Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Mustafa Fetouri
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How Israel has grown up as the spoiled boy of the world
President Joe Biden once said, “If there were no Israel, the US would have to invent one.” When he first made the comment as Senator, back in 1986, he explained that it is in America’s interest to support Israel in this vital region of the world which produces over...
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This is how Palestinians, young and old, are taught to hate Israel
According to B’TSELEM, an Israeli Human Rights Organisation in the Occupied Territories, Israel has been holding 146 Palestinian minors in different jails, all on “security grounds”. This was up to September this year but, since then, the number has increased, particularly during the Israeli brutal war on Gaza...
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Did the Al-Aqsa Flood operation leave any margin for a ‘Two-state solution’?
After offering their initial unequivocal support for Israel’s “wiping out Gaza Strip”, instead of “wiping out Hamas off the face of the earth” as the declared Israeli war objective, almost all Western governments and political leaders started to talk about what should happen when the current Israeli madness ends....
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President Macron’s two surprises in a month have upset Israel and French diplomats
In less than one month, French President, Emmanuel Macron, surprised almost everybody within France, the European Union, the Arab world and certainly the left, right and France’s Middle East policy watchers. The latest group surprised and equally upset is France’s professional diplomatic community. The energetic French President, nicknamed “the President...
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In flattening the Gaza Strip, Israel’s bleak choices for the day after
Undoubtedly, the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation launched by Hamas and its resident allies on 7 October is already having profound repercussions that will shape the political and strategic thinking for years to come. For Israel, the day after will only compound current chauvinist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s problems and could...
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On being militant, terrorist and human animal
Western mainstream media has, for the last three weeks, covered the war on the Gaza Strip quite professionally, in most cases. Exceptions, though, come in the analysis and further comments on events, which tend to be biased against the Palestinians, despite the apparent suffering of civilians. Reporting about Palestine, in...
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Why is the Gaza Strip overcrowded?
Despite its biased coverage of the war on the Gaza Strip, the Western mainstream media has kept repeating one important fact by referring to the Strip of land as being “the most crowded place on earth”. However, as is usually the case, no answer is offered to the question...
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How do you wipe out a ghost army?
First it was Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, who announced to the world that Israel will “wipe out” Hamas off the face of the earth. The General went on to say “this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, will cease to exist.” He made the announcement after a war cabinet was...
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Lessons from resistance history far and near: Hamas and the unthinkable
Apartheid Israel has lots of soul searching and thinking to do as it tries to figure out how Hamas could have mastered such an attack on Palestinian land, occupied since 1948. How could such an organisation in the Gaza Strip enclave, under complete siege since 2007, prepare itself and...
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What is ‘Firing Zone 918’ and how Israel uses it to grab more Palestinian land
Israeli firing zones are usually closed military areas exclusively reserved for military training purposes. They are scattered all over the Occupied West Bank, encompassing many small and equally scattered Palestinian villages of mostly Bedouin communities. The idea of the creation of “firing zones” was the brainchild of Ariel Sharon when...
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Does Libya have the ability to hold accountable those responsible for the Derna disaster?
Libya’s Prosecutor General (PG), Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, on 15 September toured the flood devastated Derna, five days after it was struck by Storm Daniel, resulting in the killing, injuring and displacing of tens of thousands of people and washing away at least one quarter of the city into the sea. Entire...
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Western media is one-eyed when it comes to the Derna tragedy
Before reaching Libya on Sunday, 10 September, Storm Daniel passed through Bulgaria, Greece and Turkiye, leaving behind a trail of destruction and death. However, in all three countries the total number of people who perished was less than 20. The obvious question is what was so particular about Libya for...
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What the PA should and should not accept if the Saudis join the normalisers
It appears that the Biden administration is working on a tight schedule with one of its top foreign policy priorities: normalisation between its two Middle Eastern allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Next year, the administration will be totally consumed in the presidential campaign, since Joe Biden is seeking a...
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Election laws still a hurdle in Libya, while the UN Envoy likely to leave soon
On 2 September, 2022, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, announced the appointment of Abdoulaye Bathily, a former Senegalese Minister, as his Special Envoy to Libya, after almost a year since the previous envoy, Slovak Jan Kubis, resigned. Mr. Bathily’s appointment was approved by the UN Security Council on the...
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A secret meeting and fleeing Foreign Minister leave Dbeibeh in deeper trouble
One has to be naive to believe that Libya’s former Foreign Minister, Najla Al-Mangoush, unwarily and innocently walked into a meeting hosted by the Italian Foreign Minister and found Eli Cohen, Israel’s Foreign Minister, and, out of courtesy, shook his hand and that was it. This is what Ms....
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A strong anti-colonial case against France, with Niger as an example
Scenes of crowds, jostling and queuing at Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport in Niger are reminiscent of similar scenes that occurred in Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan, two years ago. Only short-sighted policy makers did not see the Kabul storm coming, until it engulfed the whole city...
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Tripoli latest clashes: triggers and potential consequences
Life is returning slowly to areas in the south and south-east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after almost two days of heavy clashes in which heavy weapons, including tanks, were used mostly in residential areas of Ain Zara, Salah Eddin, Tripoli University and Tariq Al-Shok. On Monday afternoon, 14...
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Why military intervention in Niger could be catastrophic for everyone
The 26 July military takeover in Niger appears to be part of a trend sweeping through the African Sahel that started a few years ago in Mali before spreading through the region. What is unique about it is the speedy response of the Economic Community of West African States...
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What remains of Jordan’s special role in Jerusalem 29 years after the peace treaty with Israel?
On 25 July, 1994, the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, after a spell of negotiations, signed the Washington Declaration in which they committed to signing a full peace treaty, ending the state of war between them, in place since Israel was created in 1948. The...
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Foreign meddling and competing interests hinder any solution in Libya
If you ask any Libyan citizen about the biggest obstacles hindering political solutions in the country, the most likely answer is: external interferences and the disputes of local de-facto politicians. Since the country fell victim to the so called “Arab Spring” in 2011, it became an open arena for all...
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Could oil revenue sharing trigger another war in Libya?
Oil has always been at the heart of the Libyan crisis ever since it erupted in 2011, and it remains to be a decisive factor in any long-term agreement for the troubled country. Revenue from oil is Libya’s main source of income, where almost every citizen gets cash from...
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How the Palestinian Authority became a sub-contractor for Israeli security
Founded in 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian National Authority, or PA for short, was envisioned as an administrative temporary vehicle to administer some Palestinian areas from which Israel was to withdraw. That arrangement was supposed to prepare the Palestinians for some form of self...
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Jenin refugees: displaced yesterday, but fighting back today and tomorrow
Jenin is featuring a lot in the news these days, particularly its refugee camp known simply as Jenin Camp. The city is in the very north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with deep roots in the land of Palestine going back long before the State of Israel came into...
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Fascist Italy’s forgotten concentration camps in Libya
On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italy’s colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above all, an apology. Rome,...