Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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Time for social media companies to end their anti-Palestine bias
Try searching Facebook for this name, Hassan Nasrallah, and result comes back with a warning that says “Are you sure you want to continue? The term you searched for is sometimes associated with activities of Dangerous Individuals and Organisations, which isn’t allowed on Facebook.” The warning does not explain...
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Why has the director of the CIA just visited Libya?
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) arrived unannounced in Tripoli on 12 January for a brief visit that lasted just a few hours. In the first leg of the visit, William Burns met Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in the Libyan capital, along with Foreign Minister...
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Dbeibeh has few options left after a Libyan court suspended his hydrocarbon deal with Ankara
Social media in Libya is abuzz following the news that a Tripoli court has suspended the implementation of the Libya-Turkiye hydrocarbon exploration deal that was signed last October between Ankara and the Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh-led Government of National Unity (GNU). The Memorandum of Understanding gives Turkish oil companies the...
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UN envoys to Libya fail because of the body’s failure
When his name was circulating last summer as a candidate for the position of United Nations envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily was almost unknown except within the halls of the UN itself. A former history professor and former Senegalese minster Bathily served in a number of roles for the...
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Should anyone be embarrassed by Netanyahu’s return to power?
Have you ever heard of Kach? No? Never mind, but if you do not know what Kach was then it is likely that you do not know who Itamar Ben-Gvir is. In fact, the Israeli parliamentarian has a well-documented history of racism and has been convicted of hate speech against...
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The long overdue China-Arab summit highlights Beijing’s increasing assertiveness
On 9 December, Saudi Arabia hosted the first Arab-China summit, a rare event marking Beijing’s new approach to relations with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The summit which brought together all Arab states and China came five months after another summit that saw President Joe Biden...
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What might a second Lockerbie trial look like?
Libyan Abu Agila Muhammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi will appear for the second time before a federal court in Washington DC next Tuesday where he will be told formally of the charges against him. Mas’ud first appeared in court eight days ago after he was kidnapped from his bedroom in...
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How did a Libyan man kidnapped in Tripoli end up facing trial in US custody?
On 12 December, Libyan citizen Abu Agila Muhammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, 74, appeared in a federal court in Washington D.C., accused of helping blow up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December, 1988, Killing 270 people of 21 nationalities. Mas’ud’s story began when a little after midnight...
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How far can the ICC go in seeking out Israel for its crimes in Palestine?
Last February, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it has jurisdiction over Gaza, Occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem. The office of the Prosecutor, the announcement said, the “Government of Palestine” has accepted the Rome Statute, which established the Court over two decades earlier. This means the Government...
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What has the EU done for Libya so far?
The European Union (EU) is supposed to have a common regional policy, particularly in relation to its immediate neighbourhood, which includes the entire North African region. Such a policy is assumed to represent the bloc’s response, as a whole, to regional issues, including that of security. And the bloc...
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Athens-Tripoli row: Why is Greece so angry with Libya?
On 17, November, a plane carrying Greece’s Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, landed in Mitiga International Airport, in Tripoli, but the visitor refused to disembark once he was told that his counterpart, Najla Al-Mangoush, was waiting to welcome him. Instead, he decided to leave Tripoli and head for Benghazi, Eastern...
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Libya’s wily and opportunistic elite promise elections but prepare for war
The mood in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, is sombre and uncertain. While people go about their daily routine they are busy trying to figure out if another war is coming or not. They are still reeling from the sudden eruption of violence last August between two local militias that killed...
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Arab leaders claim to promote Palestine, but actually do the opposite
The Arab League summit which has just ended in Algiers was hailed by Algerian officials, pro government media and commentators as a success despite all of its shortcomings manifested in the absence of leaders of key countries such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco who were represented by their respective...
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Will the UN’s first African Envoy to Libya succeed where others have failed?
After nearly a year, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, secured the approval of the Security Council to appoint his choice of Special Envoy to Libya. The new Envoy is a former Senegalese minister and experienced UN diplomat, Abdoulaye Bathily. He is also to head the UN’s mission in...
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How to prevent Israel’s Arab friends from becoming its lobby in Algeria-hosted Arab Summit?
Re-emerging Algeria badly needs to host a major event like the summit of the League of Arab States (LAS) which is due to convene in the capital, Algiers, on 1 – 2 November. The country has been through almost three years of social disturbances that forced the former president...
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Why the Turkish-Libyan MOU has enraged Libyans and regional countries
On Monday, 3 October, Tripoli received a large, high-level Turkish delegation headed by Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and included Turkiye’s Energy, Defence and Trade ministers. In a news conference following the talks, it was announced that both sides have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on hydrocarbon between the...
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Why NOPEC is not a good idea to tackle the global energy crisis
You have probably heard of OPEC: Oil Producing and Exporting Countries. Nowadays, the news headlines are much about OPEC+, which includes OPEC members plus Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan. These countries are not OPEC members but they are oil exporting countries playing...
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Many Libyans are enraged by HMS Albion’s visit to their country
The British warship HMS Albion docked in Libya’s Abu Sitta port on 28 September, just east of the capital Tripoli, for a routine courtesy visit. This is quite common between armed forces all over the world. However, the visit turned into a public relations disaster for the Government of...
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Israel exploits the Algerian-Moroccan rift to push them further apart
Since former President Donald Trump launched his Abraham Accords initiative to help Israel normalise ties with its Arab neighbours, the Apartheid State of Israel has been making gains and exploiting that initiative as much as it can. Lately, Israel is projecting itself as a military regional superpower, offering its...
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Qatar opens up to Libya’s eastern camp after years of animosity
The Speaker of Libya’s House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, visited Qatar on 10 September where he spoke with officials before meeting Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani. Saleh’s visit came two days after Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh left Doha, which suggests that the Gulf State is seeking to...
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How Sameh Shoukry created a storm in his own teacup
The Egyptian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, withdrew from the 158 meeting of the League of Arab States’ (LAS) ministerial meeting on 6 September, a rare Egyptian diplomatic step. The LAS meeting was chaired by Libya’s Foreign Minister, Najla Al-Mangoush, as her country assumed the position from...
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Is Africa witnessing a new cold war as the Ukraine conflict drags on?
One of the unintended consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, now entering its seven months, is the emergence of new axes and allies rallying behind each other in a way reminiscent of the cold war days. Most world countries have condemned what Moscow calls “Special Operation” in Ukraine,...
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Who fought who in Tripoli last week, and why
Calm has returned to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after two days of violent clashes between two militia groups that left 32 dead and 159 injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Tripoli. Most casualties were civilians, as the heaviest fighting took place in densely populated parts of the...
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Remembering Bloody August of 2011
On the night of 4 August, 2011, Mustafa Naji Al-Morabit, his mother Fatima ‘Omar Mansur, wife, Ibtisam, and three children: Mo’taz three, Mohamed six and Naji nine years old, were all asleep in Mustafa’s house in the Western part of Zlitin, a coastal city some 180 km east of...
