The dependence of Israel on Mubarak’s control is evident as Netanyahu’s government looks for ways to master the unruly peoples of Sinai and Gaza and the military regime in Egypt has, for the first time, to take into account popular Arab feeling. Adam Shatz in his LRB blog, first, and then Issandr El Amrani of The Arabist assess the change of power relationships

The Sinai desert is home to many factions and people – Bedouin, Islamist, insurgents against and refugees from Israel and Egypt. Lina Attalah, managing editor of Almasry Alyoum, reviews this ‘cauldron’ of violent anti-government action

Ramzy Baroud, editor of PalestineChronicle.com, is one of those allowed to cross into his Gaza home under the new Egyptian rule

A second report on the Rafah opening, from the Ma’an news agency, gives details of who may be allowed to cross, when, and of some of the people in Egypt who long to see their families immured in Gaza

The re-entry of Egypt as a pivotal player in regional politics has sidelined an (almost) friendless Israel argues Ramzy Baroud

Hamas and Fatah have lost their sponsors in the Arab spring, and Egypt moved quickly on its policy priority of Palestinian unity

Allegations of croneyism, profiteering and harming the national interest will be put to Egyptian Oil Ministry officials arrested over the terms of gas sales to Israel

The head of Palestinian affais in Egypt’s new government has promised to ease restrictions at the Rafah crossing and facilitate Palestinian unity

Events are taking place too quickly and in too many countries for anyone to have a comprehensive, informed overview of developments. We’ve put together a few links to what we hope are useful articles dealing with Libya, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan…

If you read just one thing let it be As’ad AbuKhalil’s 300-word contribution.

Updated Sat 26 Feb 10.4am

“There are moments in world affairs that call for the suspension of disbelief,” write the editors of the Middle East Report Online. “At these junctures, caution ought to be suppressed and cynicism forgotten to let joy and wonderment resound.” The article “Red-White-and-Black Valentine” is just such a celebration of the Egyptian revolution. The second Mero article crossposted here, “Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Egyptian Media” argues that “Access to and use of communication and information networks — cellular phone services; the Internet and new social media; TV and newspapers — was pivotal as events unfolded. ” In it Ursula Lindsey explores the possibilities and the contradictions involved in the new battle of the media; the army’s initial attempts to control, by shutting down the phone service, text messaging, the internet — and why that failed to abort the revolution…
Plus: Richard Silverstein writes about digital media in an age of revolution.

Some wonderful writing by Thomas Friedman in Cairo: “[And] when young Egyptians looked around the region and asked: Who is with us in this quest [for freedom, dignity and justice] and who is not?, the two big countries they knew were against them were Israel and Saudi Arabia. Sad. The children of Egypt were having their liberation moment and the children of Israel decided to side with Pharaoh – right to the very end…”

A JfJfP statement of support for the Egyptian people and a short selection of articles on Egypt and the wider region.

Three appraisals of the Egyptian upheavals and a report of the emerging demands of the movement. An insightful article by Tony Karom, author of the Rootless Cosmopolitan blog, written after the first five days of street protests, reflecting among other things on US, Israeli and Palestinian reactions, on El Baradei and on the Muslim Brotherhood; then International Socialist Review editor Ahmed Shawki reports from Cairo on the mass demonstrations that shifted the balance away from the violence of the regime; Jack Shenker in the Guardian reports on the emerging demands of the movement. And the Magnes Zionist, reflecting on Jewish ambivalence about the Egyptian events, suggests “if the price to pay for a Jewish state is acquiescing in tyranny and injustice for reasons of realpolitik – as Israel did with apartheid South Africa – then arguably that price is too high…”
Plus links to our previous postings on the Egyptian events…

Uri Avnery reflects on the significance of the upheaval in Egypt: “I have reflected many times – out loud – how I would feel if I were a 15 year-old boy in Alexandria, Amman or Aleppo, seeing my leaders behave like abject slaves of the Americans and the Israelis, while oppressing and despoiling their own subjects. At that age, I myself joined a terrorist organization. Why would an Arab boy be different?”

The New York Times publishes an article with the Bay Citizen on the role of Jewish Voice for Peace: “Hundreds of people, mostly Arab-Americans, are expected to gather Saturday in downtown San Francisco to support anti-government protests in Egypt, and a large contingent of Jews representing a Bay Area peace-advocacy group will join them, one of its leaders says….”

Palestinian Israeli novelist, Sayed Kashua, takes a look at the events in Egypt and casts a jaundiced eye on Israeli responses to them: “I know it’s hard for us to conceive that the whole world isn’t circling around us, but I have the strong impression, contrary to what many Israelis think, that the demonstrations in Egypt are not against Israel, and that whether or not the revolution succeeds, it is not aimed at toppling the government in Israel but rather the one in Cairo.”

In his new blog, Antony Lerman looks at the inadequacy of media reporting on developments in Egypt. He also notes that often “flaky” responses by the US and the EU and argues that if they “fail the millions of young people yearning for change in the Middle East, by not using their influence to empower rather than control them, the disaffection that may set in could have catastrophic consequences, not only in the region but inside America and countries in Europe…”

This posting contains a brief statement of solidarity from JfJfP, “Into Egypt’s Uncharted Territory” by Middle East Report Online; and Ahdaf Soueif’s moving Comment-is-Free piece, “The Egyptian regime has turned its thugs loose again …”

JNews assesses the medium-term implications of a realignment of Middle-East politics; but in the short term the pressure on Gaza seems to be mounting…

“Given Israel’s complaints over the lack of democracy in the Middle East, one would expect it to be encouraged by the winds of change blowing from Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, and possibly Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan. But this is not the case.”
Eyal Clyne, Barak Ravid, Zvi Bar’el and Gideon Levy report and ruminate…