Congressional Research Service. March 5, 2013.
The Arab League, an umbrella organization comprising 22 Middle Eastern and African countries and entities, has maintained an official boycott of Israeli companies and Israeli-made goods since the founding of Israel in 1948. The boycott is administered by the Damascus-based Central Boycott Office, a specialized bureau of the Arab League. his report provides background information on the boycott and U.S. efforts to end its enforcement.
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/206161.pdf [PDF format, 10 pages].
Council on Foreign Relations. November 14, 2012.
Over the weekend in Doha, Syrian opposition figures reached an agreement to form a group called the National Coalition for Revolutionary Forces and the Syrian Opposition, amid calls from the United States and European and Gulf countries for a show of greater unity. Ed Husain, a Middle East expert for CFR, says it “remains to be seen if the new coalition has any influence on what goes on inside Syria,” and whether it can rein in al-Qaeda. Overall, he remains pessimistic about Syria’s future and says the conflict could last at least another three or four years. “I can’t see people who’ve been fighting for the last eighteen months amid deep sectarian tensions suddenly overcoming them and looking for a premature political settlement,” he says. [Note: contains copyrighted material].
http://www.cfr.org/syria/no-easy-answers-syria/p29473 [HTML format].
