Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Tamer Ajrami
-
The Yemen trap: Why Saudi Arabia should reject Israel’s help
If reports are true that Benjamin Netanyahu tried to offer Israeli involvement on Saudi Arabia’s side in the war in Yemen, this should not be read as help. It should be read as a political and strategic trap. Israel does not want to save Saudi Arabia from Yemeni missiles. It…
-
Israel’s elections: Netanyahu wants more than victory; he wants to stop others from governing
Opinion polls in Israel tell us many things, but they do not tell the whole story. Sometimes Netanyahu’s bloc appears close to returning to power. At other times, the “change” bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot moves ahead. But behind these changing numbers lies a more important reality: neither Netanyahu nor…
-
7th October: The earthquake that put Palestine back at the centre of the world
A few days before 7 October, the US National Security Adviser said “the Middle East was quieter than it had been for two decades”. That sentence now sounds like a full summary of the American illusion. Washington was looking at the region from above. Normalisation was moving forward. Israel felt…
-
Trump’s new Middle East has one missing piece: Palestine
Do you remember Condoleezza Rice’s “new Middle East”? During the 2006 war on Lebanon, Rice spoke as if war could give birth to a new regional order. Twenty years later, Washington seems to be returning to the same dream. Only this time, Donald Trump wants to assemble the pieces himself.…
-
Why Europe finds it easier to punish Israeli settlers than to pressure Israel
For decades, the European Union has said that its relationship with Israel is built not only on trade, science and security cooperation, but also on human rights and international law. This is not just political language. Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement says clearly that relations between the two…
-
Has Hamas ended?
It is easy today to say that Hamas has ended. Gaza is destroyed. The movement’s leaders have been targeted. Its military structure has been badly hit. Its ability to govern has declined. Its popular base inside Gaza is more exhausted and angry than ever before. These are facts that cannot…
-
Nablus: When the killer becomes the victim
In the occupied West Bank, the story often starts too late. It starts when an Israeli settler is killed, injured, or frightened. It starts when Israeli officials speak, when the army enters Palestinian villages, and when headlines describe a “clash” or a “terror attack”. Suddenly, the settler becomes the victim,…
-
Gaza on the edge of forced displacement: Israel’s new language for an old policy
In politics, words are not changed for no reason. When a policy becomes too costly morally, legally, or internationally, states do not always abandon it. Sometimes they simply rename it, so it becomes easier to sell and harder to condemn. This is what is happening today in the Israeli debate…
-
Gaza is not Netanyahu’s exit; it may be his political end
Benjamin Netanyahu is looking for an alternative war. After his room for action against Iran became limited, and after Washington began pressuring Israel to restrain its actions in southern Lebanon, Gaza seems to be the only battlefield left for him. He needs a war to survive politically. He needs an…
-
America’s war-based economy still strengthens its rivals — and Trump is accelerating this
For more than two decades, experience has shown a clear pattern: whenever the United States rushes into wars, it does not weaken its enemies as it expects. Instead, it often opens wide doors for them to grow, expand, and build influence. The question is no longer whether rival powers benefit…
-
Saudi Arabia is pulling Europe toward a “Gulf Helsinki” deal with Iran — because Washington failed
When military power fails to impose “deterrence,” oil becomes politics. And the Strait of Hormuz is now writing Gulf security rules instead of the Pentagon. With Hormuz still closed and the emergency oil stock releases used to calm markets running down, prices are moving _ no matter how much some…
-
Gulf States have nothing but to talk to Iran, NOW
Here is what Washington missed: the Gulf is not a chessboard where outside powers can “manage escalation” and still keep business as usual. The Gulf is a narrow geography with one choke point, one energy artery, and one unavoidable neighbor with leverage. When the Strait of Hormuz becomes the battleground,…
-
America as a war economy: Eisenhower’s warning that still runs Washington
One of the strangest things about U.S. politics is this: many countries look for reasons first, then go to war. Washington often does the opposite. It decides on war first, then changes the justification as pressure rises and as it needs to “sell” the decision at home and abroad. We…
-
Hormuz is the war’s invoice—and Washington can’t pay it
What Washington Missed? Closing the Strait of Hormuz is not a side detail. It is the main pressure point. Every day the strait stays shut adds a new layer of cost to the global economy; and the shock travels back to the United States fast. This is not only about…
-
What kind of colonialism is Trump deploying in the Middle East?
As a Political Science student who studies peace-building in the Middle East, I want to start with something a scholar named Edward Said taught us: pay attention to the language first. Not the bombs, not the speeches about “peace,” not the media event. The language. Because power rarely calls itself…
-
What if Khamenei died in his bed and Trump did not kill him?
If Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had died in his bed, from illness or old age, his death could have been more dangerous for the Iranian system than many people think. A natural death would have opened a sensitive moment inside the regime: Who replaces him? Can the elites agree?…
-
Why is Iran striking Gulf states, punishing Washington or making more enemies?
The question sounds simple, but it goes beyond “military retaliation”. Why would Iran hit Gulf countries while saying its real enemies are the United States and Israel? And does this tactic actually help Iran, or does it weaken Iran politically and leave it isolated in the region? The most realistic…
-
Trump fell into Iran’s trap
President Trump is not only failing to learn from history. He is also failing to learn from what is happening right now. This was not a small tactical mistake. Trump walked into a war with no exit plan, then realised too late that Iran had set the battlefield for a…
-
The war on Iran started with missiles, but oil price can end it
The war began with airstrikes and missiles. But the turning point may come from the economy. In this fight, Iran is trying to win by raising the cost, and oil is its strongest card. Iran’s idea is simple: it cannot match the United States in air power or spending, so…
-
Chaos without a goal: Why Washington’s war on Iran looks like a dangerous fiasco
Washington acts like it knows what it wants from Iran, but it is moving in the opposite direction: a war without a clear goal. There are many statements, loud threats, and talk of “total surrender,” but no realistic plan that answers basic questions: What is victory? How do you reach…
-
Why Trump’s war on Iran will fail
The United States has turned the talks with Iran upside down. What is happening now does not look like serious negotiations. It looks more like a way to buy time and prepare for a more dangerous phase. That is why two questions matter: Why Trump’s war on Iran will not…
-
Peace in name only: Why Trump’s Board of Peace does not help Gaza?
While children in Gaza search for warmth inside tents and broken buildings, Washington hosts meetings under the title of a new “Board of Peace” launched by President Donald Trump. The name sounds important. But the questions are even bigger. In Gaza, children do not hear conference speeches. They are not…
-
The Gaza Technocratic Committee will fail. Why?
It is clear that the current situation in Gaza, and what is being planned for the post-war period, goes beyond temporary administrative arrangements. It is part of a broader path related to governance and future control in the Gaza Strip. Instead of the next phase helping to stop the violence,…
-
A silent annexation swallows the West Bank while attention turns to Iran, why?
At a time when Israel and the United States are preparing to launch strikes on Iran (which may be wide strikes), we notice that Israel is taking very dangerous steps in the West Bank. The problem is that the West Bank does not receive enough media coverage, and many people…