Sunday, March 6, 2011

Recommended Interviews: From Cairo to New York

From the streets of Cairo to a journalist's home in New York, CrossTalk aims to bring a variety of voices to the English speaking world on issues of Middle Eastern politics and culture. The following interviews provide a broad representation of CrossTalk highlights over the last year.

Iman Al-Badawi is from Cairo and was a protestor in the January 25th Egyptian Revolution. She spoke on CrossTalk over the phone from Tahrir Square on February 3rd, the morning after pro-Mubarak forces stormed into the Square.

Ahmed Youssef is the political advisor to Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya. Youssef spoke on CrossTalk from his Gaza City office on August 16th, 2010 about Hamas's political plans, Gilad Shalit, and Hamas's relationship with the Palestinian Authority.

Osman Bukhach is the Director of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Media Office in Beirut, Lebanon. Bukhach spoke on CrossTalk on January 24th about the collapse of Saad Hariri's government in the face of opposition from Hezbollah.

Gershom Gorenberg is an American-born Israeli journalist who writes on the interaction of religion and politics in Israel. He wrote "The Accidental Empire" on the growth of the Israeli settlement movement in the West Bank.



Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Nasser Arrabyee: The Opposition in Yemen


Today March 2nd, I spoke with Nasser Arrabyee, a Yemeni journalist who writes for alahram newspaper in Cairo as well as several other publications across the Middle East and America. He has been following the protests in his home country that took an interesting turn yesterday when Sheikh Abd al-Majed al-Zandani, one of the founders of the opposition movement, Islah, proposed several points to the ruling government to begin bipartisan negotiations. The opposition is waiting for a reply to these points from the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The protesters demanded his ouster yesterday in a proclaimed "Day of Rage." Nasser previously shared his insights on CrossTalk when the Yemeni protests first erupted in the beginning of February.



Image: AFP