1 UoBMALeve UoBMALeve Terror threatening the Arab Skies By Benjamin Stone……. Pages 8 Your tweets write History... By Paula Stoleru……. Page 5 and 7 Soundcloud.com/UoBMALive UoBMALeVE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM MODEL ARAB LEAGUE @UoBMALive Facebook.com/UoBMAL Uobmalive.tumblr.com ISSUE N°2 Published in : University of Birmingham Free Roxana Raileanu and Edward Sainsbury The Arab-Israeli conflict: a never-ending story Nothing lasts forever, the saying goes; yet, do not underestimate the longevity of undesirable oc- currences. One of the most ardent issues in the in- ternational forum, the incessant dispute between the Arab countries and Israel, seems to compete for the longest ongoing conflict in modern history. When it comes to this particular sensitive matter, there are a plethora of reasons why conciliation is regarded as a utopic goal. See Pages 3 to 5 By Andreea Gavrila A flaming inferno began the day for the dele- gates of UoBMAL 2013, no, not the opening speeches of course; though they were interesting enough; Dima Mubarak, head of the university’s Arab society gave an interesting and at times controversial speech on the state of the Arab world; particularly on the need for un- restricted trade and on the state of Syria in the grip of its bloody civil war. ………. Page 6 A Burning Surprise The Opening Ceremony—Credit : Paula Stoleru By William Chapman
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1 UoBMALeve
UoBMALeve
Terror threatening the Arab Skies By Benjamin Stone……. Pages 8
Your tweets write History... By Paula Stoleru……. Page 5 and 7
Soundcloud.com/UoBMALive
UoBMALeVE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM MODEL ARAB LEAGUE
@UoBMALive
Facebook.com/UoBMAL
Uobmalive.tumblr.com
ISSUE N°2
Published in :
University of Birmingham
Free
Roxana Raileanu and Edward Sainsbury
The Arab-Israeli conflict: a never-ending story
Nothing lasts forever, the saying goes; yet, do
not underestimate the longevity of undesirable oc-
currences. One of the most ardent issues in the in-
ternational forum, the incessant dispute between the
Arab countries and Israel, seems to compete for the
longest ongoing conflict in modern history. When it
comes to this particular sensitive matter, there are a
plethora of reasons why conciliation is regarded as
a utopic goal.
See Pages 3 to 5
By Andreea Gavrila
A flaming inferno began the day for the dele-
gates of UoBMAL 2013, no, not the opening speeches
of course; though they were interesting enough; Dima
Mubarak, head of the university’s Arab society gave an
interesting and at times controversial speech on the
state of the Arab world; particularly on the need for un-
restricted trade and on the state of Syria in the grip of
Leaving my house at 11 today was not easy since I took my holiday luggage with me in order to fit two dresses, two pairs of shoes and all the magical things that make a girl look ma-jestic, especially on the occasion of Internation-al Women’s Day (#alotofmake-up). The excite-ment was already humming in my ears, or may-be it was just the coffee kicking in.
Once I arrived at the Guild and met up with our lovely Social Secretary and the Logis-tics team, I had to accomplish the most im-portant tasks in my capacity as Secretary Gen-eral within the MAL: printing and carrying con-ference paraphernalia from one room to the other. It was then that I realized that wearing my most uncomfortable heels was not the best choice for the day.
No worries, I came prepared. Thus, I spent most of the afternoon in a dress and tennis trainers.
The Press Team
Camille Dupont - Head of Press
Paula Stoleru - Assistant Head of Press
William Chapman - Writer, proof reader
Benjamin Stone - Writer
Andreea Gavrila - Social Media Reporter
Losing a bet was my cover story for everyone who was looking at me in a dodgy manner. Note to self: it was worth it!
The opening ceremony, as every other similar respectful event, went through tech-nical difficulties, but that did not hold the amazing Press Team back from live streaming the event on twitter and to tweet… wait for it! 40 times in 45 minutes! Once the committee session started I was fooled into believing I can rest but Camille, the Head of Press, used her je ne sais quoi in order to make me write this article...Thus I’ll blame the lack of adjectives and nouns on lack of sleep. The rest as they say is history. Did I forget to mention the formal event?
drawn to a close. Aviation crises and terrorist threats
have dominated committee discussions leading to
diplomatic befuddlement as well as suspicions of in-
side corruption. With many twists and turns this first
committee meeting more resembles a dramatic epi-
sode of Homeland than what one would expect from
a typical cabinet meeting.
Discussion began after news of a Dubai air-
plane mysteriously vanishing off radar. This news
was met by calls for state response, as well as the
realistically juvenile reaction: “Do we care?” Howev-
er the question was surely answered when the com-
mittee received news from Crisis of 36 Egyptian na-
tionals on the plane.
So what state action should be taken? The
customary press release was followed by debate. The
suspicious circumstances of the crash led to initial
concerns of foul play and possible terrorism. Con-
cerns which were bolstered by some of the Egyptians
nationals involved being linked to oil trade. As such,
sending the Egyptian Prime Minister to release a
statement himself was deemed too dangerous and a
cautiously conservative Egyptian government decid-
ed instead on hosting a state dinner in which the fam-
ilies of those on board the plane would be present.
On this occasion the Prime Minister could be present
although surrounded by security.
The already suspicious plane crash was suc-
ceeded by yet another aviation crisis in the skies of
Gaza, this time more fishy. An Israeli craft, an A-4
Skyhawk to be precise, crashing to the ground after a
supposed technical fault raised concerns, with the
Prime Minister stating of the crashes – happening
within an hour of each other – that “there is obvious-
ly some connection”. The suspicion of foul play was
By Benjamin Stone
Twitter : @BenjaminStone13
vindicated by the contradictory account of the Gaza
“Press TV”, which witnessed the plane being shot
down – contrasting with the official Israeli account of
“technical difficulties”.
Finally, affirmation of terrorist activity came
from the release of a press statement from Al-Qaeda's,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, stating that “the skies were no
longer safe!”. This containing more disastrous news
that Al-Qaeda had control of the skies from the Atlantic
ocean to the Chinese border. So what to be done?
The Egyptian Prime Minister took control and
was decisive. The Suez Canal Authority being told to
tighten security in the Suez Canal, the Minister of Jus-
tice to investigate whether there were any Al-Qaeda
cells operating from within Egypt and appointing the
Minister of Communications to monitor outgoing calls
(whether on a legal basis or not). As an act of extra pre-
caution the Prime Minister ordered for all cabinet offi-
cials to be checked for any possible link to the terrorist
group, particularly after suspicions of inside dissent
after the hacking of government communications.
So, how to describe this first day of the Model
Arab League? Well, certainly eventful. We had a com-
pelling if not somewhat controversial speech from our
guest speaker and a speech from our Secretary General
about the role of women in the Arab uprising on this
103rd International Women's Day, as well as the politi-
cal turmoil which is a crisis cabinet. Finally we can
declare the University of Birmingham's sixth Model
Arab League officially underway!
Roxana Raileanu and Edward Sainsbury before the Opening Ceremony. Credit: Paula Stoleru
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The Arab-Israeli conflict: a never-ending story - P., N., 2013. “Israeli and Palestinian textbooks. Teaching children to hate each other”. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/02/israeli-and-palestinian-textbooks [Accessed on 14 February 2013] - Siniver, A., 2013. Interview on the Arab-Israeli conflict. [audio recorded] Interviewed by (Maria) Andreea Gavrila, Social Media Reporter UoBMAL 2013, University of Birmingham, Muirhead Tower, Room 319, 13/02/2013, 12:30pm - Siniver, A., 2012. “Israeli Identities and the Politics of Threat: A Constructivist Interpretation”. Eth-nopolitics, 11(1), pp. 24-42 - Siniver, A., 2011. “Change Nobody Believes In: Obama and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Diplo-macy & Statecraft, 22(4), pp. 678-695
- Siniver, A., 2006. “Power, Impartiality and Timing: Three Hypotheses on Third Party Mediation in
the Middle East”. Political Studies, Volume 54(4), pp. 806-826