Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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The 'Last Martyr': Who killed Kamal Al-Assar?
When I learned of the death of Kamal Al-Assar a few years ago, I was baffled. He was only in his 40s. I remember him in his prime, a young rebel, leading the neighbourhood youth, armed with rocks and slingshots, in a hopeless battle against the Israeli army. Understandably,...
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Trump’s move on Jerusalem: Is this the end of US diplomacy in the Middle East?
Finally, US President Donald Trump pulled the plug. The so-called peace process, two-state solution, “land-for-peace formula” and all the other tired clichés have been long dead and decomposing. But Trump’s announcement yesterday to officially recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel has also laid to rest the illusion that the US...
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‘Say the Word’: What the Rohingya Struggle is Really About
Pope Francis lost a historical opportunity to truly set his legacy apart from previous Popes. Alas, for him, too, political expediency trumped all else. In his visit to Burma (Myanmar) on November 27, he refrained from using the word ‘Rohingya.’ But what’s in a name? In our frenzied attempts at understanding and articulating...
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Decades of US diplomacy has failed: Why the US wants to shut the PLO office
On 18 November, just days before the 50th anniversary of United Nations Resolution 242, the US State Department took its first step towards severing its ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). The timing of this decision could not be any more profound. The first formal contact between the US and...
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70 Years of Broken Promises: The Untold Story of the Partition Plan
In a recent talk before Chatham House think-tank in London, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, approached the issue of a Palestinian state from an intellectual perspective. Before we think of establishing a Palestinian state, he mused, “it is time we reassessed whether the modern model we have of sovereignty, and unfettered...
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Corruption in Israel is not just an Israeli issue
Whether the string of scandals, now hounding Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lead to his sacking or not, it matters little. Though nearly half of Israelis polled last July – well before the scandals took a much dirtier turn – believe that Netanyahu is corrupt, a majority of Israelis said that they would still vote...
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‘Creeping Annexation’: Why Israel shelved the ‘Greater Jerusalem Law’
The postponing of an Israeli Knesset bill that would have annexed major illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank to the Jerusalem municipality is the result of behind-the-scenes US and, possibly, European pressure. But the story of the so-called “Greater Jerusalem law” does not end there. Israel wants to maintain...
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Walls and militarised police: How Israel is exporting its occupation to the US
Israeli footprints are becoming more apparent in the US security apparatus. Such a fact does not bode well for ordinary Americans. US Senate Bill S.720 should have been a wake-up call. The bill, drafted by the Israel lobby group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as part of its “2017...
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This is not national unity: Hamas and Fatah must transform to speak on behalf of Palestinians
The reconciliation agreement signed between rival Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, in Cairo on October 12 was not a national unity accord – at least, not yet. For the latter to be achieved, the agreement would have to make the interests of the Palestinian people a priority, above factional...
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Trump’s angry diplomacy in North Korea is an attempt to counter China
To understand the United States’ stratagem in the Pacific, and against North Korea in particular, one has to understand the fundamental changes that are underway in that region. China’s clout as an Asian superpower and as a global economic powerhouse has been growing at a rapid speed. The US’...
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What is behind the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation?
Egypt’s enthusiasm to arbitrate between feuding Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, is not the outcome of a sudden awakening of conscience. Cairo has, in fact, played a destructive role in manipulating Palestinian division to its favour, while keeping the Rafah border crossing under lock and key. However, the Egyptian leadership...
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The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People
Some promises are made and kept; others disavowed. But the ‘promise’ made by Arthur James Balfour in what became known as the ‘Balfour Declaration’ to the leaders of the Zionist Jewish community in Britain one hundred years ago, was only honored in part: it established a state for the...
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The fight ahead: 13 questions about the origins, objectives and war on BDS
BDS stands for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions”. The BDS Movement was the outcome of several events that shaped the Palestinian national struggle and international solidarity with the Palestinian people following the Second Uprising (Intifada) in 2000. Building on a decades-long tradition of civil disobedience and popular resistance, and invigorated by...
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In their own words: When Trump and Obama sounded the same
The nature of the rhetoric in Donald Trump’s first speech at the United Nations General Assembly was largely predictable. Even his bizarre threat to “totally destroy North Korea” was consistent with his overall style and previous warnings. But how different was his speech, if compared with the first and last...
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Courting the Global South: Will Israel Become a UN Security Council Member?
There is a great irony in the fact that Israel is seeking a seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Since its establishment atop the ruins of Palestinian cities and villages in 1948, Israel has had the most precarious relationship with the world’s largest international body. It has desperately sought...
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The Genocide of the Rohingya: Big Oil, Failed Democracy and False Prophets
To a certain extent, Aung San Suu Kyi is a false prophet. Glorified by the west for many years, she was made a ‘democracy icon’ because she opposed the same forces in her country, Burma, at the time that the US-led western coalition isolated Rangoon for its alliance with...
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Three years after the war: Gaza youth speak out
“At bedtime, I am afraid to turn the lights off. I am not a coward, it is just that I worry that this bulb hanging from the ceiling is the last light that remains (shining) in my life.” Soon after he penned these words, Moath Alhaj, a young artist from...
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Terror next time: Daesh's story is not over yet
Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, has been reduced to rubble. It has been finally conquered, snatched back from the notorious group, Daesh, after months of merciless bombardment by the US-led war coalition, and a massive ground war. But ‘victory’ can hardly be the term assigned to this moment. Mosul, once...
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Nuclear apocalypse: Trump and Kim should not hold the world hostage
Not too far away from Seattle, Washington there are eight ballistic-missile submarines carrying the world’s large shipments of nuclear weapons. The 560-foot-long black submarines are docked at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, hauling what is described by Rick Anderson in a recent Los Angeles Times article as “the largest concentration of...
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Al-Araqeeb village: Palestinian Bedouins refuse to surrender 116 times
On August, the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb was destroyed for the 116th time. As soon as Israeli bulldozers finished their ugly deed and soldiers began evacuating the premises, the village resident immediately began rebuilding their homes. Twenty-two families, or about 101 residents, are estimated to live here. By now,...
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‘The Palestine Exception’: War on BDS is now a war on American democracy
There is something immoral in Washington D.C., and its consequences can be dire for many people, particularly for the health of US democracy. The US government is declaring war on the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The fight to defeat BDS has been ongoing for several years, but...
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Power to the People: Why Palestinian Victory in Jerusalem is a Pivotal Moment
Neither Fatah nor Hamas have been of much relevance to the mass protests staged around Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Neither have American pressure, half-hearted European ‘concern about the situation’ or cliché Arab declarations made one iota of difference. United Nations officials warned of the grim scenarios of escalation, but their...
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Fear and Trepidation in Tel Aviv: Is Israel Losing the Syria War?
Israel, which has played a precarious role in the Syrian war since 2011, is furious to learn that the future of the conflict is not to its liking. The six-year-old Syria war is moving to a new stage, perhaps its final. The Syrian regime is consolidating its control over most...
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The story behind the Jerusalem attack: How Trump and Netanyahu pushed the Palestinians into a corner
Early October 2016, Misbah Abu Sbeih left his wife and five children at home and then drove to an Israeli police station in Occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. The 39-year-old Jerusalemite was scheduled to hand himself over to serve a term of 4 months in jail for, allegedly, trumped up...