![Syrian men pretend they are casting their votes during a mock election calling for the "criminal" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the stripped of his Syrian nationality, on 3 June 2014 in the mostly rebel-held city of Aleppo. [BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/GettyImages-495425419.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 7, 2021 |
Saad Kiwan The Middle East is going through a dangerous transitional phase, in which more than one arena may explode at any moment, from Syria to Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Iraq and...
![Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh informs Hanna Nasser, head of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, that Hamas agrees to the plan for holding Palestinian elections [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/30-016-8-2019mo-asad-hamas-electionsIMG_0175.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 7, 2021 |
Hani Al-Masri Ismail Haniyeh's message to President Mahmoud Abbas included Hamas's agreement to hold legislative, presidential and Palestinian National Council elections, respectively, within six months of the issuance of the election...

Article
January 7, 2021 |
Dr Mustafa Fetouri The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, in a letter to member states dated 31 December, asked regional blocs to nominate observers to monitor Libya's shaky ceasefire and arms...

Article
January 6, 2021 |
Hazem Ayyad The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Ula has ended the blockade imposed on Qatar by the Kingdom, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in...
![The flags of Algeria (L) and Morocco flutters in Algiers, Algeria on 24 January 2012 [FAROUK BATICHE/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Morocco-algeria-flag.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
Moroccans are grappling reluctantly with their country's shocking level of normalisation with Israel. They have organised sit-ins, and a petition to thwart the deal, while weighing the steep toll...
![Palestinian gather to protest a deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel to normalize ties, in Gaza City, Gaza on August 19, 2020 [Mustafa Hassona - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200819_2_43955988_57517782.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 6, 2021 |
Ali Ibrahim The Palestinian issue is suffering from an unprecedented decline in the levels of official Arab interaction while normalisation is currently the latest episode of this decline, as Arab countries...
![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, Turkey on 2 January 2021 [Mustafa Kamacı/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20210102_2_46159017_61206636.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 6, 2021 |
Motasem A Dalloul Media reports revealed last month that Turkey has been working to restore relations with Israel. On 9 December, Al-Monitor said that Ankara had selected a new ambassador to Tel...
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Article
January 6, 2021 |
Muhammad Hussein Torture is an evil as old as conflict, and there is much more to it than the sort of thing usually seen in the movies. It is, sadly, a...
![An Iranian citizen reading the news regarding the US elections in newspapers, on November 09, 2020 in Tehran, Iran [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20201109_2_45267473_59606234.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 6, 2021 |
Oraib Al-Rantawi Just one drop will be enough for the cup of tension between the US and Iran in Iraq and the Gulf to overflow. Everyone's fingers are on the trigger...

Article
January 6, 2021 |
Hazem Ayyad The US Senate joined the House of Representatives last week to overturn President Donald Trump's veto of the National Defence Authorisation Act. The Act covered the approval of the...

Blog
January 5, 2021 |
Ramona Wadi After returning to security coordination with Israel just days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election, the Palestinian Authority wasted no time in reassuring...
![A Gazan woman writes 2021 on the sand in a Beach in Gaza on 31 December 2020 [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/New-year-day-gaza.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 5, 2021 |
Dr Ramzy Baroud The last twelve months will go down in history as the year that terminated the American-sponsored Palestine-Israel "peace process". While 2021 will not reverse the monumental change in the...

Article
January 5, 2021 |
Eman Abusidu Ali Mazloum is one of millions of migrants whose story illustrates the determination and success of so many Lebanese refugees. When his father Mohammed arrived in Brazil in 1950,...
![An Israeli man presents his passport for control upon arrival from Tel Aviv to the Dubai, UAE on 26 November 2020 [KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Israeli-passport.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 5, 2021 |
Dr Adnan Abu Amer It is hard to believe the testimonies of Israeli tourists returning from the UAE, in which they describe Dubai as the Las Vegas of the Middle East. This is...
![An Israeli delegation led by National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat, and US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and US President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner (L) board the Israeli flag carrier El Al's airline on August 31, 2020 [Israel Airports / Sivan Farag/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/20200831_2_44131218_57799301.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
The Arab rulers are holding their breath, apprehensive of the day that Joe Biden arrives in the White House to the extent that they probably wish that 20 January...
![Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the presidential palace in Cairo on 28 January 2019. [LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/GettyImages-1090625426.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 4, 2021 |
Osama Gaweesh An eyewitness in the intensive care unit of the Covid-19 isolation centre in El Husseiniya, Sharqia governorate in Egypt confirmed that "everybody died" when ventilators ran out of oxygen....
![Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani delivers a speech during the opening session of the Doha Forum in the Qatari capital on 14 December 2019. [MUSTAFA ABUMUNES/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1188539647.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 2, 2021 |
Yasser Abu Hilalah The Bahraini provocations in Qatar, in the form of breaching sea and air borders, came with an Emirati incitement to thwart Gulf reconciliation – or Saudi-Qatari reconciliation to be...
![Health workers dealing with patients with COVID-19 in Gaza on 30 November 2020 [Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201201_2_45633143_60228506.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
January 1, 2021 |
Elif Selin Calik One of the enduring images of 2020, the year of the pandemic, has been the sight of people connected to ventilators in hospitals. It is an image that helped...

Article
January 1, 2021 |
Motasem A Dalloul On Tuesday and Wednesday, the military wings of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip carried out the first-ever joint military drill simulating threats of various scenarios of possible Israeli...
![Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki hold a press conference in Berlin, Germany November 17, 2020 [REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/Pool/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20201117_2_45406418_59827683.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 31, 2020 |
Antoine Shalhat As US President-elect Joe Biden waits to take office on 20 January, Israel is looking at turning over a new page in what it calls the transatlantic relations network....
![Palestinians gathering in front of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) stage a demonstration against reducing UNRWA's services, in Khan Yunis, Gaza on 23 December 2020. [Ashraf Amra - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201223_2_46002294_60901841.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Blog
December 31, 2020 |
Ramona Wadi When US President Donald Trump leaves office in three weeks' time, he will have laid the foundations for a further downgrading of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. It is,...
![A view from Jabaliya refugee camp as Palestinians trying to live under hard conditions, on 17 December 2020 in Gaza City, Gaza. [Mustafa Hassona - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201217_2_45904817_60713224.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 31, 2020 |
Dr Ramzy Baroud With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2019, interest in the plight of the world's most vulnerable populations, refugees, began to wane. A year later, and it...
![People carry a crossed out image of President of Egypt Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi during a protest against him following his intervention threat at Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya on 21 June 2020. [Hazem Turkia - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200621_2_43081663_56126393.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 31, 2020 |
Dr Mustafa Fetouri For the first time in about six years, an Egyptian delegation visited Tripoli, Libya, in an attempt to improve relations between Egypt and the Government of National Accord (GNA)...
![Moroccans protest the normalisation deal with Israel in Rabat, Morocco on 29 November 2020. [Jalal Morchidi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Protest-against-normalization-deals-with-Israel-in-Morocco.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 31, 2020 |
Mohammad Ayesh Islamic movements need a comprehensive internal review to assess their political experiences over the past years and decades. This assessment should not stop at a single incident, but instead...
![Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi speaks during a meetingon December 7, 2011 [AFP via Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-135192610.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 30, 2020 |
Yassin Al-Tamimi The government of technocrats was finally sworn in before Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on Saturday. The ceremony was held in Riyadh, and not in Yemen's temporary political capital,...
![Ayman Bin Hadi, born Al-Derawi [Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/blog.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Blog
December 30, 2020 |
Wafa Aludaini In 2005, not long after the death of his mother in Tunisia, Ayman knelt down next to her bed surrounded by her possessions and noticed a piece of paper...

Article
December 29, 2020 |
Yvonne Ridley If you want to divert attention away from your own criminal behaviour, nothing works better, it seems, than starting a fire in someone else's backyard. Even better if you...
![US President Donald Trump (R) poses for a photo with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (L) in Washington, US on 20 March 2018 [Bandar Algaloud/Saudi Kingdom Council/ Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018_3-20-U.S.-President-Trump-meets-Crown-Prince-of-Saudi-Arabia-Al-Saud20180320_2_29356000_31878606.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
December 29, 2020 |
Mehmet Rakipoglu International human rights law and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia do not sit together easily. A head of state acting as the "custodian" of the two holy mosques in...
![Image of the United Nations (UN) Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov on 17 February 2015 [A Paranoid Optimist/Flickr]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2015_2_17-Nickolay-Mladenov16461411089_c0cd215502_o.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Blog
December 29, 2020 |
Ramona Wadi In yet another scripted audience, the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh met the outgoing UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, and made an...

Article
December 29, 2020 |
Anjuman Rahman Landmark developments seem to have changed everything and nothing for Palestine this year. The flurry of normalisation deals is one of them and arguably the most significant. In advance...

Article
December 29, 2020 |
Cevdet Acu Palestinian refugees remain one of the largest and longest-suffering groups of displaced people in the world. The refugee issue originated in the 1948 declaration of independence by the state...
![Tunisian protest against the the normalisation deal with in Tunis, on 18 August 2020 [FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-1228089811.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Article
The year 2020 is almost history, but its incidents and events are not only likely to continue, but also escalate. There are implications regionally and internationally. There is still...