Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Motasem A Dalloul
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Kais Saied is taking Tunisia back to one-man rule
Tunisia’s President Kais Saied announced the dissolution of his country’s parliament last week, eight months after freezing the institution, when he “stabbed the Jasmine Revolution in its back” and grabbed the power of most state institutions. “Today, at this historic moment,” said Saied last Wednesday, “I announce the dissolution of...
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Who is responsible for the ongoing attacks in Israel?
Over the past 10 days, a number of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Israel have carried out a series of deadly attacks in Israel, killing 11 Israelis and wounding several others. A Bedouin Palestinian from Israel started the attacks, when he rammed his car into one person...
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The wheat crisis in the Arab world is exemplified by Egypt
The economic repercussions of Russia’s war against Ukraine are becoming more obvious as the bombing continues. The two countries are the world’s largest suppliers of a number of essential commodities, including wheat and sunflower oil. The Arab countries are among the most negatively affected by this war. Concerns about food...
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Is the UAE qualified to be a superpower?
UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, met yesterday with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow and discussed cooperation between the two countries and ways to enhance their strategic bilateral partnership in various fields. The officials exchanged views on key developments and challenges concerning security...
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Israel cannot abandon its inherent racism, even during times of crisis
The Israeli authorities have set a cap on the number of Ukrainian refugees that it is prepared to accept. The government said that it would only accept 25,000 immigrants who are not eligible for Israeli citizenship; in other word, who are not Jews. After much criticism, it decided to...
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Turkiye did not discard the Palestinians to repair ties with Israel
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Turkiye on Wednesday and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Herzog’s visit to Turkiye came amidst a tense relationship between the two countries, which reduced their diplomatic relations several years ago. “The relationship with Turkey has had its ups and downs in recent years,” Herzog...
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Is the Muslim Brotherhood capable of running a state?
Earlier this week, a former prime minister of Qatar claimed that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was not qualified to run the state during the short-lived government of the first freely-elected Egyptian President, Dr Mohamed Morsi. Speaking to Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani said that his country hosted a...
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Faith and ethnicity are openly dictating the selective application of international law
As the number of casualties among civilians in Ukraine rises, people around the world are hoping and praying for an end to the war that Russia has launched against its neighbour. By any measure, the Russian invasion is illegal under international law and the UN Charter, even if Moscow...
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Russia’s war in Ukraine even exposes football’s hypocrisy
Fighting continues across Ukraine as Russian forces get closer to the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, is also being bombed. As the first round of high-level talks between Kyiv and Moscow took place on the Ukraine-Belarus border on Monday without any agreement except on continuing to talk, Russian artillery...
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Israel expels Arab MK from Knesset by appointing her in China
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid yesterday announced the appointment of Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, of the Meretz Party, as Israel’s Consul General in Shanghai, China. Lapid and other officials hailed the move as Zoabi is the first Arab woman to head an Israeli diplomatic mission. “MK Rinawie Zoabi comes...
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Palestinians do not need more statements, but practical measures
During a meeting held on Saturday in Munich, the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Egypt, France and Jordan reiterated the commitment of their countries to achieving just, comprehensive and lasting peace regarding the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Foreign Ministers stressed that they are looking for a...
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The hidden truth behind expelling the French ambassador from Mali
On 31 January, Mali gave French Ambassador, Joël Meyer, 72 hours’ notice to leave the country after “hostile and outrageous” comments made by the Foreign Minister of former colonial power, France, about the Malian transitional government. French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had said that Mali’s military government was “out...
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Palestinian Central Council lost the trust of Palestinians long ago
At the end of its 31st meeting held in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Central Council (PCC), the second-highest decision-making body in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), announced suspending its recognition of Israel. The PCC said that this decision will continue, effective until Israel meets two...
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Are civilians killed in US attacks human beings or simply statistics?
US President Joe Biden announced last Thursday that the leader of Daesh, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurayshi, 45, had been killed. Al-Qurayshi led the terrorist group for over two years, and was killed by the US military. Speaking proudly at the White House, Biden said that the operation to kill the...
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Why doesn’t the West accept that Israel is an ‘apartheid’ state?
Amnesty International released the findings of a detailed investigation on Wednesday, which has been conducted over the past four years. It concluded that the occupation state imposes “a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians” across all of the Palestinian territories under its control, those occupied in 1948 as...
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Why does the BBC insist on whitewashing Israeli crimes against Palestinians?
Early this week, the BBC published an article about a twitter campaign carried out by a group of Palestinians living abroad who are critical of the Palestinian Islamic Movement, Hamas, which is the de facto government in the Gaza Strip. The twitter campaign was under the heading “They Kidnapped...
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Mother, wife 'shocked' with Israel's breaching pledge to release hunger striker
It took more than one week to decorate the house of the Palestinian hunger striker, Mujahid Hamid, who was due to be released from the Israeli occupation jail on 19 January, 2022 after completing four months under administrative detention in Al Naqab Prison. “We were gravely shocked when we knew...
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Are Türkiye and Armenia ending their animosity?
On 14 January 2022, Russia hosted a meeting of Special Representatives for the Normalisation Process between Türkiye and Armenia, Ambassador Serdar Kılıç and Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Ruben Rubinyan. Kılıç and Rubinyan discussed the possibility of ending the decades-long animosity between Türkiye and Armenia. According to a press...
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The Palestinian Arab villages ‘unrecognised’ by Israel
For centuries before the Zionist occupation of Palestine, there were hundreds of Palestinian villages across the country. When the Zionist terror gangs occupied 78 per cent of Palestine in 1948, they displaced and killed thousands of Palestinians, and destroyed their homes. Whole villages were wiped off the map; towns...
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Planting trees in the Negev is not ‘forestation', it’s about ethnic cleansing
After mass protests by Arab residents and threats by Arab parliamentarians, the Israeli occupation government decided on Wednesday to suspend the major Jewish National Fund (JNF) project of planting trees in the Negev. The JNF is a quasi-governmental body which oversees thirteen per cent of the land in Israel...
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Mark Regev should calm down and be honest
Senior Israeli diplomat Mark Regev claimed in his weekly Jerusalem Post column that potential economic development in the besieged Gaza Strip could help to avoid another Israeli military offensive. The former ambassador of the apartheid state to the UK overlooked the tight Israel-led and internationally-backed siege imposed since 2007,...
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What’s behind the deal to release hunger striker Hisham Abu Hawash?
After 141 days on hunger strike in an Israeli prison, Palestinian prisoner Hisham Abu Hawash has agreed a deal with the occupation authorities that his administrative detention will end on 26 February. The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission announced the deal between Abu Hawash and the Israeli occupation authorities,...
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Is Fatah really persecuted by Hamas in Gaza?
During the celebration of Fatah’s 57th anniversary in Gaza, senior official Ahmed Helis called for rival movement Hamas to be democratic and respect the rights of others in order to pave the way for an end to the internal Palestinian division. Fatah officials in Gaza and beyond have long...
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Why are the US and EU silent about Serb secessionist Milorad Dodik?
The Serbian member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s joint presidency council warned earlier this month that the Serbs of the multi-ethnic European country would leave the federation if the government failed to resolve the challenging political situation. “It is inevitable that Bosnia and Herzegovina will break up and Republika Srpska...