Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Motasem A Dalloul
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This year began and drew to a close with Iran being baited into war
The single main story of the year has without a doubt been the coronavirus pandemic which has thus far claimed over 1.5 million lives around the world amid encouraging news about vaccine development. However it is now easy to forget that before this story became a near permanent fixture...
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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...
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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...
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Bahrain is yet to normalise ties with its own people
If the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition’s war on Yemen was known as “the forgotten war”, the 2011 anti-government protests in Bahrain soon became “the forgotten uprising”. Forgotten in the sense that following the so-called Arab Spring, to which both events were linked, most of the world’s attention had shifted to...
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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,...
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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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Remembering Taha Hussein: ‘The Dean of Arabic literature’
According to most accounts, Taha Hussein, one of Egypt’s most esteemed writers and intellectuals and a giant in modern Arabic literature, was born on 14 November, 1889, in the Upper Egyptian village of Izbet Al-Kilo in the Minya governorate. He had humble beginnings hailing from a large lower middle-class...
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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...
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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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Ankara and Washington have work to do to maintain their relationship
According to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, relations with America are above party politics and individuals, and are protected by alliances and strategic agreements. This does not match what Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said a few months ago in response to Joe Biden’s comment during his election campaign...
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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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The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View
Recent events in France have once again pushed the notion of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West onto centre stage. Last month the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo republished caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him); this was followed by the gruesome murder of a French...
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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...
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Algeria-Morocco competition exposes the closed shop nature of influence within the AU
According to specialist news reports, Algeria has failed to nominate any candidates for key positions in the African Union. Seven positions are open to change, the most important of which is the Commissioner of the Peace and Security Department (PSD), which Algeria has held since 2008. It was held...
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With defiance and perseverance, Iran has once again demonstrated its independence
The 13-year arms embargo imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council expired on Sunday in accordance with Resolution 2231 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the 2015 nuclear deal. This means that Iran is free to buy and sell conventional weapons, a diplomatic...
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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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Casting of Israel’s Gal Gadot as Cleopatra prompts debate on social media
Israeli actress Gal Gadot confirmed yesterday that she will be playing the role of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and teaming up again with ‘Wonder Woman’ Director Patty Jenkins and screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis. As you might have heard I teamed up with @PattyJenks and @LKalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen...
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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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It’s a challenge to support Azerbaijan when its government is pro-Israel
The renewed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has the propensity to draw in regional powers such as Iran, Russia and Turkey, and thus become a proxy war in the South Caucasus. The conflict is one that is already progressing towards outright war as fighting has...
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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...