Middle East

"...there is very little doubt that the establishment of diplomatic relations by Syria – and other Arab countries – with Israel, and the suppression of Islamic groups will engulf the entire region, let alone Syria and Lebanon, in violence."

That hardship was as great as the repression itself. The sanctions wiped out the middle class and infrastructure, yet, there is no visceral hatred among Iraqis. What strikes me most about them is their resilience. After the repression, sanctions, civil war, I’m amazed that Iraqis get through to the next day. Remember, Lebanon came back from civil war.

-- Anthony Shadid

"Am I not destroying my enemies while I make friends of them?"

"The world we live in contains societies with all kinds of beliefs: Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, deist and even pagan. Muslims living in such a world must be tolerant of all beliefs they come up against, no matter what they may be, and behave forgivingly, justly and humanely."

"When a person has a heart attack and calls for an ambulance, he may have to meet the ambulance at a checkpoint; or if the ambulance travels to retrieve him, Israeli soldiers decide whether they will allow the ambulance to pass through the checkpoints."

"Even the most outstanding genius has not yet invented a unilateral peace. Peace is a tango - it takes two to perform. Two who respect each other."

"Israeli unilateralism means only one thing: it has nothing to offer the Palestinians, nothing worth negotiating over."

"Perhaps the best way to suppress the insurgency is to stop creating new victims, stop colonizing the nation, stop occupying the nation, stop bombing altogether."