JUNE 2008 issue 390 The region’s besTselling english language pan-arab magazine

United Kingdom iC Publications, 7 Coldbath square, london eC1r 4lQ. Tel: +44 20 7713 7711 Fax: admin: +44 20 7713 7898 editorial: +44 20 7713 7970 e-mail: icpubs@africasia.com www.africasia.com

France iC Publications 609 Bâât. a 77 rue Bayen 75017 Paris Tel: +33 1 44 30 81 00 Fax: +33 1 44 30 81 11 www.icpublications.com Group Publisher afif Ben yedder

Editor-in-Chief Pat lancaster

Sub-Editors Barbara Bannister abdullah riyad

Editorial Assistant Carole lambert

Art Director Carlo nicolaou

CONTRIBUTORS Regional adel darwish neil Ford, Moin a siddiqi Pamela ann smith, stephen Williams, Tom land Beirut ed Blanche USA Milan Vesely Occupied Territories Mel Frykberg Istanbul Jon Gorvett Cairo Maria Golia Paris Chris Kutschera

MANAGEMENT Associate Group Publisher Omar Ben yedder

Regional Directors Omid Khodabakhsh alya assad saliba Manneh arthur Jones nick rosefield Medrine Chitty

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Bernard Menhem adline, Boutique offices, Villa #BO16, dubai Media City, united arab emirates. Tel: (+971) 43871515 Fax: (971) 4 3672875

Production Manager Michael Messam Distribution Manager Mike Penton

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issn 0305-0734 Printers: headley Brothers ltd

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© 2008 iC Publications ltd.

n0 de COMMissiOn PariTaire 0310 T 89344 déépôôt léégal Juin 2008

CURRENT AFFAIRS

5 Comment

6 regional: crumbling coalitions

12 syria-israel: us dictates the terms of peace

14 libya: new hurdles hamper rehabilitation

18 regional: who calls the shots?

20 regional: drugs trade takes its toll

24 israel: the ugly face of neo-nazis

26 West Bank: land grab

33 Morocco: caftan, with passion

BUSINESS AND FINANCE

34 gCC: currencies and the euro

40 saudi arabia: Jeddah’s building boom

43 Oil & Gas rePOrT: how high can prices go?

MOSAIC

50 Tunisia: synagogues flourish though the Jews have gone

56 saudi arabia: filmmakers find their voice

59 Orientalists in london

60 The brush embroiderer

64 Book reviews

66 The last Word

6 The us-led alliance in iraq that George W. Bush once called, with sweeping hyperbole, “the coalition of the willing”, is falling apart at a rapid rate.

34 While the currencies of the GCC countries have depreciated substantially alongside the dollar, the depreciation is even worse in the case of the euro.

50 although most of Tunisia’s Jewish population has relocated to other countries, its synagogues are thriving.

The Middle easT January 2008 3