Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Professor Paola Manduca
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Let’s look at what was absent from the Arab Summit closing statement
Millions listened to the closing statement of this week’s Arab Summit, which undoubtedly showed great progress in its tone and the seriousness of its objections to the criminal Zionist actions across all of Palestine, all of Lebanon and, more lately, all of Syria. The attendees’ position on the unacceptable...
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A hypocritical world and the new generation of resistance
Despite the guardians of world order constantly claiming to uphold human values and international law, time and again they prove themselves to be complicit with Israel in its crimes — if not actual collaborators. We all saw the media frenzy over a mistaken identification of an Israeli detainee’s body,...
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Hedging, Wedging, and Returning to Caution: China’s Tactical Dance between Alliances and Rivals in the Middle East
“Hide your strength; bide your time.” For over two decades, starting in 1992, this famous quote attributed to Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s reform movement, served as a sacred verse, guiding China in shaping its Middle East policy. This phrase encapsulated China’s masterclass approach of “Strategic Ambiguity” and...
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How Taliban-led Afghanistan fits into Saudi Arabia’s reform agenda
In December 2024, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of its diplomatic mission in Kabul. The development came about three years after Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Kabul after the Afghan Taliban took over in 2021. This demonstrates a change in Saudi Arabia’s policy and willingness...
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Palestinians have no real democratic representatives: the leadership lacks legitimacy
The Palestinian struggle for liberation and independence has always been tied to the fight for democratic representation. However, the current reality reveals a painful truth: Palestinians, both inside Palestine and in the diaspora, lack a legitimate democratic leadership that truly represents them. The Palestinian Authority (PA), established under the...
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Walking through the ruins of Gaza’s Great Omari Mosque
Gazan return to home in ruins: ‘This was Israel’s revenge’...
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Will Trump let hell break out in Gaza?
Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has adopted a strategy of “shock and awe”— not just in foreign policy but in the smallest details of daily life. A flurry of decisions, provocative statements and threats stretching from Gaza to Canada, Panama and Greenland, alongside a return...
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The cost of ignoring history: Gaza, grievances and the threat of war
The Trump administration promised a bold new course in the Middle East, and now the United States stands at a perilous crossroads, echoing the policies and decrees that precipitated the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil and set in motion two decades of war and suffering. President Donald Trump’s...
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Gaza rejects displacement, but what if it’s imposed?
For decades, the Israeli occupation, backed by Western powers, has sought to liquidate the Palestinian cause through various means, foremost among them forced displacement. Today, these attempts resurface under the framework of the “alternative homeland” project, aiming to empty the Gaza Strip of its population and impose a new...
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The long-term impact of Israel’s genocide will only become clear as the toxic dust settles
As the toxic dust begins to settle, it is hard to even fathom the complex feelings of our Palestinian friends and colleagues, many of whom have families in Gaza who are beginning the arduous task of returning home and rebuilding, having survived 15 months of Israeli genocide. Since October...
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Gaza teaches the world a lesson in resilience: Endurance amid the challenges of occupation
In the face of genocide, ethnic cleansing and a suffocating blockade, Gaza has demonstrated an extraordinary endurance that few could have anticipated. This resilience is not a chance occurrence but the outcome of the steadfastness of its people, their patience in the face of ongoing Israeli aggression, and their...
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Double standards: Between Gaza, Los Angeles and Ukraine
While Gaza is being obliterated, entire families erased from civil records, children deprived of food and medicine, with doctors and patients detained and bodies left for dogs to scavenge, the world stands by in silence. This harrowing scene unfolds daily in Gaza, where the occupation perpetrates the most heinous...
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EU funding for Israeli tech raises fresh concerns about complicity in genocide
Israel’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) funded by European Union research programmes to target civilians is attracting a lot of criticism. Since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began on 7 October, 2023, the EU has provided over €238 million ($246m) to Israeli institutions for research and innovation. The funds...
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For the first time, Palestinians abroad publicly criticise the Palestinian Authority
For the first time since its establishment in 2017, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad has issued a direct and explicit criticism of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This comes after the PA’s actions in the occupied West Bank, particularly in Jenin and its refugee camp, reached an intolerable level....
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Gazans use any space to grow crops to survive
Israel’s tightened siege on the besieged Gaza Strip has led some to resort to growing crops in any space they can find. Salah Muhaisen, who was displaced from Az-Zawayda neighbourhood of Gaza City, did just that because of the rising food prices. Growing vegetables isn’t easy, Muhaisen explains, there...
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Palestinians scramble for food as famine takes hold in Gaza
Israel starves Gaza: The Great Famine...
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Charities set up tents for 700 displaced families in Gaza
A group of international organisations have established a camp to house 700 families who have been displaced from southern Gaza and forced to move to the enclave’s coast. The families have been repeatedly displaced as a result of Israel’s genocidal bombing of the Strip, occupation of large swathes of...
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After Palestine and Lebanon, Israel extends its violations of international law to Syria
Israel’s occupation and air strikes in Syria in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime violate international law and are part of a broader pattern of ongoing violations in Palestine and Lebanon, according to a scholar of Middle East history. Assal Rad told Anadolu that Israel’s recent...
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Trump will pick up his second term where he left off in the first
The features of the Donald Trump administration’s foreign policy have begun taking shape, especially related to Israel, Palestine and the Middle East, in general, through a series of appointments that include Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor, Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel...
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Turkiye and Trump: theoretical optimism, but practical concern
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and his move back to the White House in January, let alone concerns about his nominees for positions within his administration, have led to analysts and governments trying to anticipate his policies and the repercussions around the world in terms of...
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Will Netanyahu stop the war after the ‘big day’?
The powerful and decision-making individuals in the Arab and Muslim countries await the result of the “big day”, i.e., the day of the American presidential elections on 5 November. Some are eager for Republican Party candidate, Donald Trump, to be the new president, while others hope that Democratic Party...
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Gaza student uses her passport to draw out her travel plans
Twenty-year-old Nour Al-Ramlawi was due to leave Gaza and head to university abroad when Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza. Nour had received her visa and was due to travel through the Rafah Crossing in October 2023, but her dreams were shattered after Israeli occupation authorities closed the...
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European supporters of Israel’s genocide threaten academic freedom
Western universities, once seen as paragons of free speech and academic freedom, are today accused of compromising democratic principles by attempting to silence academics and students for expressing their views on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. A report by Anadolu, titled “Israel’s silent genocide supporters in Europe”, explores the...
