Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Essam Yousef
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Erdogan’s third term victory: Achievements and challenges ahead in completion of ’New Turkiye’ Project
There has been a proliferation of diverse analyses running in parallel with the Turkish electoral scene, from its inception to its conclusion, with the “historic” victory of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This could be attributed to the political and economic reasons that govern the Turkish, regional and international landscapes,...
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The Turkiye-Syria earthquake raises important questions about humanitarian aid
The earthquake that hit Turkiye and Syria recently was heart-breaking, given the loss of life, the injuries and the devastation caused. It also raised some important questions about humanitarian aid in the modern world. It seems that aid is being politicised and made conditional. With a staggering death toll 40,000...
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More is required for Gaza by the Arab and international community
It has almost become inherent in the minds of Gazans that sudden Israeli attacks or wars, from time to time, have become part of the monotony of life, even if they do not have enough time to catch their breath and try to carry on with normal life and...
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Pompeo’s ‘BDS is anti-Semitic’ diktat is a disgrace
As he counts down his final days in office, US President Donald Trump is continuing to reward human rights violations committed by Israel. Ignoring the apartheid state’s crimes against the people of occupied Palestine, he is instead criminalising those who try to stop such crimes taking place. In doing...
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There’s a crisis of extremist ideology in Europe, not a crisis of Islam
The voices of the vast majority of Muslims in Europe have been marginalised, not least when very serious crimes drag them into a cycle of analyses and demonisation. This suggests that people with isolationist ideologies are organising such incidents for use as political cards, with total indifference to the...
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Zionism threatens all Arab states, and normalisation is part of the plot
There are insistent voices pointing to the decline of the Palestinian cause amongst Arabs and Muslims and its loss of its centrality within the Arab world. Such voices are only being heard because we are living in a time of serious weakness and fragmentation. Too many people, though, seem...
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There are winners and losers in normalisation with the occupation state
Official statements from Israel and the United Arab Emirates regarding their agreement to normalise relations are intended to make the deal acceptable in terms of its objectives, who benefits from it and the strategic implications for the Palestinian issue and the region. “Security” is obviously pushed as the most...
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Palestinians in the face of occupation and a pandemic
The recent statements made by UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov reveal that the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) income is on the brink of collapse, as it decreased by 80 per cent. Meanwhile, the magnitude of the economic deterioration experienced by the Palestinian people in...
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Jerusalemites caught up in annexation plight
Jerusalemites live in a complex situation, amid an immense sense of suffering and concern about the current stage, as headlines of escalating violations, whether by the occupation authorities or extremist Jewish groups, prevail in the media scene. On the other hand, the spectre of the annexation plan of the...
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Opposition to Israel’s annexation plans must be followed by an end to its favoured status
The Israeli occupation authorities’ plan to annex most of the West Bank is but another form of the oppression that the Palestinians have been suffering for decades. It is reminiscent of the way that international law is used and abused, and ignored by Israel on a daily basis, to...
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Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi: tolerance and moderation in theory, thought and practice
Although his detractors paint him as an extremist, Egyptian-born Dr Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi is, in fact, a moderate scholar whose flexible approach to Islamic Law has actually pitched him against extremists in many different fields, including politics. He has been consistent and regular in his warnings about falling into...
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When humanity in Gaza sinks into political nihilism
The political “narrative” of bias full of contradictions, aimed at circumventing the centrality of the humanitarian issue and its repercussions continue as far as the Gaza issue is concerned, despite the extent of the tragedy, and standing on the brink of disaster. This is reflected in the harshest picture when...
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Gaza is at the forefront of Palestine’s pain
Gaza is at the forefront of Palestine’s pain, and the priority of political and humanitarian calculations alike. It occupies the most extensive areas on the maps of Palestinian and regional political balances and is considered one of the pillars of international polarisation regarding managing the conflicts in the region. Gaza,...
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Abdel Rahman Suwar Al-Dahab: A man whose achievements were gold
There were many unique aspects of the late leader Sheikh Abdul Rahman Suwar Al-Dahab’s character. He possessed unique approaches and orientations, as expressed in this thinking and behaviour. This is demonstrated by the fact that he did not hold on to power when he was given the reins of...
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Israel’s withholding of corpses is a pyrrhic victory over the dead
In the whole history of humanity I don’t believe that we have seen an occupation that holds the living accountable for their struggle against their enforced loss of dignity, and then kills them for doing so, before punishing their corpses. And yet this is what the Israeli occupation does...
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The Palestinian cause on World Humanitarian Day
There are almost no limits to the pleasure of giving, and there is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained when it is related to taking happiness into the hearts of others. This is, without doubt, one of the benefits of involvement in charitable and humanitarian work. With experience...
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Seeking ‘humanity’ in the Gaza truce agreement
Once again, the dust of fruitless political thinking and the “demagoguery” that plagued the Palestinian cause from the very beginning have surfaced to deny Gaza the right to get a fresh start and revert to life, after it was transformed into a body suffering as a result of the...
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The UNRWA crisis has both repercussions and solutions
Since its establishment in 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been ready to explode at any given moment because of its connection to political, legal and humanitarian factors surrounding the Palestinian cause. The political situation has paved the...
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The return of the ‘humanitarian defence front’
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to take on a unique nature regarding the challenges posed to charity work, given the acceleration of political events and unyielding reactions. This includes the polarisation in the region in which international and regional issues overlap, casting a shadow on the...
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Israel’s occupation mindset and lust to kill has to be ended
The history of the Palestinian cause since the 1948 Nakba has been linked to a lengthy list of legal and moral violations against innocent people; a lot of their blood has been spilt. This has produced arguably the greatest level of human suffering of modern times, to which the...
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The new Freedom Flotilla will prick the world’s conscience about Palestinian rights
The Palestinian people continue to come up with various and ingenious means to serve them in the struggle in which they find themselves. In a narrow field, they also seek constantly to produce alternatives for a conflict that undermines political balance and the regional and international equations. Through their experience...
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Palestinian prisoners - restoring the right path of Palestinian struggle
The issue of the Palestinians detained by the Israeli occupation reflects the history of the Palestinian struggle with its combat, steadfastness and remarkable endurance. It even goes beyond that to reach the detainee’s greatest endurance of bitterness of oppression, injustice and the occupation’s singling out of victims in the...
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Charitable and humanitarian work is the ‘pounding heart’ of Palestine
Palestine is still at the heart of the politics of the Middle East, good and bad alike, and the pounding heart of Palestine is charitable and humanitarian work by relief organisation finding it more and more difficult to get aid to where it is needed most. The chaos engulfing...
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Yaser Murtaja: the Martyr who sought to expose the ugly reality of Israel’s occupation
The Israeli occupation of Palestine is based on misrepresentation and the falsification of history. It simply could not bear the thought that a journalist’s camera would show the world things as they really are; that the victims are the same, and the executioners are the same. Who in their right...