and arab-american community. i spent a fair amount of time working in the middle east in jordan and iraq and traveling through loud the milk -- throughout the middle eastern areas, so i feel very much at home, and it is important that feeling is well represented in city hall. i look at the flags that are well illustrated year. it amplifies the need that much more that san franciscans, californians should understand and become more acquainted with the arab-american culture. if the census proves me right, when the numbers come out next year officially, we will see a significant growth of the arab- american population in the san francisco bay area but also throughout the state of california. that is critical because it means that much more that arab- americans have the right and the reason to want to make sure that their interests are being well represented in local government and city government, and, of course, in federal government. i continue to look forward to working with everyone here. thank you for the contr

iraq after nine eleven we had the whole arab population the arab street as you would want to say the arab public opinion was against us and not a single arab state sit alongside with us and yet we intervene there now here you have libya on the other hand we are arab sentiment i would say just judging from egypt and the fact that i see libyan flags being sold on the streets now as the by libyan flags i mean the old libyan flag which has been resurrected by the insurgents as a symbol against the flag that gadhafi introduced and i see them being sold everywhere now in cairo is what it is i've said yourself be nice to see it get a libyan flag and i have a feeling that the insurgents have massive support especially among the young people who constitute the majority of the arab world now and and yet i am the only one of you are they going over to help out or if you are you know egyptians going to get in cars and flame going over to help out where they have been running medical supplies aren't there visibly how good they are whether that's the sort of money well that's a very different issu

the arabs don't possible has bringing you the best of the arab film to the bay area.s year's festival is no exception. consider the most important arab film festival outside of the arab world, the festival offers a rare window to the arab world and its diverse community. featuring 24 films from over 18 countries, it is also one of the only four runs that showcases new works by established and emerging arab filmmakers. the possible films in four cities. in addition, the festival organizers a film series for high-school students free of charge. this year's lineup offers something for everyone, including shorts, documentary's, comedies, and dramas. >> [speaking arabic] the mission of the arab film festival, since it its inception in 1996, and it came about -- members of our community realized there was stereotyping of arabs in the media, and they wanted to change that proactively. they wanted to use the power of film to bring in the stories, to bring in authentic images and narratives of the arab world, here to american audiences, in order to fight the negative stereotyp

world and how will these divisions be played out as the arab awakening continuous. live can see the slim. discuss the prospects for the arab awakening i'm joined by juan cole in ann arbor he's a professor of history at the university of michigan in cairo we go to he somehow he's a fellow at the center for research and ethnic relations at the university of warwick and in san francisco. we cross the steven schwartz he is the executive director of the center for islamic pluralism and another member of our crosstalk team in the hunger all right gentlemen this is cross talk you can jump in anytime you want one can you give me your impressions what is the importance the geopolitical importance and maybe the religious importance as well of the so the saudi incursion into bahrain to suppress what people say suppressing the majority shia population in that island. well i think there are two dimensions here one is that you had these massive demonstrations and battering the object of which was to force constitutional change the batteries ruled is an absolute monarchy there is

or example for other arabs. and to resolve that issue... to create the... the monofar ski the best system we can have. once again as our identity and as guarantor of that morocco will all the time move and go forward. >> rose: thank you for coming. >> thank you. >> rose: a pleasure to ve you on this broadcast. >> thank you very much. >> rose: julian schnabel is here he's an artist and filmmaker. his new film, "miral," tells the story of a palestinian girl growing up at the first int fad a. it has attracted controversy for its depiction of israeli/arab conflict. here is a look at the film. >> we are here for mihrab. miral. does she live here? >> she is my daughter >> call her, please. >> she's asleep. >> get down, get down. >> i don't understand! >> i'm miral shaheen. >> see, she's all ready. >> don't worry, baba, i'll be back. >> miral! this is some misunderstanding. please! do not take her. she is a school child. she is innocent! she knows nothing. i will answer your questions. she's not a criminal. help! help!

the discussion within the arab world with the future of the arab world is only starting and i think that as a as a former historian i can say that something something similar was happening and their world in the nineteenth century when the massive uprising against the ottoman empire were shaking the arab world now we'll we will see another great arab revolution but many fear that the u.s. will try to impose their model of democracy or their understanding of democracy on those countries and one that the whole purpose of this social uprisings really take away the chance of ever establishing a real democracy well you know we had several cases several examples of sort of speak w d p words the mystery of the practice of imposing democracy as an arab world by france and european union for example in the eighty's in algeria when free and fair elections are led to the victory are there ready called islam it's and army had to take the power we all saw the results are of free and fair transparent elections in palestine with hamas. and everybody was very unhappy in the west so if you're just going

with what is happening now in the arab world. in tunisia and egypt libya in other countries we can hardly predict who's going to be the leaders. and neither the united states nor russia neither european union nor league of arab states we're ready to. predict that such a chain of revolutions they happen in the arab world and we do not know much about the opposition leaders because many of them are not traditional political leaders so to speak never many of them just emerge like new leaders in the streets during the fight and i think that in libya we shall see many competing groups after the. end of khadafi era which will see tribal leaders we shall see political leaders from the north we shall see some people who are in exile abroad and there will be a very strange cocktail of interests and spheres of influence so to speak those who will be coming back from the u.s. will be bringing with them some american lady as those who will be coming from the desert with nomadic. civilization will heritage and so i think that we cannot say wh

vents continue to unfold the arab world r.t. sophie shevardnadze spoke with middle east expert and the head of russia's foreign affairs committee mccallum regale of a lawmaker says it's a crucial time for the arab world as it searches for a new identity. thank you very much for being with us today from pleasure now from the latest news would you describe the events in libya as a revolution or has it turned into a civil war already well my feeling is that it's more and more look like it's like a civil war. our any revolution can turn into a civil war if it does not solve all the problems of the regime change overnight it happened in russia after one thousand nine hundred seventeen revolution it was happening in several countries so there is nothing strange how likely is the un us intervention in libya will i suspect that today when america is involved the very difficult wars in islamic world against them and iraq. the decision to get into another war in spite of either it is short or long will be serious damage for the image of p

reactions of tyrants what are the prospects for progress towards a more democratic arab middle east are tunisia and egypt leading the way or are libya and saudi arabia still the norm and what role if any should the west play. can. start. to discuss the sea change in the arab world i'm joined by let me sunday on the in amman she's a middle east analyst and journalist in london we go to taji most of our he's from his but a global islamic political party and in fresno we go to raymond he but i am he is an associate director from the middle east forum and author of the al qaeda reader and another member of our crosstalk team on the hunger all right folks this is cross talk means you can jump in anytime you want let me see if i can go to you first in amman right now we have a lot of things going on in the arab world right now we have a crackdown in bahrain we have the saudi forces they went in over a twenty four hours ago as we sit down for this discussion it has been reported that a protester killed one of the saudi troops we have mr gadhafi pushing further and further east as the west

arab world now we are we will see another great arab revolution but many fear that the u.s. will try to impose their model of democracy or their understanding of democracy on those countries and one that defeat the whole purpose of this social our presence really take away the chance of ever establishing a real democracy well you know we had several cases several examples of sort of speak w d p words demonstrate the practice of imposing democracy as an arab world by france and the european union for example in the eighty's in algeria when free and fair elections led to the victory are really cool as one mists and army had to take to take power we all saw the results are of free and fair transparent elections in palestine with hamas. and everybody was very unhappy in the west so if you're just going with the with the motor with the middle with a police share to an undeveloped our society of the arab world today you will not see the results which you want to sing so i think that of course there will be a lot of advisors there will be many consultants who will be trying to educ

can make you go persecuting the holy children learn to be arabs over there who after the arabs. might my fear today my problem that i have today isn't with live or on my problem today is with the continued existence of the jewish people here in the state of israel because we're committing suicide we're actually committing suicide and this is what we have to stop couldn't happen could an israeli government decide to take us up and throw us out of our homes and around yeah it could. and it could happen anywhere today however if that happens i think that we're dealing with a and existential threat to the state of israel and it has to stop. what. they're doing rocks watch out with altitude and behold the worst thing that we will be the first piece that we know the rest is there will not be peace and you know who's running. was thrown the three thousand settlers and that was. it's becoming almost too late maybe too late already. because it will be very easy to have very few of them but without this nasty little girl just for one wolf with. your viewers. nothing. will. get them out of

world or at least in the modern history of the arab world now it has to a. what i'm referring to of course in the west in america for example the the what we're fed on the mainframe media is this narrative that there is no such thing is the arab world there are only muslims and there are bad that's what the west has been spoon fed this narrative that has that is financed the military industrial complex financed the terror industry that the u.s. supply stock to finance the tear gas canister that people found in the streets and cairo now talk to me a little bit about the role that wiki leaks and social media played and the revolution it seems clear that wiki leaks was the spark and tunisia and that's the spark that drove this entire revolution across the region yes or no i think you would you can't underestimate the influence of what some of those wiki leaks disclosures meant for people's awareness in tunisia but i want to agree to be careful and overstating the impact of those wiki leaks the kind of social networking sites absolutely played a role in organizi

next all these cost all program debates whether the arab countries currently protesting against they regimes or when they get what they want. really new the latest in some instance or some of. the few jerks. can. follow in the welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle the arab world the power of people's hopes and the deadly reactions of tyrants what are the prospects for progress towards a more democratic arab middle east or tunisia and egypt leading the way or are libya and saudi arabia still the norm and what role if any should the west play play. can. still see. to discuss to see change in the arab world i'm joined by let me sunday on the in amman she's a middle east analyst and journalist in london we go to we used to fight he's from his but a global islamic political party and in fresno we go to raymond eva him he is an associate director from the middle east forum and author of the al qaeda reader and another member of our crosstalk team ellen hunger all right folks this is cross talk means you can jump in anytime you want to let me see if i can go to you first in amman right no

can make you go persecuting the holy children be arabs over there after the arabs. my my feeling today my problem that i have today isn't with live or on my problem today is with the continued existence of the jewish people here in the state of israel because we're committing suicide virtually committing suicide and this is what we have to stop couldn't happen could an israeli government decide to pick us up and throw us out of our homes in iran yeah it could. and it could happen anywhere today however if that happens i think we're dealing with three and existential threat to the state of israel and it has to stop. like blood. flowing rocks watch out without requiring the whole thing that we think will be the first piece that would not be addressed and there would not be peace and you know time is running cairo at the end. of the fifty thousand so this is the worst thing it's becoming almost too late maybe too late already. because it will be very easy to have very few of them but with this last we will move to just for one all to go. all the early. to get them out

nations for example morocco and the united arab emirates arab states saudi arabia qatar jordan and the united arab emirates have said they do back the deployment of a no fly zone over libya an air space and the arab states will play a supporting role obviously key their support in the region of the e.u. powers and are falling into line we can confirm it's only has offered seven of its air bases that we used by nato previously of course it's only just across the mediterranean from libya one of the key air bases that will be used by western powers and we're also seeing other nations coming out and saying they support this for example norway netherlands here in belgium we've also seen canada saying it's fine to just already in the region and really to be deployed within two days they just need to sit out there and western leaders e.u. leaders say they do support this campaign david cameron of the u.k. also angela merkel of germany despite germany's abstention of the u.n. vote for a no fly zone she says she does back military intervention now they just won't be sending forces themselves ge

a three are they crippled arabs and truly. he opened fire with an automatic rifle in an army uniform and opened fire after open fire in a crowded mall in the west bank town of hebron at least forty palestinians were killed or more wounded maybe the people had been prayed celebrating the arab pact their grama down they were going to look to be gunned down by an israeli settler it is one of the most militant settlements in the white bank and he was among the most militant members i must remind you of the old stand not only kill so many palestinians he is there regularly responsible through all this wave of suicide bombers who started only after he's missing. will they be a palestinian i can tell you when you see of war and you see what's happening to them you can only come to one who flew from the palestinians so one of the most tolerant people in the woods even i would say one of the less violent people in the world as it was any people would explode if people would have done what they're doing. as the team does as less than hu

in the arab league would be willing are willing to do very very little to help their arab brothers in libya do you find that to be a bit of a contrasting ironic situation. certainly by all means and this is this this issue is very sensitive and which is which is this that in reality all of this current the current geo political setup in the middle east an engine from morocco to algeria to sudan yemen iraq jordan syria you name it gulf states all of this what let's not forget that this current set up is really it's a legacy of the of the order imposed by the colonial power of the west and the european powers going regular cyclist people and here comes to mind the famous statement by george bush the father bacon making like the one that the preaching the so-called the new world order so what you pointed out about saudi intervention in bahrain this goes to the heart of the point which is this regime so. they will do anything to protect their themselves in power that you see this ten billion dollars to support of the one in another ten billion dollars for a man they call the think there i

remind you we're discussing new fault lines in the arab world. but first let's see what russians think about all this. the uprisings across the arab world are changing the face of the region people are demanding more dignity and greater political freedoms but. revolutions and will there be a real change as events unfold the russian public opinion research center asked citizens what is the most likely political outcome thirty eight percent think authorities will listen to the people when a proper sunset authorities are poised for greater tightening of their regimes and another nineteen percent do not believe in real changes in the region so what is the best name for the bends being played out in the arab world. ok peggy in london we were having an interesting discussion before the break about the nature of democracy as it's understood on the ground now it should be should we be listening more closely on the ground what people want there because as raymond pointed out if you agree or disagree with him there's a certain western expectation of what d