
  • Troops kill 2 at protest over Qur'an desecration
    2005-05-11 02:11:00
  • Blix says U.S. actions suggest it's not committed to nuclear 'bargain'
    2005-05-10 04:53:00
  • Stop enrichment, Blix tells Israel, Iran
    2005-05-10 04:52:00
  • Afghans protest reported desecration of Qur'an at US jail in Guantanamo
    2005-05-10 04:51:00
  • Pro-Israel bias found in US TV news
    2005-05-10 02:18:00
  • EU's Top Human Rights Org calls the US to stop the Guantanmo Bay Abuse
    2005-05-02 07:57:00
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