Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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United against Israel: Time to end the world’s longest occupation
Left to its own devices, Israel would never grant Palestinians their freedom. In the past, though, some people, whether in ignorance or otherwise, claimed that peace in Palestine can only be achieved through “unconditional negotiations”. This mantra was also championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he cared...
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Netanyahu’s last battle promises no victory, just slaughter in Rafah
The Palestinian city of Rafah is not only older than Israel, it is also as old as civilisation itself. Rafah has existed for thousands of years. The Canaanites referred to it as Rafia, and Rafia has been almost always there, guarding the southern frontiers of Palestine, ancient and modern. As...
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The ‘two-state solution’ is a distraction; the problem is Zionism
The problem in Palestine-Israel is not the absence of a Palestinian state, but Zionism. What is the use of a Palestinian state, if the racist, exclusivist ideology of Zionism continues to define Israel, and impose that definition on the Palestinians? This ideology calls for the racial purity and dominance of...
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‘Breaking the mould’: How Facebook became the NYT of the digital age
“If you try to break the mold, you’re not going to last long,” famed linguist and cultural critic Noam Chomsky wrote in an essay published in Z Magazine in October 1997. The essay, “What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream”, appeared before social media took off to the point that it became...
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The unrepentant West: Olaf Scholz and the right to commit genocide in Gaza
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Washington on an official visit on 8 February aimed at working jointly with the United States to make “sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.” If such a statement was made soon after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October, the...
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Looking at the ‘day after’ the Gaza genocide, the PA has an unpromising future
In the first phase of Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza, it was clear that the Palestinian Authority was caught off guard. Its leadership neither anticipated that the Gaza Resistance would carry out such an operation as Al-Aqsa Flood, nor did they expect that the Israeli war...
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Breaching the ‘Iron Wall’: How Palestinians crushed Jabotinsky's century-old ideas
It seemed strange, if not out of context, when Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin told Arutz Sheva-Israel National News that “Muslims are not afraid of us anymore”. Feiglin’s comments were made on 25 October, less than three weeks following the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Flood operation and the genocidal Israeli war which followed. The...
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What keeps Palestinians strong? History, olive trees and football
Despite the horrific war in Gaza and the unprecedented number of casualties, millions of Palestinians in the Middle East and around the world took a brief respite from their collective pain to watch their national football team make history in Doha. The Palestinian team, also known as Fada’ii — the...
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Europe exposed: Is the EU a direct partner in the Israeli genocide in Gaza?
Europe stayed silent when Israel began pounding the besieged Gaza Strip with the kind of ferocity that could only lead to a genocide. In fact, Europe remained silent when the word ‘genocide’ quickly replaced the earlier reference to the ‘Israel-Hamas war’ which starting on 7 October. Those familiar with Europe’s...
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The genocide in Gaza is an opportunity for Ben-Gvir to get what he wants in the West Bank
If what is currently happening in the Israeli-occupied West Bank took place before 7 October, our attention would have been fixated completely on that part of Palestine. The ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, however, has distracted us from the important events underway in the West Bank, which is now...
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John Pilger was a friend of Palestine and all other oppressed people
The only time that I met John Pilger in person was in 2018. I was invited to deliver a speech at the Parliament of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Among the large crowd were many that I knew and respected: a former foreign minister, socially conscious MPs, morally...
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After 100 days and counting, legendary Palestinian resistance will be Netanyahu’s downfall
Rule number one in the “law of holes” is that if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Rule number two is that if you are not digging, you are still in a hole. These adages sum up Israel’s ongoing political, military and strategic crises, 100 days since...
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From Gaza to Congo: Zionism and the unlearned history of genocide
Thousands of miles separate Uganda and Congo from the Gaza Strip, but these places are connected to Palestine in ways that traditional geopolitical analyses would probably fail to explain. On 3 January, though, it was revealed that the far-right Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is actively discussing proposals to...
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As a genocidal maniac, what is Netanyahu’s ultimate goal in the Middle East?
This article was written shortly before Israel assassinated the Deputy Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri, in Beirut on 2 January. The assassination is a further illustration of the Israeli government’s desire to escape the consequences of its disastrous war in Gaza, by igniting a regional conflict. The...
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The US will one day pay the price for its unquestioned support for Israel
The Czech writer Franz Kafka said famously, “Everything you love is very likely to be lost, but in the end, love will return in a different way.” The same principle, I believe, applies to other powerful feelings, including resentment, hate, anger, even rage. American officials should know this well as...
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Gaza, Saudi, Iran, Venezuela and more: Some of the most significant geopolitical events of 2023
It would have been outlandish to suggest that a small region like Gaza, seemingly bereft of significant natural resources, political will of its own, let alone sovereignty, would become the world’s most significant geopolitical spot on earth. The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza and the legendary resistance of the Palestinian...
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‘We will come to you in a roaring flood’: The untold story of the 7 October attacks
The dramatic, earth-shattering events in Palestine starting on 7 October have taken many people by surprise. However, attentive observers are not surprised. Few expected that Palestinian fighters would be parachuting into southern Israel on 7 October; that instead of capturing a single Israeli soldier – as done in 2006 –...
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Urinating on prisoners: Why humiliation is functional in Israel’s war on Palestinians
When Zionist militias, using advanced Western arms, conquered historic Palestine in 1947-48, they expressed their victory through the deliberate humiliation of Palestinians. Much of that humiliation targeted women, in particular, knowing how the dishonour of Palestinian females represents, according to Arab culture, a sense of dishonour to the whole community. This...
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Sons of Salah Al-Din: Shuja'iyya is not just a neighbourhood, it’s a legacy
Shortly before Palestinian fighters killed and wounded many Israeli soldiers in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, on Tuesday, that very group of soldiers had a meeting on the outskirts of the town. A video, which circulated widely on social media, showed one of the officers – later killed – vowing...
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‘Let it be a tale’: On Refaat Alareer and the martyrdom of the Gaza intellectual
What is taking place in Gaza is meant for the history books: an epic tale of a small nation under a long, decades-long brutal siege, facing one of the greatest military powers in the world. And yet, it refuses to be defeated. Not even the legendary tenacity of Leo Tolstoy’s...
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Moscow and Gaza: Is Russia ready for a major shift in its Middle East policy?
Gaza was among the main topics on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrived in the Middle East on 6 December. Some news reports referred to the trip as “rare”, especially since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. We know that the situation in Gaza,...
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Dying to be free: Releasing Palestinian captives is not a numbers game
There is a reason why Palestinians are keen on releasing their prisoners, despite the heavy price they continue to pay for their freedom. It may seem rational to ask the question: what is the point of releasing a few Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, if the price of doing so...
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History of Gaza: On conquerors, resurgence and rebirth
Those unfamiliar with Gaza and its history are likely to always associate Gaza with destruction, rubble and Israeli genocide. And they can hardly be blamed. On 3 November, the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) announced that 45 per cent of Gaza’s...
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United for Gaza: Time now for Palestinians to protect their collective sumud
Shortly after the start of a four-day ceasefire in the war on Gaza, the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium, Pedro Sanchez and Alexander De Croo, appeared in a joint press conference at the Rafah Crossing. While Sanchez described “what is happening (as) a disaster,” De Croo called for a...
