Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 07.02.2006

There is practically no anti-Semitism in Iran, writes Christiane Hoffmann, long-time Iran correspondent for the FAZ, in a piece on Israeli-Iranian relations. "Iranian policy is a blend of the most fervid anti-Israeli polemics – Ayatollah Khomeini called Israel a 'cancer' – and a continual assurance of friendship and respect for 'non-Zionist' Jews. In Khomeini's words, 'Islam treats the Jews exactly like any other group in the nation. They should not be put under pressure. It is the Zionists who violate the teachings of Moses. Despite a significant exodus from the Islamic Republic, Iran still has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East, at 30,000. One seat in the national parliament is reserved for a Jewish member. Tehran alone has eleven synagogues, as well as Jewish schools and social institutions. The Sunni Muslims, by contrast, are still fighting in vain for the right to build a single mosque in Tehran."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 07.02.2006

Gustav Seibt describes the clash of cultures in recent days as a "collision of highly emotionalised public spheres on a global stage" that is made more explosive by modern communication. "The breeding ground for the rumours, delusions and conspiracy theories that run rampant in the Middle East is the combination of a lack of freedom and million-fold private communication channels: globalised rumours aided by the latest technology. The constrained public opinion operates like a bisected public opinion. It can no more be controlled than public opinion can, and on top of that it is infinitely more irrational."
See our features "Friendly takeover" and "What do the conservatives want" by Gustav Seibt.

Palestinian author Hassan Khader sees the purportedly spontaneous demonstrations as pure manipulation: "Essentially this is all about how the Arab leaders can reduce their subjects' lives to religion – in an attempt to save their own regimes. But this is to treat the people as if they had no identity beyond religion, as if the rich traditions of Arab culture counted for nothing. That is why despite all its religious zeal, the current campaign seems so banal and profane."

Hermann Unterstöger presents the initiative "Lebendiges Deutsch" (living German) which strives to combat the "greatest silliness of German Anglomania" by finding German equivalents to terms like "homepage, shareholder value and countdown" (unfortunately they haven't created a site on the Net to publish their efforts.)


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 07.02.2006

The 94 year old Egyptian author and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz would like to wait for the assent of a religious authority before his "The Children of Gebelawi", which has been forbidden since 1959, is printed. Fakhri Saleh reports that Mahfouz would like "to have a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood write an introduction to the Egyptian edition of the novel. In 2001, Mahfouz expressed the hope that a respected Egyptian cleric might redeem the book; in the same year he said in an interview with the weekend magazine of Al-Ahram that the book has created 'so much controversy in the past that there is no necessity to publish it.'"


Die Tageszeitung, 07.02.2006

The Islamic studies scholar Gernot Rotter reminds readers, "Years ago, I warned that Samuel Huntington's thesis of a 'clash of civilisations' could develop into a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I also referred to the fact that Huntington, obviously without realising it, was only anticipating what Islamic apologists have been demanding for a long time: the fight of Muslims against the Godless, materialistic, sexist (less than Christian) West."