Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Nasim Ahmed
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Terrorism cannot be defeated without political reform
This week the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which is an arm of the US intelligence community that is in charge of long-term strategic analysis, published its assessment of the future. Taking into account the forces and choices shaping the world, it provided a forecast of the direction the world...
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Someone tell Trump that Israel's annexation of Jerusalem will sow seeds of perennial conflict
Donald Trump’s imminent arrival in the White House has become a source of anxiety and panic. For certain, there are many things to be worried about including his pledge to create a Muslim database and to ban Muslims from entering the US. Though his pledges alone are of grave...
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A year on, Palestinian entertainer still doesn’t know why Israel is holding him
The cruelty and injustice of Israel’s policy of administrative detention has once again been highlighted by its treatment of Palestinian circus and school performer, Mohammed Abu Sakha. Twenty-five-year-old Mohammed has been held by Israeli occupying forces (IOF) since December 2015. According to Addamer, the legal aid organisation representing Mohammed, he...
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Why was the First Intifada doomed to fail?
Today marks the 29th anniversary of the First Intifada. The mass uprising, which began in the refugee camps in Gaza in 1987, went on to become one of the longest protest against occupation and the bravest campaign for human rights that has been seen in recent history. Yet looking...
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The case against Tony Blair is more compelling than his case was for invading Iraq
The British Labour party voted down a motion seeking to hold former UK prime minister Tony Blair accountable for misleading parliament during the run up to the 2003 Iraq War by 439 votes to 70 earlier this week. Many would have shared the disappointment expressed by Alex Salmond, former...
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Palestine Book Awards 2016: Awarding literary talent
Leading figures from the political, academic and literary communities joined in the celebration and unveiling of the winners of 2016 Palestine Book Awards...
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Palestine Book Awards nominees come together for a night of literature
Following the welcome speech by Victoria Brittain, Professor Eugene Rogan opened the discussion by asking the authors to speak about themselves and the inspiration for their books. ...
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With Trump in the White House, where will it leave liberal Jews?
I’ve written previously about the inherent contradiction between liberalism and Zionism. I have argued that liberal Zionism is an oxymoron: while the former champions human rights, social justice and respect for international law, it is thus at complete odds with the latter’s colonisation, occupation and system of privilege and...
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A Curious Land: Stories from Home
“A Curious Land” by Susan Muaddi Darraj is a collection of short stories about the inhabitants of Tel Al-Hilou, which is a small Palestinian village in the West Bank. Spanning generations, and continents, the stories explore aspects of the Palestinian narrative through the lived experiences of characters in the...
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The challenge of dental health provision for refugees
Access to basic healthcare is a luxury for millions of refugees, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear about a group of dental surgeons offering much-needed relief to those in Greece and Calais. It is hard enough to bear toothache at the best of times; what about if you...
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War Against the People
“War Against the People” seeks to answer a common question amongst activists in the Israel-Palestine conflict: “How does Israel get away with it?”. The author, Jeff Halper, argues that conventional explanations to this question – the power of the Israeli lobby for example – are not satisfactory. The most common...
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Highlighting Israeli violations of a world heritage site is not ‘inflammatory’, UNESCO, it’s a duty
A draft decision by UNESCO, which criticises Israel’s activities at holy places in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, has been denounced by Israeli officials. “It ignores thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and aids Islamist terror,” claimed Education Minister Naftali Bennett very dramatically. Never one to miss...
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Explained: Why do Syria peace talks keep failing?
The Syrian war may have gone down the route of a typical civil war early in the conflict, when a prolonged standoff was unsustainable...
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9/11 bill may be a step too far in US-Saudi relations
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) bill passed by the US Congress earlier this week, has put further strain on US-Saudi relations. Relations between the two countries, derided at times as a marriage of convenience, are possibly going through their toughest test yet. The Saudi foreign ministry quickly...
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Iraq’s problems are bigger than Daesh
President Barack Obama has said that he wants to strike at the heart of Daesh by the end of the year. In a meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider Al-Abadi, during the UN summit in New York, Obama stressed the need to push Daesh out of Mosul, which...
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Is Bishop Nazir Ali the new ‘Comical Ali’
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali caused a stir earlier this week when he was interviewed by journalist Matt Frei on Channel 4 News about his controversial meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The former Bishop of Rochester was part of a delegation to Syria that included peers from Britain’s House of...
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Al-Qaeda and beyond: where do Arab dictatorships fit?
Four experts discussed the hidden relationship between dictators and extremist groups at an event held by MEMO in London....
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How deep is the connection between Celtic fans and Palestine?
Thousands were touched by the Celtic fans’ show of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Large sections of the stadium turned into a sea of green, red, black and white as fans raised the Palestinian flag despite repeated warnings from European football’s governing body (UEFA). The fans earned further respect...
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Refusing to shake hands is childish, but turning a blind eye to racial discrimination is criminal
Egypt’s Islam El-Shehaby’s refusal to shake hands with his Israeli opponent Or Sasson was clearly not in the spirit of the Olympic Games. The athlete, who has been sent home in disgrace by the Egyptian Olympic Committee following strong condemnation of his unsporting behaviour, acted against the “rules of...
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Extradition of Gulen will be a tough test for US-Turkey relations
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım confirmed that an official request for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen has been sent to the US. Ankara accuses the cleric, who lives in Pennsylvania, of masterminding last Friday’s failed plot to oust President Erdogan which left 208 people dead and nearly 1,500 others...
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Blair shouldn’t be alone in the dock over the invasion and occupation of Iraq
Yes, Tony Blair needs to answer for his actions but, more importantly, so too do the real masterminds behind the carnage; he shouldn’t be alone in the dock...
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The final judgement of Tony Blair has to be nigh
With the Chilcot Inquiry due to publish its long-awaited report on 6 July, an early indication of what the findings might be have been aired by BBC Panorama’s “Iraq the Final Judgement”. In the hour-long programme, journalist Jane Corbin returned to the war-ravaged country with the grief stricken parents...
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US Congress members question Israel’s abuse of Palestinian children
Members of the US Congress made an unprecedented move by calling for the appointment of “a special envoy for Palestinian youth”. In a letter to Barack Obama, US lawmakers petitioned the President to address the abuse of Palestinian children. Twenty members of the US Congress signed the letter urging the “Department of the State to elevate the human rights of Palestinian children to...
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Daesh and Netanyahu share the ‘clash of civilisations’ narrative
President Barack Obama was uncharacteristically agitated as he unleashed an attack on Donald Trump in his speech following the murderous atrocity in Orlando. He denounced the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for his “dangerous mind-set”, “rhetoric”, “loose talk” and “sloppiness”. A visibly angry Obama went on to recall that Muslim-baiting...
