Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Motasem A Dalloul
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Palestinian resistance imposes new rules of engagement on Israel
At 5 pm on Monday, the Palestinian resistance in Gaza had issued a one-hour ultimatum to the Israeli occupation authorities, calling on them to end their month-long aggression against Muslim worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque; refrain from evicting Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah; and release Palestinian prisoners detained since...
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Statements alone will not stop Israeli attacks on Palestinians, it is time for action
Events in Jerusalem have dominated the headlines over the past few days. Hundreds of Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque have been wounded in violent attacks by Israeli security forces, some of them seriously. In the nearby neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, meanwhile, Palestinian families are awaiting a judgement from the...
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Turkey-Egypt reconciliation will not be at the expense of the Egyptian opposition
Turkey and Egypt started two days of “political consultations” on Wednesday with the aim of restoring their relationship. Each delegation was led at deputy foreign minister level, with Sedat Önal in the chair for Turkey, and Hamdi Loza heading the Egyptian side. Both countries described the talks as “exploratory”. Reports...
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Who is the liar, Israel or Abbas?
After 15 years of internal division, political deadlock, international disregard of the Palestinians and continuous Israel violations, Palestinians experienced a moment of hope as they dreamt of their miseries coming to an end when President Mahmoud Abbas declared his long-awaited decree setting dates for holding general Palestinian elections. However, during...
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UN ‘neutrality’ means protecting Israel at all costs while ignoring Palestinian suffering
Israeli settlers have increased their harassment of Palestinian worshippers during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The Israeli extremists usually carry out their attacks with the full protection of Israel’s occupation security forces after the Palestinians have performed the night prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem. Such violence is...
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Israel is undermining efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal
After two weeks of deliberations in Vienna about reactivating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with Iran, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday that, “There is a real goodwill on both parts to reach an agreement.” He pointed out that the...
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Is the Istanbul Canal Erdogan’s personal or Turkey’s national project?
At the end of March 2021, Turkey announced the approval of plans for constructing the Istanbul Canal, which will connect the Black Sea north of Istanbul to the Sea of Marmara to the south, with an estimated cost of 75 billion liras ($9.2 billion). This will be one of...
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The Quartet’s role is to undermine Palestinian democracy
On 23 March, I received an email from Murad Bakri, the Strategic Communications and Public Information Officer at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Bakri was keen to let us all know that the “Middle East Quartet” is still in existence and...
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Sheikh Jarrah residents want their voice to reach the world
In February, an Israeli District Court in Jerusalem rejected an appeal filed by the families of the Karm Al Ja’ouni area of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied Jerusalem against a previous court ruling to freeze implementing eviction orders. The court gave four of the families – Skafi, Al Ja’ouni, Al...
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Was the Ever Given grounding accidental or intentional?
On 29 March, the Egyptian authorities officially announced that the colossal Ever Given cargo ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal six days earlier had been refloated. However, although the ship was freed several days ago, and the backlogged ships that were on the two sides of the...
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Netanyahu is not ready to step down, despite another election deadlock
After Israel’s fourth general election in under two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will not step down, despite another deadlock. None of the Israeli parties have won enough seats in the Knesset to form a government on their own. However, Netanyahu’s Likud has won the largest...
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Kushner is economical with the truth about ‘peace’ in the Middle East
In an article in the Wall Street Journal last Sunday, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner described how his diplomatic achievements caused a “geopolitical earthquake” in the Middle East that brought peace to the region and saw a potential end to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Kushner recalled...
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Has Morocco’s Justice and Development Party sold Palestine for Western Sahara?
Morocco’s Abdelilah Benkirane has recently announced that he is freezing his membership of the Justice and Development Party in protest against the government’s adoption of a bill to legalise the use of cannabis for medical purposes. He is a former secretary general of the party, so it is a...
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Unlike their leaders, the Arab people do not hate Turkey
On the sidelines of the 155th session of the Arab League meeting last week, Egypt chaired a meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee. The league’s Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, discussed Turkey’s “illegitimate interference in the affairs of Arab countries” with envoys from Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, and Iraq. Egypt’s Foreign...
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Reappointment of Arab League chief proves its hostility to Arabs
Arab Foreign Ministers have reappointed 78-year-old Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Aboul Gheit as the Secretary-General of the Cairo-based organisation during its 156th meeting. Aboul Gheit was first elected to the post in March 2016, when some of the League members criticised his election due to his age at the time....
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Hamas under the hold of the PA, Israel in the occupied West Bank
Security services of the Palestinian Authority (PA) have arrested several Hamas members and activists in the occupied West Bank and put them in Al-Junaid Prison in the city of Nablus. They were later moved to the notorious Jericho Prison, which has been known to hold Hamas members and leaders,...
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After three decades, Hamas remains a popular democratic movement
On Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, announced that it has carried out the first stage of its internal elections, choosing Local Shura Councils in a “democratic and fair” process. The movement is now choosing members of the General Shura Council which appoints the members and head of...
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Palestinians are sceptical about Abbas’s decree on public freedoms
Earlier this month, the Palestinians factions agreed that Palestinian Authority, PLO and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas must issue a decree to order the easing of public freedoms in the occupied territories and stop political detentions and prosecutions. The decree was issued on Saturday. According to Wafa, the PA’s official news...
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Palestinian elections are intended to keep Hamas in check
In 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) signed a peace agreement with Israel, ending a six-year uprising against the Zionist state’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. The peace endeavour, backed by the international community, aimed to crack down on the Palestinian resistance, mainly that of...
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Turkey is a ‘strategic partner’ of the new Libyan authority
At the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva on Friday, 75 members, including former statesmen and tribal leaders, elected a small Presidential Council and a prime minister to prepare the ground for fair and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 24 December. Those so chosen signed pledges that...
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Nothing has changed in US policy, so why is the PA building links with Biden?
On 6 December 2017, the then US President Donald Trump formally recognised the Palestinian city of Jerusalem as the capital of the occupation state of Israel: “Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital:” He then relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the Holy...
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Will the new Tunisia government reshuffle go ahead?
On 16 January Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Michichi announced his plan to reshuffle his government despite strong rejection from President Kais Saied. He then proposed 11 new ministers and obtained a vote of confidence in them in parliament. The Speaker of the Parliament Rachid Ghannouchi, head of Ennahda Movement, sent...
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Will a fourth election in under two years solve Israel’s political crisis?
On 22 December, the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — dissolved itself after failing pass a state budget, triggering yet another General Election. The country has been in political chaos for years, and now faces its fourth election in less than two years on 23 March. The current government was formed...
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Are the Palestinians really going to the polls?
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree on Friday to hold parliamentary, presidential and Palestinian National Council elections on 22 May, 31 July and 31 August respectively. This was the first such decree in fifteen years for the Palestinians in the occupied territories including the Gaza Strip,...
