Many people in the Arab world were engrossed in a frenzy of excitement as the first Superstar program (the local version of Britain’s original Pop Idol, or the US’s American Idol) was coming to an end.

A Yemeni judge has been re-educating Al Qaeda detainees by challenging them to theological contests, where one side has to convince the other.

The media, as if Iraqis couldn’t have understood the concept of one person, one vote without the Americans, made the whole coverage of the Iraqi elections a televised version of a See Ali (See Dick).

Mahmoud Abbas still hasn’t passed with flying colors, and he can certainly do better if he applies himself, but he’s on the right track.

One wonders what kind of “pressure” was put on Marwan Barghouti to withdraw from what was supposed to be a free and fair presidential election.

Mustafa Barghouthi was beaten by Israeli soldiers near Jenin, as were people in his group (some of whom were hit with rifle butts and made to lie motionless on the floor for an hour).

Marwan Barghouti is currently serving 5 consecutive life sentences – one for each Israeli person for whose death he was supposedly responsible. The trial was a sham.

Abbas has agreed with Sharon that Palestinian media is the real cause of Palestinian violence and that the media (not the actions of the Israeli army) is guilty of incitement against Israel.

Metula News Agency claims the whole incident was a staged production of French television channel France 2, and of its respected Middle East correspondent Charles Enderlin.

“The leader you cannot change. You can change everything except the leader because he is a leader.”

It may seem strange that a critic of Arafat like myself should be irritated by the reactions to his death, but I have taken issue with many of the questions asked.

Only men will be allowed to participate in the vote for the municipal councils. Women are clearly not considered mentally capable of making such choices.

A visit to the Gulf and the Levant over the last couple of weeks reminded me of the other gulf, the one between opposite ends of the Middle East.

Editors of the station’s English-language website have laid down the law: Al Jazeera’s staff is henceforth not allowed to describe US-led military "presence" in Iraq as occupation.

Two bodies had been discovered in Iraq: one of a beheaded man, the other of a woman who had been shot dead.

Israel’s typically violent attack has been given an unbelievably arrogant code name: “Operation Days of Penitence.”

It’s been four years since Ariel Sharon barged into the most sacred Muslim site of Palestine accompanied by 1,000 Israeli soldiers.