DAILY ALERT

Debunking "Research" on Emotional Problems of Palestinian Children (Lancet - UK)

    In their report on emotional problems of children living in war zones, Abdel Aziz Mousa Thabet and colleagues (May 25) commit the error of inferring causality from a cross-sectional analysis.
    Their conclusion, that their findings are evidence that children's emotional responses to different kinds of exposure to political violence are acute and severe, is not justified.
    Similar reasoning would lead to the conclusion that low-calorie drinks cause obesity, since many obese people drink these beverages.
    The association of emotional problems in Palestinian youths with living in a strife-ridden area does not show that either is the cause of the other. A plausible alternative explanation is that the educational, political, religious, and social environment in which Palestinian children are raised causes emotional problems and the continuing conflict in the region.
    Textbooks demonize Jews and encourage violence against them. Palestinian leaders review squads of kindergarten students adorned with mock explosive belts. Palestinians have been described as having "grown intoxicated with the idea of power through death. They are exalting the most vicious acts of their own young."
    Children who grow up knowing their parents' fondest hope is for them to become suicide or homicide bombers cannot be expected to perform normally on standard tests of emotional wellbeing.
    Is it any wonder that products of this society have emotional problems? I would argue that this sociological milieu is responsible for the emotional problems Thabet and colleagues note, and that the continuing conflict is not the cause, but the inevitable result, of a generation of people raised to hate.
    Jonathan Shuter, M.D.; Montefiore Medical Center, New York

Baghdadis Waiting for War - Salim Yassine

    Six years ago, before the introduction of the UN oil-for-food program, it was nigh on impossible even to find car tires and windscreens in Baghdad outside the black market. But today, the Iraqi capital is full of luxury cars and four-wheel-drive vehicles, sold at lower prices than in the countries from which they are imported, thanks to the Iraqi government's policy of imposing low customs and registration taxes.
    Elsewhere in the city, shops selling domestic appliances have so much stock that salesmen stack their goods on the pavements to draw in potential buyers.
    The UN embargo slapped on Iraq 12 years ago for invading Kuwait has created a new class of wealthy Iraqis. (Middle East Online - UK)

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International Religious Freedom Report - 2002 (U.S. State Department)

• Saudi Arabia - Freedom of religion does not exist in practice. Only Muslims can be citizens. The government prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. Non-Muslim worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture for engaging in overt religious activity that attracts official attention.
• Egypt - Anti-Semitic articles and editorials are published in privately owned papers and, to a lesser extent, in the government press, and have increased since 2000.
• Syria - Jews are barred from government employment and are the only religious minority whose passports and identity cards note their religion. The Syrian press, which the government tightly controls, occasionally publishes anti-Semitic articles, and there were reports of minor incidents of harassment and property damage against Jews in Damascus.
• Iraq - The government for decades has conducted a brutal campaign of killings, summary execution, arbitrary arrest, and protracted detention against the religious leaders and followers of the majority Shi'a Muslim population and has sought to undermine the identity of minority Christian (Assyrian and Chaldean) and Yazidi groups.
• Iran - The Jewish community has been reduced to less than one-half of its prerevolutionary size. With the government's anti-Israel policies and the trial of the 13 Jews in 2000, many Jews have sought to limit their contact with or support for the State of Israel out of fear of reprisal. Recent anti-American and anti-Israeli demonstrations have included the denunciation of "Jews," as opposed to the past practice of denouncing only "Israel" and "Zionism."
• Sudan - The forced abduction of women and children and the taking of slaves, particularly in war zones, and their transport to parts of central and northern Sudan, continued. Some children from Christian and other non-Muslim families, captured and sold into slavery, were converted forcibly to Islam.

"Buy Israel" Campaign The Conference of Presidents has partnered with the Israel Economic Mission in North America, the Israel Export Institute and others to launch a major promotion of Israeli goods, beginning with Fine Foods from Israel. The "Buy Israel" campaign is intended help identify products exported by Israel, increase their availability and accessibility in the American market, improve their image, and help them be more competitive. The immediate goal is to create a nationwide web-based consumer guide for the retail consumer. The web site will help American shoppers identify local supermarkets and grocery stores that sell Israeli foods. Tell us of stores in your area that sell Israeli foods. E-mail the name and full address of each store to Lily Zagorsky at the Israel Economic Mission, [email protected]. �