Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mohammad Makram Balawi
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Oslo Accords: ‘the big illusion and the false dream’
Every time the anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Israeli occupation – officially known as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, on 13 September, 1993 – is mentioned, the historical and political context in which the agreement...
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Netanyahu’s delight at the IMEC project is probably premature
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged recently to celebrate the announcement by US President Joe Biden during the G20 summit in New Delhi, about the launch of the economic corridor project to connect India to the Middle East and Europe: the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), as it is...
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Normalisation with Israel is political suicide
The revelation by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of August about a secret meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Libyan counterpart Najla Al-Mangoush in Rome has sparked strong internal and external reactions despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two parties....
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Same criminals different mask: 54 years since the arson attack on Al-Aqsa
Since the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank in 1967, which is considered by many Zionists as the heartland of the Jewish world, the Israeli occupation authorities started concerted efforts to alter the character of Jerusalem, particularly its cherished Al-Aqsa Mosque. From the early days of the Occupation, the...
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Israel’s red cow will blow up the region
A report by the Hebrew Channel 12 a few days ago highlighted the repercussions of the rise of religious Zionism in Israel, its efforts to turn it into an extremist Jewish religious state, and the increasing pace of preparations for the construction of the alleged temple by the current...
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Fierce Judaisation: The burial of the remains of Palestine
Israel is witnessing a judicial coup, economic instability, a state of security and military lawlessness that has reached the stage of exhausting thousands of soldiers, pilots and intelligence cadres from performing military service, the decline of credit halving, the flight of high-tech companies and other manifestations and economic repercussions،...
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Fuelling Palestinian communal violence in Israel is a policy for displacement
The Palestinian community within what is known today as the state of Israel was devastated on 8 June by a heinous crime in Nazareth that claimed the lives of five innocent people, including children. Unfortunately, this was not the first time that an organised criminal gang, many of which...
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Israel is in a downward spiral of self-destruction
The sight of Israeli police storming the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa with their boots and batons, beating worshippers amid clouds of tear gas, was appalling. Hundreds of Palestinians were bound and driven away like cattle in the most inhumane way. Yes, the holy month of Ramadan is here and...
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With Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in charge, Israel doesn’t need enemies
The situation in Israel is bleak. Benjamin Netanyahu ousted his defence minister who warned of an armed forces mutiny in the making. Demonstrations and strikes happen daily, with banks, the health service, labour unions, airports and seaports all paralysed. The Israeli prime minister had no option but to step...
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Does the Saudi-Iran agreement reflect the change in China’s foreign policy?
The agreement signed between Saudi Arabia and Iran under Chinese auspices on 6 March aroused much interest in the Arab world, the Middle East and the world in general. It came after a diplomatic break between the two countries in 2016, with a statement that confirmed: “It is a...
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The Zionist state and Zionist militancy
Where and when does history begin? And who decides? This is a crucial point when it comes to the conflict in Palestine due to the conflicting narratives. The mainstream media, for example, opt for the narrative in which “a Palestinian gunman shot two Israeli brothers in the Palestinian village...
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Netanyahu’s idea of workable peace excludes Palestinian independence
Benjamin Netanyahu has always been an open book. Although the Israeli prime minister is skilled at twisting facts and rewriting history when necessary, he has been very clear on his relations with the Palestinians since day one. The US cannot claim that it was taken by surprise with his...
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America is ‘deeply troubled’, so what?
Ned Price, the spokesman for the United States Department of State, said his country is “deeply troubled” over Israel’s intentions to legalise more illegal Israeli Jews-only settlements in the occupied West Bank. When raising the option of self-defence, Price stands with Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, the world’s biggest open-air-prison, but against the...
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Letter to my European friends
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the European Parliament last week to support his country in the fight against Russia. I was there, and heard him speak. Unlike Ukrainians, being neutral is the best that we Palestinians can expect from our European friends. European neutrality is not even an option...
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Rewarding Israel for its crimes
When Palestinian boy Muhammad Aliwat, 13, from Silwan in occupied Jerusalem, shot at a group of five Israeli settlers recently he wounded two of them, one of whom was an off-duty paratrooper. A settler fired back at the boy and wounded him seriously. According to reports, before he took...
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Who really sets the Israeli government’s agenda?
At least 30 Palestinians, including three children, have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank this month alone. A number of the killings were recorded on video, and at least one was killed for no reason at all, other being a Palestinian. Unusually, the Israeli army...
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As ‘civil war’ warnings ring in his ears, Netanyahu insists that the main issue is Iran
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) sent its President Betsy Korn, CEO Howard Kohr and Israel Director Cameron Brown to the occupation state on 17 January. AIPAC advocates pro-Israel policies and lobbies the legislative and executive branches of the United States government. According to the group’s website, it...
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Bibi and his associate, Itamar Ben-Gvir
No sooner than former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid left the podium, Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) and his ministers started “ruining” Israel, contrary to Lapid’s warning. Netanyahu, who bragged that he would soon make peace with Saudi Arabia, found himself losing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to his National...
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Turning Israel into a Jewish theocracy
Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest serving prime minister of Israel, built his entire career on confronting Iran. His argument is, Iran is building a nuclear weapon and its intent on using it against Israel and wiping out the Jewish people and he is the only person who can stop the...
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Netanyahu redefines Israel
The results of the last round of Israeli elections must have represented a big blow to US hopes and efforts as they placed their bets on the former caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid. However, the results have shown that they bet on the losing horse. In essence, though, there...
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Arab normalisation with Israel is part of a passing phase
The Imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Sheikh Ṣaliḥ Ibn ʻAbd Allāh Ibn Ḥumayd, prayed to the Almighty during the Friday prayer last week, to “bring annihilation upon the plundering and occupying Jews ” and to protect the Muslims from their evil. The supplications of the former speaker...
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The Jerusalem Declaration revisited
With Israel in its eighth decade, many worries and fears haunt its people. The curse of the eighth decade has become an obsession for the Israeli political elite, which is no surprise in a state based on religious mythology; it is bound to continue in the same vein. The...
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What does the ‘Jerusalem Declaration’ actually mean?
A linguistic analysis of the “Jerusalem Declaration” signed by US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on 14 July exposes the nature of the document. It is clear that Lapid is being marketed as a long-term prime minister in advance of the next General Election in...
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Does the Middle East really need another NATO?
US President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to the Middle East has generated a lot of discussion in the region, not least because he has said that he will initiate a security coalition between Israel and some Arab countries, to confront any destabilising threats. This has been dubbed the “Middle...