International Law and Legitimacy and the Palestine Question

In this speech delivered at the Fourth Annual Rudolf B. Schlesinger Memorial Lecture on October 25, 2006, Rashid Khalidi discussed aspects of the history of how international law and the growing 20th century framework of international legitimacy emerging from the League of Nations and the United Nations have intersected with the issue of Palestine over the past century or so. Indeed, in some measure, the treatment of the Palestine issue by these two bodies has shown the limits of international law, and of an international order founded on it. In making policy on Palestine over most of the past century, leaders in both Britain and the United States were driven primarily by powerful strategic and domestic political considerations, rather than by principle. The result of such attitudes, which necessarily ignored or downplayed vital realities on the ground in Palestine, has been an enduring tragedy

A genome-wide association study identifies risk alleles in plasminogen and P4HA2 associated with giant cell arteritis

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common form of vasculitis in individuals older than 50 years in Western countries. To shed light onto the genetic background influencing susceptibility for GCA, we performed a genome-wide association screening in a well-powered study cohort. After imputation, 1,844,133 genetic variants were analysed in 2,134 cases and 9,125 unaffected controls from ten independent populations of European ancestry. Our data confirmed HLA class II as the strongest associated region (independent signals: rs9268905, P = 1.94E-54, per-allele OR = 1.79; and rs9275592, P = 1.14E-40, OR = 2.08). Additionally, PLG and P4HA2 were identified as GCA risk genes at the genome-wide level of significance (rs4252134, P = 1.23E-10, OR = 1.28; and rs128738, P = 4.60E-09, OR = 1.32, respectively). Interestingly, we observed that the association peaks overlapped with different regulatory elements related to cell types and tissues involved in the pathophysiology of GCA. PLG and P4HA2 are involved in vascular remodelling and angiogenesis, suggesting a high relevance of these processes for the pathogenic mechanisms underlying this type of vasculitis

Israël-Palestine : d'Oslo à la guerre contre le terrorisme

Israel-Palestine From Oslo to the War Against Terrorism by Rashid Khalidi This article argues that the congruence between the ideological outlook and policies of the Bush Administration and the Sharon government combined with the incapa city of the Palestinian leadership both Palestinian Authority and opposition groups and the absence of an active Arab or European role have together created volatile situation in the Middle East The inexorable advance of Israeli colonization of the occupied territories over the past 37 years endangering Palestinians Israelis and regional stability has created an unmanageable situation There is high degree of immobilism in both Israeli and Palestinian political systems It is vital interest not to allow problem that already affects internal stability of several European countries to continue to worsen Strong support for Palestinian democratic develop ment fostered neither by Israel nor by the Bush Administration is in the interest of all concerned and should be supported by EuropeLa convergence idéologique et politique entre l'Administration Bush et le gouvernement d'Ariel Sharon, couplée à la double impuissance de l'Autorité palestinienne et des groupes de l'opposition, ainsi qu'à la relative passivité des acteurs arabes et européens, crée une situation explosive au Moyen-Orient. L'inexorable progression de la colonisation israélienne, mettant en danger Palestiniens, Israéliens et la stabilité régionale, génère une situation ingouvernable. Un haut degré d'immobilisme caractérise désormais les systèmes politiques tant palestinien qu'israélien. Il en va de la sécurité de l'Europe d'empêcher l'aggravation d'un problème qui pourrait affecter la stabilité intérieure de plusieurs de ses pays.Khalidi. Israël-Palestine : d'Oslo à la guerre contre le terrorisme. In: Politique étrangère, n°4 - 2004 - 69ᵉannée. pp. 729-741

The 1912 Election Campaign in the Cities of Bilad al-Sham.

Donated by Klaus KreiserReprinted from in : IJMES 16 (1984