Word: secularity
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...hostile party on the Arab side of the peace process that could possibly keep its end of a bargain and prevent the Golan from being turned into a rocket-launching pad into Israel. There will also never be anyone better in Syria for Israel to deal with than the secular Assad government. Syria may only get weaker as time passes: its economy is in bad shape; it has a history of problems with Islamist insurgent groups; and it faces a multiyear U.N. tribunal investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri that could reach high into...
...What other option is there? Israelis may feel they are left with unilateral options: take control of most of the West Bank, let Jordan take care of other parts; hope Gaza will go under international or Egyptian control. Hamas advocates one state through military means. Some secular Palestinian élites who oppose military means advocate a one-state solution in which Jews and Arabs are equal. So the consequence is most likely indefinite conflict...
...Sheikh Hasina's victory in December was seen as a triumph for a secular, democratic government over both the Islamist forces within the country and the army, which backed a caretaker government that held power for two years. The anger fueling this mutiny is a sign of just how deep the army's power had extended under that government, which stepped down after the 2008 elections. But in order to fulfill any of her ambitious campaign promises - to stabilize the economy, quell jihadist activity and fight corruption, among others - the Prime Minister needs the cooperation, if not the support...
...national unity played better than did religious or sectarian appeals. "We have a new breed of politicians who can take Basra into a new phase," says Emad al-Battat, representative to Basra of Iraq's most senior Shi'ite cleric, Sayyed Ali al-Sistani. "The fact that Iraqis chose secular politicians over religious ones does not mean Iraq has become any less religious. But the top priority of the Iraqi people is national unity." He adds, "The politicians made promises. Now they have to walk the walk...
...eight years of cold relations with the Bush administration that were frosty in part due to Nour's imprisonment. "Does Mubarak want to risk another four years of bad relations with the United States? I don't think so," says Hesham Kassem, former deputy leader of Nour's liberal, secular al-Ghad party. "If [Nour's imprisonment] had gone on into the Obama administration, then we were not talking about a Mubarak-Bush problem anymore, but an Egyptian-American problem." (See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's Inauguration...