Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Motasem A Dalloul
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Ten years after the revolution, Tunisia’s president is polarising the country
It is ten years since the people of Tunisia took to the streets and started what became known as the Jasmine Revolution which led to the ouster of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. The revolution triggered a range of similar uprisings across the Arab world,...
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Israel is weaponising the Covid-19 vaccine against the Palestinians
In violation of all religious norms as well as international laws and conventions, Israel is weaponising the Covid-19 vaccine against the Palestinians, whose land, homes and rights are under constant threat from the occupation state. The Israeli Health Ministry began its vaccination programme on 20 December. Officials including Prime Minister...
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There is a big difference between Arab and Turkish normalisation with Israel
Media reports revealed last month that Turkey has been working to restore relations with Israel. On 9 December, Al-Monitor said that Ankara had selected a new ambassador to Tel Aviv, Ufuk Ulutas, 40, who studied Hebrew and Middle Eastern politics at Israel’s Hebrew University. “We would like to bring our...
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Military drill of Gaza-based Palestinian factions through Israeli eyes
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the military wings of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip carried out the first-ever joint military drill simulating threats of various scenarios of possible Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave, which has been under a strict Israeli siege since mid-2007. A masked spokesman of the Joint...
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Do normalisers know or even care about Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians?
Some journalists from the UAE and Bahrain have visited Israel and praised the occupation state and its people. Expressing their admiration, they claimed that the Israelis are peaceful and teach peace to their children from an early age. They visited Tel Aviv with their Foreign Ministry minder, Lorena Khateeb, and...
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Racism and secularism have changed Sudan’s treatment of Syrian refugees
Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, around 5.6 million Syrians have been forced to leave the country. A further 6.2 million have been displaced internally due to the war conditions and systematic ethnic cleansing by the regime as well as regionally and internationally-backed militias which targeted...
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Is it necessary for Israel to investigate the shootings of Palestinian children?
Last Friday, Israeli occupation forces shot dead 13-year-old Palestinian boy Ali Abu Alia during a protest against the construction of an Israeli settlement in the village of Al-Mughayyir, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that Ali was “shot with live rounds in...
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The dissolution of Israel’s parliament could save Netanyahu from prosecution
Last week, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a bill to dissolve itself. While the ruling Likud was allegedly not in favour and so did not support it, the bill was passed anyway, by a vote of 61 to 54. Now it must go through the Knesset Committee and three...
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Normalisation? Israel only cares about Muslim prayers when there are economic benefits
Since 13 August, when the normalisation deal between the UAE and Israel was announced, people from both countries have sought to benefit from new opportunities. There are, though, other goals within the reality of normalisation. According to US President Donald Trump, who brokered the UAE deal and a similar one...
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The PA has turned its back on the people of Palestine
The Palestinian Authority’s Civil Affairs Minister announced on Tuesday the resumption of security cooperation with Israel. Hussein Al-Sheikh claimed that this was a “great victory” and “achievement” for the PA. He even went on television and thanked the Palestinian people for this “victory”. He is deluded. On 15 November, 1988,...
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Saudi Arabia has used the Muslim Brotherhood to exploit the religion of Islam
Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars issued a defamatory statement against the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that the movement is one of the worst organisations and a threat to Islamic orthodoxy. The Brotherhood, claimed the Saudi scholars, “…is a terrorist group that does not represent the approach of...
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Turkey’s strategic victory in Nagorno-Karabakh
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Tuesday that Azerbaijan and Armenia had signed a peace agreement, ending six weeks of fierce fighting between the two countries over Nagorno-Karabakh. The mountainous region is internationally-recognised as part of Azerbaijan but has been occupied and run by ethnic Armenians since 1994. The agreement...
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Besieged Gaza is living in a boiling pot
While the world was busy with the American elections, it is not paying attention to what is going on in the besieged Gaza Strip and its surroundings. Early this week, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza called on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to urgently help by sending testing...
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Does Biden come bearing gifts for the Palestinians?
Sources in Ramallah revealed recently that the Palestinian Authority maintained contact with Democratic US President-elect Joe Biden throughout his campaign. Direct communication channels were apparently established by a Palestinian American businessman. “We wanted to let Mr Biden know that we are willing and ready to talk,” explained one PA...
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Macron uses freedom of speech as an excuse to insult Islam and Muslims, but it’s not the reason
The growing rift between Muslim nations and France over President Emmanuel Macron’s offensive attack on Islam last month, which was followed by an attack on Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), has led to him appearing on Al Jazeera to tell the Muslim world that he was misunderstood. From...
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Normalisation with Israel will trigger an arms race in the Middle East
Giving up its decades-old position against Israel’s occupation of Palestine, Sudan has agreed to normalise relations with the Zionist state. Tellingly, this was announced by US President Donald Trump on Friday at the White House. He is, of course, seeking a second term in office in next week’s presidential...
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The Nagorno-Karabakh crisis is helping to shape US foreign policy
As the war gets fiercer between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous region of just 150,000 people in the South Caucasus, Armenia has lost control of territories it regarded as the buffer zone between the land in question and Azerbaijan. The decades-long conflict re-erupted on 27 September and has...
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Has Fatah betrayed the Palestinian revolution?
When it was launched on 1 January 1965, the Palestine National Liberation Movement, Fatah, declared that it intended to fight the Israeli occupation until the liberation of the last piece of Palestine’s soil. According to a study by Dr Mohsen Saleh, most of the movement’s founders were members of...
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Is Turkey really against the Arab countries and people?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Kuwait and Qatar last week to discuss regional and international issues. He received a very warm welcome with royal receptions in both countries where he was greeted as a great friend of the leaders and the people. In Kuwait, Erdogan met with the...
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Is Macron really working to de-radicalise Islam?
As he revealed his plan to fight “separatism” in France, President Emmanuel Macron referred to the preference given to religious law over the country’s republican and secular values by Muslim citizens. In doing so, he put himself on a collision course with Islam and Muslims in his attempt to...
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Abbas is still lying to the Palestinians
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced recently that he would accept all the outcomes of the conference of the factional secretaries-general held last month in Beirut. They included an end to the internal division, unity between all of the Palestinian factions, and restructuring the PLO so that Hamas and...
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Why has the US ambassador’s ‘misquoted’ comment angered the Palestinians leadership?
A right-wing Israeli daily close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has misquoted US Ambassador David Friedman saying that Washington is thinking about replacing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with the once-disgraced Fatah security official Mohammed Dahlan. Israel Hayom’s Ariel Kahana apparently asked Friedman whether the US could like to...
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Macron has toned down his anti-Turkey rhetoric, but is it enough?
As the tension over maritime borders in the East Mediterranean was escalating between Turkey and Greece, France stepped up with a big stick in support of its fellow EU member and threatened Turkey. President Emanuel Macron said that the government in Ankara “is no longer a partner.” The standoff between...
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Palestinian fury over UAE-Israel deal is just a ‘media show’
Prior to the meeting of the Arab League on Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki called on his Arab counterparts to reject the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-Israel normalisation deal. The deal was declared by the US, the UAE and Israel on 13 August, surprising the Palestinians...