Word: arab
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Indonesia matters. The battle for its soul is taking place within a wider war in the Islamic world pitting progressive Muslims, who believe their faith can coexist with modernity and liberal Western influences, against fundamentalists, who want the religion to return to its more austere Arab roots. What happens in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, could presage the direction other Islamic societies take. Over the past four years, dozens of regencies-provincial subdivisions-across Indonesia have used the more permissive political climate to implement Shari'a-based bylaws that include bans on alcohol and prohibitions on women...
...what exactly constitutes true Islam in Indonesia? Is it a mystical tradition based on centuries of syncretic practice or an Arab-inspired move toward the religion's 7th century roots? How this debate plays out will dictate just what kind of a Muslim democracy the world's fourth most populous nation aims to be. "I believe we must strengthen the moderate paradigm and say that our Islam stands for tolerance, dynamism and freedom of expression," says Zuhairi Misrawi, a researcher with the Indonesian Society for Pesantren and Community Development in Jakarta. "But is that what the majority of Indonesian people...
...thriving. The U.S. import has taken root in the Palestinian territories and Israel, evolving into a gritty hybrid expression of the Arab-Israeli conflict that steers clear of the original's current preoccupations with flashy wealth, gangster attitudes and fast women. "It's preposterous to pose as a gangster out here," says Sagol, 59, hailed as the Israeli godfather of hip-hop. Instead, Israeli and Palestinian artists have borrowed from earlier, more socially conscious rappers such as Shakur, and sharpened their songs to a razorlike political edge...
...Arab hip-hop doesn't get airplay on stuffy state-run radio and TV stations around the Middle East, so rappers have turned to MySpace.com and other Internet sites to find their audiences. No record deals are in the works for the Gaza crew, but fans abound in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.; PR's website has had thousands of visitors since last June, according to Al Farra...
...make some significant positive moves. In talks with U.S. diplomats, they argue that the Saudi-brokered accord that helped forge the unity government gives Abbas some room to negotiate on behalf of all Palestinians - including Hamas - and the Israelis and Americans should take him up on that. The Arab diplomats also stress that if Olmert is prepared to make major concessions, such as a withdrawal from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, it could lay the groundwork for a lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors...