Composer Mohammed Fairouz’s Orchestral Take on the Tahrir Square Uprising

Wednesday marks the anniversary of the start of the Egyptian uprising in Tahrir Square. Arab American composer, Mohammed Fairouz, who’s writing a concerto called “Tahrir for Clarinet and Orchestra.”

Elusive peace

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Aaron David Miller, an advisor on the Middle East during the past five administrations and author of the book, The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace.

… you’ve been a beautiful audience!

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Did you hear the one about a stand up comedy festival in Amman, Jordan? The World’s Aaron Schachter did and he brings us the story. Download MP3 (Photo of comedian Dean Obeidallah by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Doha Tribeca Film Festival)

• Info about the Amman Stand Up Comedy Festival

World Books Review: Chased out of Paradise

Paula Jacques’s “Light of My Eye” is a heart-wrenching novel about the dissolution of Egyptian Jewish life, the tale of a people displaced ten years after World War II.

Mideast photo-op, Israeli settlements and West Bank economy

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Matthew Bell reports from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Nablus in this episode of The World’s American Influence podcast. Extended interview with Ha’aretz political columnist Akiva Eldar, author of Lords of the Land.
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Development in the Arab world

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Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times about a new report on the obstacles that slow down progress in the Arab world. It’s by the United Nations, and it identifies several key problems in the region. They include: a surging population; struggling economies; weak environments; poor health care; lack of representative government and human rights abuses.

Arab lonely hearts

Reporter Irris Makler introduces us to a man at the Israeli Foreign Ministry who’s got an unusual task among his governmental duties…answering letters from Arab men throughout the Middle East who are looking to marry Jewish women. Listen