It is very hard to ignore the bloody events of the last few days in the Middle East - from Palestine and Iraq, to Lebanon. But one particular and very unique event caught my attention the most, although it was not the usual violent type: On Monday, Ghaleb Majadele, a member of the Knesset, was sworn in as the first Palestinian Arab minister in Israeli history!

It is very hard to ignore the bloody events of the last few days in the Middle East - from Palestine and Iraq, to Lebanon. But one particular and very unique event caught my attention the most, although it was not the usual violent type: On Monday, Ghaleb Majadele, a member of the Knesset, was sworn in as the first Palestinian Arab minister in Israeli history!

The January 2006 Palestinian elections were expected to stabilize highly negative domestic dynamics and bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Instead, Hamas, the Islamist group, won 44% of the national vote and 56% of the seats of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to the nationalist Fatah’s 41% of the national vote but only 36% of the seats. One of the immediate consequences of the elections has been further deterioration in internal Palestinian conditions and the collapse of any hopes for immediate resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Concern grew over the potential for major internal violence and for a resumption of open warfare between Palestinians and Israelis.

The January 2006 Palestinian elections were expected to stabilize highly negative domestic dynamics and bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Instead, Hamas, the Islamist group, won 44% of the national vote and 56% of the seats of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to the nationalist Fatah’s 41% of the national vote but only 36% of the seats. One of the immediate consequences of the elections has been further deterioration in internal Palestinian conditions and the collapse of any hopes for immediate resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Concern grew over the potential for major internal violence and for a resumption of open warfare between Palestinians and Israelis.

Ali Salem, Egypt's most prominent playwright, has been banished from his country's cultural circles due to his views favoring normalization with Israel.  Since his first trip to Israel, however, he has been unable to find producers for his work in Egypt, and none of his 25 plays have been performed there for many years. The following are excerpts from an interview with 'Ali Salem in the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in June 2006.

Ali Salem, Egypt's most prominent playwright, has been banished from his country's cultural circles due to his views favoring normalization with Israel.  Since his first trip to Israel, however, he has been unable to find producers for his work in Egypt, and none of his 25 plays have been performed there for many years. The following are excerpts from an interview with 'Ali Salem in the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in June 2006.

The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute will not come overnight, but a crucial pre-condition is an understanding in Israel of the need to have a stable partner not an enemy across its fine boundaries. Stand back from the passions of the Gaza withdrawal and look for a moment at the Israeli-Palestinian dispute from an unfamiliar viewpoint: the concept of the healthy nation-state.

The current turmoil in the Gaza Strip represents the most serious challenge to Yasir Arafat's authority in decades. Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza brought to a boil long-simmering tensions among Palestinian factions demanding a change in the status quo. Holding national elections before the pullout may be the only way to avoid chaos and save any chance at Middle East peace.

The current turmoil in the Gaza Strip represents the most serious challenge to Yasir Arafat's authority in decades. Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza brought to a boil long-simmering tensions among Palestinian factions demanding a change in the status quo. Holding national elections before the pullout may be the only way to avoid chaos and save any chance at Middle East peace.

My talk today is about Palestinian responses to the road map to peace. The road map has been tabled for almost a year now and has gone nowhere. My talk will focus on why this is the case and what the Palestinian perception of the road map has been.

My talk today is about Palestinian responses to the road map to peace. The road map has been tabled for almost a year now and has gone nowhere. My talk will focus on why this is the case and what the Palestinian perception of the road map has been.

If the events of the last three years in the Middle East served to prove anything, it is the ineffectiveness, if not dismal failure, of Arab diplomacy in regional politics. The two major crises that hit the region in Israel/Palestine and in Iraq were allowed to escalate dramatically - one leading to a vicious cycle of violence and the other to a full-scale war - with Arab states doing little more than admonishing the parties in conflict to avoid violence and resort to negotiations.

If the events of the last three years in the Middle East served to prove anything, it is the ineffectiveness, if not dismal failure, of Arab diplomacy in regional politics. The two major crises that hit the region in Israel/Palestine and in Iraq were allowed to escalate dramatically - one leading to a vicious cycle of violence and the other to a full-scale war - with Arab states doing little more than admonishing the parties in conflict to avoid violence and resort to negotiations.

Since visiting Israel in 1994 Mr. Salem has not found a producer for his works. He has two plays and a movie script gathering dust and, he said, nobody talks with him anymore about theater, only about politics. "I'm a playwright by nature, and a writer by coercion," Mr. Salem, who still writes newspaper columns, said in an interview. "I have become similar to Kafka's heroes — I don't know what exactly is demanded of me."

ALI SALEM: Yes, we'll have more progress because you will take share in our troubles. There is no first world, there is no second or third world; there is a village called this planet. And if somebody is dangerous in a village close to Cairo, this person, the same person, will be very, very dangerous in Hamburg, in London, in Paris, in New York. Thousands, thousands of the Americans died in order to have a better life for both of us. Yes. You know, it was our battle against these extremists.

ALI SALEM: Yes, we'll have more progress because you will take share in our troubles. There is no first world, there is no second or third world; there is a village called this planet. And if somebody is dangerous in a village close to Cairo, this person, the same person, will be very, very dangerous in Hamburg, in London, in Paris, in New York. Thousands, thousands of the Americans died in order to have a better life for both of us. Yes. You know, it was our battle against these extremists.

Since security in this process has been of paramount importance to the Israeli side, Palestinians have also focused on security. Most of the attention of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been, in fact, on trying to maintain security for the Israelis since the beginning of the peace process. But because of the eruption of violence from time to time, the Israelis delayed implementation of the agreement signed with the Palestinians.

Since security in this process has been of paramount importance to the Israeli side, Palestinians have also focused on security. Most of the attention of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has been, in fact, on trying to maintain security for the Israelis since the beginning of the peace process. But because of the eruption of violence from time to time, the Israelis delayed implementation of the agreement signed with the Palestinians.