News and Analysis (6/6/11)

With a child among the peaceful demonstrators killed by Israel:

• Syria Blocks New Border Protest; Toll Rises to 23 (abc News)

Reports of the rebels’ offers to recognize the apartheid state once in power come as the ICC  is “‘investigating reports of unlawful arrest, mistreatment and killing’ of sub-Saharan African civilians wrongly perceived to be mercenaries’”:

• Why Are the Libyan Rebels Seeking Israel’s Support? (International Business Times)

While it is not yet certain that the Yemeni president’s departure is permanent, the possibility that it may be “injects new uncertainty into counterterrorism operations that were already hampered by the country’s bloody internal strife”:

• Yemen’s Future After Saleh Worries U.S. Officials (Washington Post)

“The king appears to be taking a softer stand against the demonstrators than in recent weeks, when riot police clashed with protesting crowds, allegedly beating them with batons”:

• MOROCCO: Peaceful Anti-government Protests Allowed to Proceed, More Planned (LA Times)

Grassroots Americans organize to counter the fear-mongering of politicians:

• MY TAKE — Many Faces: A Chance to Learn About Your Muslim Neighbors (Holland Sentinel / USA Weekend)

An International Republican Institute survey indicates Egyptians are more concerned about prosperity than democracy and that only 15% are influenced by religious leaders:

• Egyptians Say Economy Tops Their List of Concerns, Not Democracy (Washington Post with Foreign Policy)

As the British government wrestles with how to deal with nonviolent Muslim groups that “do not subscribe to core British values of democracy, human rights and tolerance of other religions,” a civil society organization seeks to refute those who “purport to use the Qur’an to justify terrorism and domestic violence” and “to put pressure on Muslim leaders to confront what Khan says are currently ‘taboo’ subjects”:

• Muslim Women’s Group Launches ‘Jihad Against Violence’ (Guardian)

Harvard’s Abraham Path Initiative is “like a personal crash course in the complexity of modern Islam and the geopolitics of the Arab world”:

• Walking the Abraham Path to Christian, Jewish and Muslim Understanding (Huffington Post)

In the wake of Syrian reports of 35 deaths at the hands of armed gangs yesterday:

• Syria Police ‘Killed in Ambush’ in Jisr al-Shughour (BBC)

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