Middle East Near You

Human rights are universal. Or so we were taught. But the simplistic notion has been overturned, mutilated and manipulated to the point that the only universal aspect about human...

Michael Berdine’s succinct analysis of his subject Sykes’s political involvement in the Middle East is also a reflection that can be extended to the present-day turmoil in the region....

What would prompt the UN to assert, without reservations or calculated statements, that Gaza has collapsed in terms of humanitarian necessities? So far, the international organisation has relied on...

There is increasing evidence that international overtures, ostensibly to safeguard Palestinian rights, are nothing but pretence. Following Israel’s High Court ruling in favour of the destruction of Khan Al-Ahmar,...

The US decision to close down the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s office in Washington is reported to have been made in retaliation for the Palestinian Authority’s decision to reject negotiations...

In the aftermath of the US decision to end its funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the EU has pledged to continue its financial support....

The rhetoric of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas fools nobody. Less than a week after meeting retired Mossad officer Ari Shaul and reiterating his concerns about Israel’s demography, Abbas...

It is not only the Trump administration that wants to alter, to the point of negating, the Palestinian right of return. On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas made...

Memory and metaphor intertwine in Ghassan Zaqtan’s “Where the Bird Disappeared” (Seagull Books, 2018), to the point that, at times, seeking to distinguish one from the other is akin...

It is possible that the arguments in favour of retaining the Palestinian right of return are falling into the semantics trap which Israel has been perfecting overtly over many...

Not only has the Palestinian Authority lagged behind in matters of urgent decision making, but it also persists in making defeatist comments which will generate additional repercussions for the...

With the Bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar still targeted by Israel for demolition, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has availed himself of the opportunity to call for mobilisation in...

As the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, brokered by the UN and Egypt, went into effect yesterday, Ramallah erupted into a litany of abominable comments. Senior Fatah official Azzam...

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry has recently demonstrated its competence in disseminating Zionist propaganda, as well as showing how the “two-state solution” continues to serve Israeli interests. In a series of...

When a last request turns into a journey, Palestine becomes tangible. Rabai Al-Madhoun’s novel, Fractured Destinies (Hoopoe Fiction, 2018), weaves narrations of love, exile and loss, while edging continuously...

There has been yet another instance where the UN has preferred to try to predict the future instead of acknowledging the current deterioration in Gaza with the aim of...

In less than three months, Jewish settlers have destroyed over 2,000 trees and grapevines in the occupied West Bank. Rights group B’Tselem has issued a detailed report on this...

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (UNOCHA) yesterday published a joint statement calling for the protection of children’s rights. As usual,...

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Colombia for the inauguration of the country’s new President, Iván Duque Márquez, the international community should clarify its role once and for...

“If the breath and heart remain steady as the eye slips from “centenary” to “half-century” to “decade,” this is because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has endured so long that it...

In March, the World Bank issued a press release stating that the deterioration in Gaza’s humanitarian situation is preventing economic growth. Among the destabilisation factors mentioned were the lack...

The Palestinian Authority continues to give examples of discrepancy on two levels within its rhetoric. In response to Israel’s Jewish Nation State Law — which only elicited “concern” within...

Nobody takes the UN seriously anymore. It has bred an array of detractors from across the entire political spectrum while continuing to function as an organisation that facilitates the...

The erasure of Palestinian memory is often wrongly associated with the past. When combined with narratives that exclude Palestinians from their ongoing displacement, it is imperative to challenge both...

The brief encounter in Moscow between Argentina’s legendary footballer Diego Maradona and the Palestinian Authority President generated international headlines. “My heart is Palestinian,” Maradona told Mahmoud Abbas. Even so,...

Following the Middle East Quartet’s statement in 2016 which effectively rendered the two-state compromise obsolete, the international community, including representatives of the Quartet, have failed to come up with...

Sporting events are imbued with illusions of unity. The FIFA World Cup is no exception. In the context of Palestine, however, unity becomes a departure point for questioning the...

On Monday, Israeli lawyer Yuval Shany was appointed to chair the UN Human Rights Committee – a body of experts that monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political...

Yesterday’s debate at the UN Human Rights Council exposed how options for Palestinians are being depleted. Other than recurring statements from countries and non-governmental organisations about Israeli violence and...

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the visit to Israel by US envoys Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner provided additional bolstering of the sniper massacre against the Palestinians involved...

If this book had to be described succinctly, it is a perfect example of the different components that construct an implosion. Marcello Di Cintio’s “Pay No Heed to the...

Between recent statements by Jared Kushner and Saeb Erekat there is a truth which is overlooked to the point of oblivion; the same power which has made it possible...