Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Oraib Al-Rantawi
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America’s military presence in Syria and its priorities
The US Secretary of Defence, General James Mattis, has linked his country’s withdrawal from Syria to a comprehensive solution to the eight-year-old crisis. This means that America is refusing to commit to a timetable for a troop withdrawal, which is something Donald Trump has been talking about and promising...
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The Arab Spring is not yet dead
We did not take the analyses and predictions that mourned the early death of the Arab Spring wave with its successive revolutions and uprisings that broke out in Tunisia eight years ago seriously. We have always opposed and refuted the slander and defamation directed at this revolutionary, reformist wave, as...
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A message to President Mahmoud Abbas
I would like to first congratulate you, your people, and myself on your safety and recovery from the health problems that ailed you recently. I would like to take this opportunity to give you some ideas that I firmly believe came into the minds, hearts, and conscience of every...
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Has Washington decided to look for an alternative to Abbas?
The United States has been contacting Palestinian figures from the West Bank and Jerusalem after the Palestinian leadership made a decision to stop contacts related to the peace process with Washington; a step that came in response to Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and...
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The Arab pressure on the Palestinian leadership
Palestinian news items, or leaks, report that Arab leaders are putting immense pressure on the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations and restore security coordination, at the highest level, with Israel. In public statements, leaders are linking the resumption of negotiations with the two-state solution and the Arab...
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From criminalising normalisation to criminalising a boycott of Israel
Economic, trade and cultural normalisation of relations with Israel, let alone political normalisation and security cooperation, has always been criminalised by the Arab states. However, this did not prevent Arab capitals and individuals from sneaking under the radar and establishing relations and communication with the racist, occupation state. This...
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The 100-year war is not over yet
No one knows Israel’s schemes, games, lies and manoeuvres better than the Palestinians. Their experience was moulded after over 100 years of confrontation with the Zionist organisations, gangs, state and settlers. No one is capable of producing creative initiatives and forms of struggle that adapts to every new situation...
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Qatar’s options
Qatar does not have much room to manoeuvre in the wake of the blockade being imposed upon it; the wave that threatens to engulf the small Gulf State is big and strong. Furthermore, the polarisation in the region no longer allows for the usual Gulf way of making-up by...
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The Freedom and Dignity hunger strike completes its first month
While the Palestinian Nakba enters its 70th year tomorrow, the Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike will finish its first month, after all the Israeli attempts to break the national prisoner movement’s will and fragment it failed. They have tried to spread lies about its leaders, using dirty means and tools...
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Questions about the southern front and the ‘safe zone’
There are a number of indicators on the horizon of the southern front which drive us to believe that they will move from the stage of traveling skirmishes to the phase of major confrontations. They may even reach the point of resolving the terrorist organisations, in all their names,...
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Washington and the 2+4 allies
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article that spoke of America’s intention to establish a new regional alliance that would include four Arab countries alongside Israel and the United States. The goal of the alliance, which will resemble NATO in some ways, is to counter the threat that...
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Moscow and Damascus: A gap or estrangement?
Bashar Al-Assad’s presidential decree for parliamentary elections to be held in April did not get much attention in international political and media circles, not only because the parliament in Syria — like most other Arab countries — does not play a major role in politics and decision-making, but also...
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Jordanians reach boiling point
The media has given a lot of attention to the positions expressed by King Abdullah II on the event of the donor countries’ conference in London. They focused particularly on two phrases: the first is about Jordanians reaching boiling point and the second is about making a qualitative change...
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On Kerry’s talks and beyond
Under John Kerry’s mediation, once again, there are have talks between Jordan and Israel regarding the issue of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jordanian guardianship of the holy sites. Benjamin Netanyahu is a dishonest politician, a view shared by most Israelis, but this is not the first time that the Jordanian...
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The question of the third intifada
The issue of the moment is the question of an impending third intifada. Are the events taking place in Jerusalem and the West Bank heading towards another Palestinian uprising? What are the opportunities and the possibilities? What are the obstacles and the challenges? Who is working to prevent this...
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The Palestine National Council: More of the same thing
Holding a session for the Palestine National Council (PNC) should have been the “culmination” of a comprehensive national reconciliation process and a substantial reconstruction of the tattered Palestinian political system. It should also be a new launch of the Palestinian national movement following a new strategic path after the...
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The Jewishness of the state in exchange for a state on paper
According to multiple sources, the relevant international decision-making capitals will launch a political and diplomatic campaign related to the peace process and two-state solution once Benjamin Netanyahu is finished forming his new government in the next two or three weeks. We know that there is currently a French draft...
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France's draft resolution shouldn't end Palestinian efforts to internationalise the cause
The United States is refraining from commenting on the French draft resolution on the Palestinian issue which is being circulated in the halls of the UN Security Council. The US justification for this is to give Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to form his fourth government in Israel and announce...
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Relations between Morocco and Egypt
We cannot consider the tense relations between Morocco and Egypt, as well as the UAE, in isolation from the fact that the Justice and Development Party leads the governing coalition in Rabat. Although immoral and politically unjustified to do so, the party rode on the coat-tails of sister or...
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PA facing dissolution or dismantlement
Israel is threatening to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA) if it prevents the Israeli occupation of the West Bank; while the Ramallah leadership is hinting at dissolving the PA if it fails to pass the draft bill to end the occupation at the UN Security Council. This means that...
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Imminent shifts: Washington and the Syrian issue
What do you come out with when you talk to three American officials in regards to the US’ foreign policy towards the Syrian issue and the imminent shifts therein? You learn how to distinguish between the points of view that are viewed as essential to American foreign policy and...
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The Palestinian issue: where do we go from here?
The Palestinian-Arab draft resolution, which would stipulate an end to the occupation of Palestinian land and set a time frame for the establishment of a Palestinian state, will be put in the hands of the international community by next month at the latest. This is according to the repeated...
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Selling lies and delusions
Many argue that the Islamic State (IS) wouldn’t have taken northeast Syria as a safe haven if Washington had taken action to resolve the situation militarily with the Syrian regime in the early days of the Syrian crisis, before the threat of IS and Al-Nusra Front and the militant...
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Jordan and the danger of ISIS...Between intimidation and underestimation
Where has the exaggeration in estimating the extent of risks and threats that surround Jordan after ISIS was able to take control of the Western Iraqi provinces, extending from its dominant areas of influence in north-east Syria, come from? I believe that this exaggeration is coming from two sources, each...
