Worldcrunch
With the unpredictable Donald Trump returning to the White House in January, what will global politics be like in 2025? In addition to major issues like the war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East and China, there’s another nagging question: What about Europe?
The radical far-right in Israel’s government is demanding to build settlements in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s army is creating the conditions for this.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian families have been torn apart by the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza. Cairo-based independent news website Al-Manassa talks with Palestinians in Egypt who are separated from family members trapped in the coastal enclave.
Palestinian writer Feda Ziyadh shares a personal fear, which she says cannot be understood or explained: that of getting used to a sense of the present that has been created by what she calls a “saga of displacement.”
Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Israel are reshaping the Middle East in a possible, bigger deal involving a peace deal in Ukraine. With the regional militias and Syria out of the strategic equation, is the next step removing the Tehran regime?
The Palestinian Authority insists that its operation in the Jenin refugee camp was intended to maintain security and thwart any Israeli plans for the West Bank. Yet other Palestinian factions have criticized the move, which comes amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Replacing the dominant roles of Russia and Iran exerting influence over Syria, following the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey and Israel are best positioned to divide up their respective roles on the territory of the shared neighbor.
Israel has been long hailed as an oasis of democratic rule in a region of would-be savage Arabs. But now, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has essentially ruled that it is a racist rogue state.
France caused a stir by declaring that the Israeli leader enjoyed “immunity” from the ICC arrest warrant. It’s a legal statement, but also a highly political one, as Israel has threatened to remove France from the Lebanese Ceasefire Monitoring Committee. Human rights activists are appalled.
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He says it’s an antisemitic move, and is backed by the U.S., but France and other EU countries have stated they will respect the warrant, meaning the Israeli leader is now unable to visit these regions.
Tipped to succeed slain leader Yahya Sinwar, Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, has just been targeted by an ICC arrest warrant. Back in July, Israel said Deif had been killed in a strike, but Hamas has insisted that he is alive and well.
Palestinians need to rationalize their anger and resentment for the sake of a humanitarian project that enjoys global support.
The Shia question is an expression of the entire Lebanese question, and requires the good will of all faiths, but also poses the responsibility of what to think and do about Hezbollah.
Trump is seen as a “transactional” operator by leaders in the Middle East. But the appointments to all key positions related to the region suggest that Arabs should brace for the worst of all deals.
The situation in Gaza has become so dire that Palestinians have observed hungry dogs and cats eating dead bodies on the streets — and even digging up buried corpses — and becoming more aggressive toward people.
In his first term, Donald Trump tried to undermine the strategy that Jordan had bet on for more than two decades, to protect itself from the risk of transferring the Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to Jordan. What will a second Trump term mean for the country?
In more than a year since the Israel-Hezbollah conflict escalated, news of bombing has become a habit in Lebanon. In an essay for the Beirut-based independent media Daraj, Lebanese journalist Pascale Sawma discusses how war has become “normal” — and what that means for her and her work.
A prominent figure of Israel’s far-right, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that 2025 will be the year of the West Bank’s annexation. With Donald Trump’s victory, supporters of colonization hope he will back their approach, despite it being contrary to international law.
One Arab writer takes issue with a noted scholar who assigns the lion’s share of the blame to the establishment of the Jewish State. Israel has excelled, not only, because of its military strength and Western allies, but also because of its ability to build a state of institutions and relative freedom.
Having played a precious though ultimately futile role as mediator, Qatar announced it will step back from Gaza talks as both sides remain uninterested in a ceasefire. And following Trump’s election victory, there’s a notable new appointment to represent Israel in Washington.
The election of Donald Trump has begun affecting global dynamics. In Ukraine, Zelensky fears losing U.S. support and has warned Europe against “suicidal” concessions to Russia. In Israel, Netanyahu stands as the main beneficiary, as Trump’s victory grants him the freedom to pursue his objectives unfettered.
With the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, we must expect a major shift in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a return to the vision of the “Abrahamic Peace,” which includes no reference to the Palestinians’ right to a state.
The legacy of Hassan Nasrallah will weigh heavily on Naim Qassem, who was named this week as new secretary general of Hezbollah. Can the less charismatic Qassem win the hearts of his followers?
In Egypt, public support for a Palestinian homeland is deeply felt but constrained by the government that has had 40 years of diplomatic relations with Israel. Will the bloody war just across the border in Gaza change something?
Israel’s new offensive in northern Gaza is trying to make the region uninhabitable, and force Palestinians into the south, toward the Egyptian border and into the Sinai. But since the start of the war, Egypt is dead set against taking in more war refugees.
The United States’ confirmation of the presence of North Korean soldiers alongside the Russians in Ukraine has raised fears of an international escalation. All the more reason to fear that the current local or regional conflicts will gradually turn into global ones.
The ongoing crackdown on critics of the MBS regime becomes more difficult with the dire situation in Gaza and the ambiguity of Saudi foreign policy.
The Kingdom is trapped between the hammer of Netanyahu’s right-wing expansionist government policies, and the anvil of the growing influence of the discourse of the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance in the region. An ultimately unsuccessful attempt by militants to cross into Israel has raised new urgency.
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has denounced the treatment of civilians in the Israel-Hamas war. But nothing is stopping this war, not even the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, while the ambiguity continues over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war aims in Gaza.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Palestinians in Gaza have lived in emotional, psychological and physical stress — a situation that has pushed many couples to the brink. The Cairo-based news website Al-Manassa speaks with Palestinians who have divorced due to the war.
“Then the white man found the Middle East: a distant place, rich in nature and humanity, with a beautiful climate. He invaded it, then divided it, then separated the sections accordingly.”
The question of who will succeed Yahya Sinwar is essentially a question of whether Hamas will return from its “Iranian exile” and embrace the Muslim Brotherhood.
Lebanese writer Tarek Ismail, who fled his village in southern Lebanon in September, reflects on his new life as a displaced person: “I am now facing a fate that is not in my hands.”
The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack is just the latest Israeli strike against those who have tried to monopolize the notion of “resistance” as a purely military pursuit. The result has been the absolute destruction of Gaza, and now Lebanon, and the reinforcement of the Israeli occupation.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and above all ‘mastermind’ of October 7, is dead. Washington and Paris are calling on Israel to seize this opportunity to put an end to the war, but Netanyahu may choose to cash in another dividend.
The Israeli military says Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, has been killed in Gaza. The strike is a major victory for Israel, closing a chapter in recent Palestinian history in which Sinwar rose to the top of Hamas, and bet everything on the Oct. 7 attack, which made him more divisive than ever among the people of Gaza.
Observers believe that the military operations targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid in northern Gaza is the prelude to Israel reoccupying the region and establishing Jewish settlements.
The Salafis, along with Gulf States like Saudi Arabia, consider the Shias as a greater threat to Islam than Zionism.
Israel is keeping the Tehran regime and outside observers guessing on the scope and timing of its threatened strikes on Iranian territory. Some say it is seeking to win itself time to “finish up” in Lebanon and Gaza, others say a massive attack on Iran could help reorder the whole region.
According to the Washington Post, Benjamin Netanyahu promised Joe Biden that he would not attack Iranian oil so as not to jeopardize the global economy — which could have an impact on the U.S. elections. It’s a deal that says a lot about the ambiguity of U.S. power and Netanyahu’s poker skills.