Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun -- Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV) When it looked like the long-suffering nation of Iraq would have a reprieve from war, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (also known as ISIS and/or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL) brought the war spot-light back on Nebuchadnezzar’s soil. As we learned from the last blog, the al-Qaeda derived breakaway group ISIS has swept through western and northern Iraq, capturing cities like Fallujah, Ramadi, Tikrit, and the country’s second biggest city, Mosul (ancient Nineveh). Mosul’s fall and ISIS’s march to Baghdad brought Iraq back into global headlines, with understandable alarm. Despite its current fame, there is a lot of mystery involving ISIS. It was formed in 2010, perhaps a reconstitution of the remains of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). The American-led military surge of 2007 was a setback for AQI. The...

(NOTE: Part 02 of the Battle for Jerusalem was meant to be posted today. But events in Iraq necessitate a temporary detour). In recent days the headlines have announced, even screamed at us: Mosul has Fallen Tikrit, Hometown of Saddam Hussein, Has Fallen Militant troops are heading towards Baghdad. A new word has been added to our vocabulary, just like al Qaeda and jihad were added over a decade ago: ISIS. What is the meaning of ISIS and its current victories? What affect, if any, does it have on us today? First, the events that have transpired in recent days did not just happen. The spread of ISIS has been going on for a while. It is only because of the fall of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, a city of 2 million with 500,000 fleeing as refugees, and then the threatened advance on Baghdad, did the world sit up and take notice. Introducing ISIS Who is ISIS? It is a militant Sunni Muslim group formed only 2-3 years ago as an off-shoot and succes...

Did you know ... that the city of Jerusalem is lining up to be the single-most challenging foreign policy issue of our time? How remarkable considering that this city has none of the ingredients of greatness: a population of only 800,000, not located on major roads, without major waterways, ports, or resources. Yet it is not just the most difficult issue of past, present, and future peace negotiations, but those entities which have a say in the Jerusalem issue are broader than you can imagine. For nearly one hundred years the world has had to contemplate ‘The Jerusalem Question.’ Simply put, who is the undisputed, internationally-recognized owner of the Holy City? The last recognized holder of Jerusalem was the Ottoman Empire, which held the city for exactly 400 years. They lost it to the British in December 1917 and then the empire itself fell apart in 1923. Since then, there has been no consensus on who the final owner should be, even though there have been no less than fi...