Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Sania Faisal El-Husseini
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The Saudi–Turkish–Pakistani Security Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment
The Mecca Agreement, signed on 7 August, may not be the first step in a series of moves that key states in the region have begun to take, reflecting significant strategic shifts. Although the challenges facing the countries of the region are not new, they have intensified markedly in recent…
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Can Trump reshape the situation in Gaza?
A few days after Donald Trump expressed his satisfaction with the recent agreement on Gaza, Israel made it clear that the deal fell short of its ambitions. The agreement had become possible after Hamas announced, for the first time, its willingness to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian committee…
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The West Bank on a powder keg
The pace of settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated to the point where their consequences are becoming increasingly difficult to contain. The recent incident in the village of Tell was one such example. Last Friday, a settler attack on the village resulted in the killing of…
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A reading of US national security strategies
US presidents’ National Security Strategies accurately reflect the direction of their foreign policies, which are governed by American interests that are not always explicitly stated, yet are not difficult to surmise. The National Security Strategy is an official presidential document issued by the President of the United States outlining the…
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Is the region paying a heavy price for Trump’s personal interests?
President Donald Trump’s administration has been accused of waging war against Iran on Israel’s behalf. Israel had made no secret of its determination to draw the United States into such a confrontation, having failed to persuade previous US administrations to do so. Since then, countries across the region have borne…
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Great power competition under Trump: The Greenland crisis as a case study
President Donald Trump’s threat to invade Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, a longstanding US ally, and a member of NATO, marked one of the most serious deteriorations in transatlantic relations in recent decades. Although this deterioration formed part of a broader foreign policy trajectory that Trump…
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Despite internal differences: Strong American support for the US – Iran agreement
Seventy-eight per cent of Americans support ending the war with Iran, while 57 per cent believe it has created more problems than it has solved. At the same time, the US economy continues to grapple with inflationary pressures linked to the war and energy markets, with inflation remaining elevated owing…
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The agreement: Beyond the nuclear file to reshaping the region
The provisional framework agreement announced between the United States and Iran on 17 June is about far more than reviving stalled nuclear diplomacy or reviving the 2015 deal. It offers a political, security and economic blueprint for managing the post-war phase while redefining the balance of power across the region.…
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Palestinian National Council elections and inseparable realities
On 4th June, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the electoral framework for the Palestinian National Council following its adoption by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The announcement of elections, expected to be held in early November, cannot be separated from a series of developments that began…
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From nuclear threshold to nuclear deterrence: Is Iran crossing the line?
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran over recent months has reshaped several dimensions of the conflict. Alongside the economic pressure Iran exerted by disrupting activity in the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear file remains equally consequential. Weeks ago, Iranian media outlets close to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with statements attributed…
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Israel: From neutralizing the frontline states to neutralizing the Axis of Resistance
Israel’s occupation of Arab states does not necessarily have to take a physical form, as happened in the past with the rest of Palestine, the Syrian Golan, Egypt’s Sinai, and Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills. It may also take other forms, as later envisioned in Israeli strategy. Following…
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Beyond unipolarity and the end of strategic certainty: Lessons imposed by the war on Iran
The war on Iran stands as a revealing reflection of a profound structural shift in an international order that has been taking shape for years. The Iran conflict cannot be viewed merely as a passing regional crisis or a confrontation between rival powers confined to a specific geography. It represents…
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Palestinians in Israel and the coming Knesset elections
The continued wars of Benjamin Netanyahu have clearly provided him with additional political breathing space and survival. They may also pave the way for postponing the elections scheduled for next October, an outcome that would align closely with his political interests, particularly as it becomes increasingly apparent that securing victory…
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The US–Iran impasse: Who stands to lose more?
By the end of this month, US–Iran negotiations had reached a near stalemate, following rounds of talks in Islamabad and Muscat that failed to produce any meaningful breakthrough. At the same time, the conflict has been steadily morphing into something closer to a “cold war,” driven less by direct confrontation…
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A Strategic Risk and Legal Ambiguity: A Managed Confrontation in Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump was forced to extend the ceasefire, originally set to expire on April 22, after Washington and Tehran failed to agree on a second round of talks. The first round in Islamabad had already fallen short of narrowing the gap between the two sides. The extension came…
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Is the Strait of Hormuz the key to resolving the crisis?
Iran’s response to the American closure of the Strait of Hormuz, among other actions, was not arbitrary. Rather, it was a calculated reaction directed at US interests. A brief examination of the Strait of Hormuz’s importance to the United States, in particular, and its policy of containing the escalation with…
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Does diplomacy through the use of military force always succeed?
In a surprising development, US President Donald Trump announced in the early hours of Wednesday morning a two-week ceasefire with Iran, contingent upon the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to navigation. Trump’s announcement came shortly before the expiration of the deadline he had set for striking Iranian infrastructure and…
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Notes on the Knesset’s approval of the death penalty for Palestinians
The Israeli parliament (the Knesset) has approved amendments to the penal code that have triggered a broad wave of criticism, as they directly target Palestinians by introducing the death penalty in a legal framework designed to facilitate both its imposition and execution. The law applies to Palestinians across all legal…
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The U.S.–Israeli War on Iran: Gains and Losses
On February 28, 2026, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an operation U.S. President Donald Trump said was carried out in direct coordination with Israel. The killing marks a historic rupture, reshaping the very contours of the conflict between Iran, and the U.S.-Israeli axis. For years, Washington…
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Is Israel becoming a strategic liability for the US?
Indicators are mounting that the world is heading toward an era of multipolarity, signaling the twilight of the age of singular American hegemony and a redistribution of global power among multiple actors. The Chinese economy has expanded, approaching the size of the European Union’s economy and two-thirds that of the…
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The War on Iran: America at the Center of the Storm
As the region continues to endure the escalating Israeli-American war against Iran, international calls to halt the confrontation are growing louder. Air traffic has been suspended across several countries, economic pressures are mounting, and anxiety is spreading through a region that sits at the heart of the global energy system.…
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The ‘brinkmanship’ strategy with Iran: A calculated approach
Over the past month, events in the region have escalated and expanded significantly, as Israel and the United States attempt to establish new control and balances after two and a half years of continuous wars and unrest. After calming the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and Yemen, attention has turned to…
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Notes on the draft constitution of the State of Palestine
Nearly seven months after President Mahmoud Abbas formed the constitutional drafting committee, the president moved a few days ago to release the draft “Interim Constitution of the State of Palestine” to the public and to relevant institutions for review and comment over a 60-day period. The designated committee is expected…
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Beyond Oslo: Engineering a new reality in Palestine
It has become clear that Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government are seeking to leverage their current alignment with the administration of US President Donald Trump, a government that strongly backs Israeli policies, to cement a reality in Palestine that will be difficult to reverse in the future. Under Israeli…