Abstract
This paper discusses the concepts and tenets of the Islam religion. The author gives a detailed analysis of the faith, prayers, holidays, holy sites and fundamental beliefs of the Islamic people.

From the Paper
"Islam is a religion based upon the surrender to God who is One. The name of the religion, Islam, in Arabic, means submission and peace. The message of Islam concerns God, who in Arabic is called Allah, and it addresses itself to humanity's nature. It concerns men and women as they were created by God not as fallen beings. Islam considers itself to be not an innovation but a reassertion of the universal truth of all revelation, which is God's oneness."

Tags:mecca, muhammad, muslim, koran, ritual, religion

Abstract
The Kurds have had a long history of ethnic conflict in the middle East. This paper explores their history with a focus on attempts by other nations to self-assimilate them into different cultures. The paper also provides possible solutions to the struggles.

From the Paper
"Situated at the junction between the modern West and the traditionally Islamic Middle East, lies Turkey: a country in great transition, but also dire internal conflict. Turkey, unlike other predominately Islamic countries in Asia, is on its way to establishing a legitimate democracy, a strong economy comparable to those of the West, and possibly becoming a member of the European Union. But Turkey's internal conflict stands to jeopardize everything they've worked for. Like the majority of states in the world, Turkey is multinational. Yet, the leaders of the country have perpetually refuted this fact. They have denied the existence of any distinct ethnic group not falling under the classification of ?Turks.? Turkey is home to an entirely different subculture of peoples called the Kurds. The Kurds consider themselves Turks, but also maintain their own ethnic identity separate from the rest of Turkey. They have their own culture, language, and history. The Kurds in Turkey have struggled for almost a century to retain their individuality, while the country of Turkey has struggled to maintain an image of freedom, democracy, and domestic stability in eyes of the Western World."

Tags:turkey, culture, assimilation, acculturation, racial

Abstract
This paper is a detailed discussion of Islamic criminal law, its sources, its application, and its conflict with international law and human rights. The author examines both primary and secondary sources of Islamic law, and describes Hudud, Tazir and Qesas crime and punishment. The paper also focuses on the historical background of Muslim law.

From the paper:

?Islam means ?submission? or ?surrender? to the will of Allah. For the more than one billion Muslims of the world, this means submission to a comprehensive code of law governing every arena of life: social, political, economic, and religious. In Islam there is no separation of church and state, no distinction between religion and politics; Government, law, and religion are unified. Some would argue that Islamic law is not fully practiced in any part of the Islamic world. While this may be true, twenty-three nations have either declared Islam to be the state religion or declared the religious writings of Islam to be the principal source of law.?

Tags:crime, criminal, islam, law, legal, muslim, religion, world, shi'ite, iccpr, united, nations

Abstract
This paper attempts to find a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It covers these areas:

The Issue
Background to the Tensions and the Present State of the Conflict:
Justification for Continued Israeli Occupation
Past US Role in the Israeli Palestine Conflict
Possible Reasons for the American Administration's Current Inaction
Saudi Peace Plan
Recent UN Resolution
A Proposal to Resolve the Problem

From the Paper
"As violence escalates in Palestine, the intractable problem becomes even more intractable. Intense fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, the most intense inside the borders of the former Palestine since Israel's creation in 1948, are claiming a daily toll in double digits. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's increasingly tough tactics are exacerbating the conflict. A war of attrition is going on that has the potential to escalate into an all out regional war."

Tags:sharon, arafat, america, arab, intifada, oslo, accord, terrorism, middle, east, peacemaking, un

Abstract
The paper shows that the central research question addressed by Lila Abu-Lughod in her book "Veiled Sentiments" is how women and young men may express certain personal feelings that otherwise violate their moral code, the code conveyed to them by their social group. The paper discusses how the Bedouin society she studies is one where people often sang or used short poems to express their feelings and how the author notes that the question that arises concerns the relationship between the Bedouin poetic discourse and the discourse of ordinary social life.

From the Paper
"The world depicted by Abu-Lughod is a society based on blood ties above all, both linking people to the past and to one another in the present. In approaching this society, Abu-Lughod first had to divest herself of certain romantic notions of Bedouin life. She believed that the people were tied to the sea, but she found that the sea played little or no part in their social life and that it was the desert which was central in their thinking. She was also surprised to find that the people lived in houses instead of tents, though they did pitch their tents next to the houses and spent most of their time in the tents."

Tags:modesty, blood, ties, ethnographer

Abstract
This paper analyzes the conflicts between the new economic world and the traditional cultures. "Jihad" refers to the cultures that focus more on traditional values. It does not simply refer to the Islamic notion of the word, but includes anyone who is opposed to the new modern west. Jihad is slow, personal, and stagnant. "McWorld" is the over-all notion of the consumerist west. McWorld is fast-paced, information-based and ever changing. Members within McWorld are in favor of individual rights and personal advancement over the culture as a whole. The paper concludes that Jihad and McWorld must learn to work together all over the world.

From the Paper
"In his book, 'Jihad vs. McWorld', Benjamin Barber takes a view of the new economic world as it relates to those cultures that are hanging on to traditional values. There is a basic conflict between these two ideologies: tribal control vs. technological and economic upward mobility. Barber describes each these two schools of thought, and how they work for and against each other."

Tags:barber, benjamin, capitalism, jihad, terrorism, economic, traditional, values, cultures, McWorld

Abstract
This essay analyzes the policies of infitah in the 1970's, as related to Egypt and Iraq. The paper attempts to understand if these policies substantially modified the economic and political realities of the states where the policies were adopted? The paper includes an analysis of the long and short-term effects of economic liberalization of 'infitah' in Egypt and Iraq in the 1970's, drawing particularly on studies by Ayubi, Kienle and Perthes.

From the Paper
"The economic policies of a number of Middle Eastern states during the 1970's were characterized, at least nominally, by the concept of infitah. Broadly, infitah suggests a response by the government to the economic difficulties the state is facing by "opening up" the economy to more foreign investment, nurturing private enterprise and extending the patrimonial state in order to be better placed to afford some degree of social welfare reform. The phenomenon can be seen in varying degrees in many countries across the Middle East during the 1970's and 1980's as nations struggled to come to terms with the increasing importance of global markets and recognized the failure of policies that relied on the substitution of industrialization by imports."

Tags:cold, east, economic, liberalisation, middle, politics, syria, war

Abstract
In this article, the writer assesses the role global public opinion had on the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. Specifically, the writer discusses whether Israel's victory against the seemingly insurmountable odds of its adversaries can in some way be explained by examining the impact global public opinion had on the conflict. The writer notes that global public opinion toward the Israeli-Arab situation was then, as now, often rooted in deeply held sentiment of the conflicting nature of the relationship between Israel and her neighbours. Furthermore, as is often the case today, issues of global political concern and the power relationships between leading nations had a direct impact on the public perception of the war around the world. Nonetheless, the writer shows that public opinion was only a one factor in the Israeli success and the primacy of actual military events always ranks as the most relevant force in war. The writer assesses the reasons and factors that account for Israel overcoming their numerically superior foes.

Outline:
What effects did global public opinion have on the six day war in 1967? Does this help explain the Israeli victory of the conflict?
Israel faced a numerically superior force comprising of multiple nations. How was Israel able to overcome this?

From the Paper
"Furthermore, the issue of involvement and support for Israel on the part of the west is discussed in what follows below. Indeed, such discussion is vital to the question at hand because it has often been felt, particularly on the Arab side that western assistance to Israel was such that it was capable of making the difference. Obviously, the Israeli military was sourced by the west in the same manner the Soviet Union did with the Arabs. However, some have suggested that western support for Israel during the six days of fighting actually translated into western military forces engaging in combat against the forces of the Arab alliance. It is the writer's conviction that such claims are largely unfounded and represent a post 1967 wish on the part of Arab leaders and writers to explain away their disastrous attempts at destroying Israel by passing the blame onto the major western nations. Above all, it was the military decision making and proactive approach undertaken by Israeli leaders that account for their overwhelming success.
"Nonetheless, how was it that Israel was capable of not only sustaining its position, but enhancing it with a stunning victory? Much of the answer to this question lies in the fact that the Arab coalition seriously underestimated both Israeli military and political resolve."

Tags:military, arab, palestinians, force

Abstract
This paper examines the historical background of the conflict in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel, and notes that while this conflict is promoted in the media as being a relatively ?new? phenomenon that it is actually another stage in an ongoing conflict between these two peoples. Factors that are addressed as contributing to this conflict are those of religion and politics. There is a strong slant towards the Palestinians being unjustly vilified in the media. There is a brief mention of Osama bin Laden and his involvement in the conflict.

From the Paper
"The recent hostilities between the Palestinian and the Israeli people is a negative note in what had seemed to be progress in ending the ongoing conflict between these separate people. Prior to the events of violence that were started once more in the spring of last year, the Palestinian and the Israeli people were apparently working towards a position of peace in the Middle East. However, this was not to be. The existing social tensions between the Palestinian and the Israeli people was too deeply rooted within their histories and cultures to provide a simple solution, which the negotiations that were prevalent at the time were attempting to achieve. "

Tags:accord, arab, arafat, bin, jerusalem, jew, laden, muslim, nations, osama, oslo, united

Abstract
A detailed critical analysis of "Zaynab" and the social and political situation of Egypt at the time of its publication. This study draws on the criticism of Alle, Hafez and Jad to explore the literary merits of Haykal's text. The paper answers the question: Does a critical analysis of Haykal's Zaynab justify critics' assertion that it was "the first real Arabic novel?" This study is not intended as an historical overview of the literature available to readers of Arabic in the early decades of the twentieth century.

From the Paper
"Zaynab has often been referred to as the "first real Arabic novel", a title which rarely seems to be called into question. Allen suggests, however, that it is more useful to see Zaynab as a stage in a continuing process of literary evolution, and it is therefore of interest to see how the text stands up to critical analysis of its quality as a novel in general rather than the "first" Arabic novel in particular. The quality of Haykal's writing cannot be denied and his ability to elicit his readers' empathy is highly effective. His story is engaging and it has resonance for readers today just as it must have for Haykal's contemporaries. He treats the themes of love, death and unhappy marriages, themes which are timeless in their relevance despite being sited in this instance in a very particular historical and geographical setting."

Tags:arabic, east, egypt, literature, middle