Worldcrunch
As the war in Gaza nears nine months, bombardments continue, even in the camps where displaced people live. Death and fear are everywhere, as is hunger. Palestinian human rights activist Moustafa Ibrahim is also displaced now. In this personal essay, he addresses the hopelessness that people in Gaza face as they see Israel committing genocide.
From the Nakba to now, Palestinian authors have used the trope of amputation as a literary symbol of loss and unity in the face of adversity.
The Israeli army’s spokesman said that those talking about eradicating Hamas are “throwing sand in the eyes” of the Israeli public. It was a clear challenge to Benjamin Netanyahu, who counterattacked even as he remains under fire from all sides.
Mediation efforts are ongoing to halt the escalation between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which could degenerate into all-out war at any moment. But diplomacy seems powerless in the face of the logic of war.
The political project in the Arab world, both of tyrants and their opponents, has been focused on visions of glory and repeating slogans. But what is a movement if it doesn’t seek to improve the lives of those for whom it claims to speak?
Hamas attack on Oct. 7 created a deep rift in the confidence of Israel’s citizens, in their country’s security, military and moral superiority. The Zionist project may never recover.
Under pressure from Arab states and Russia, which calls the shots in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is tiptoeing away from the Iranian regime, a troublesome ally that has nevertheless spent billions of dollars to help keep him in power.
More and more Palestinians in Gaza have no choice but to resize their clothes after losing weight after eight months of war. They desperately search for tailors to fix or tighten their clothes, who try to do their job despite the lack of electricity.
Israel’s special forces rescued four hostages on Saturday, an apparent major success of the war in Gaza. Yet, paradoxically, the operation has created a political crisis for Benjamin Netanyahu, leading to protests and the resignation of several war cabinet ministers.
Comparisons between the wars in Europe and the Middle East tell us a lot about the standpoint of those who compare. They also signal to a new world order that has yet to be shaped.
Just across the border from Israel, the Kingdom of Jordan is feeling the effects of the war with both the most personal and economic ramifications.
Updated June 10, 2024 at 12:40 p.m. On this day in 1967, the Six-Day War ended, as Israel faced off against its Arab neighbors, including Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. How did the Six-Day War end? The Six-Day War ended with Israel achieving a decisive victory. Israel successfully captured and occupied territories from Egypt (Sinai Peninsula […]
Israel is like a huge elephant in a room of fragile ceramic pieces. It may be able to get out, but Israel will certainly not emerge from its war in Gaza completely unscathed.
Palestinian women are suffering disproportionately in the Gaza conflict, where they represent 70% of casualties and more than half of the displaced people.
In spite of the Iranian regime’s inclination to conclude the matter of the president’s recent fatal helicopter crash, murmurs around a possible murder plot or a foreign strike are not going away.
Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “tragic accident” after the deadly bombing of a camp for displaced Palestinians near Rafah; but this rare act of contrition does not mean the Israeli leader has changed his strategy, despite the indignation of the rest of the world at the number of civilians killed.
The “day after” the war in Gaza increasingly becomes hard to even imagine, as Israel’s prime minister sticks to his guns despite all evidence that says Hamas cannot be eradicated. The humanitarian toll, including Sunday’s airstrike on a displacement camp in Rafah, makes negotiations look increasingly impossible.
Egyptologists and religious scholars alike blasted the new Netflix docudrama series that chronicles the story of Moses, raising both current political issues and the deeper questions around the religion-science dialectic.
In spite of the political or diplomatic headaches this could cause, there are preliminary grounds for not ruling out foul play as causing the Iranian president’s helicopter to crash days ago, reports the leading independent Persian-language news site.
The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash comes in an already tense context, five weeks after Iran’s confrontation with Israel. The consequences are heavy, both in terms of regional and domestic conflicts.
The higher cost of the war will not deter Hamas leaders from claiming victory once any truce is reached. It will only push the discussion of a real solution for the region farther away from all.
While the Palestinian cause is important for Iran and the Arab militias it backs, the return of this issue to the forefront may not benefit the resistance camp. And its tactic of strategic patience may not produce the intended results.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders both have deeply cynical reasons to prolong hostilities. Meanwhile, it’s in the self-interest of both the U.S. and Arab regimes to try all avenues to broker a ceasefire to ease the suffering of those caught in the crossfire.
Have the ruling institutions in the United States learned the lesson and realized that the main means of confronting Iran’s influence — if they really wanted to — is to put pressure on Israel.
When the U.S. and other Western countries recently defended Israel against Iran’s drones and missiles, Ukrainians began to blame themselves for not receiving similar protection against Russia’s attacks. But the reality is very different.
While the whole world was shocked by Iranian drones attacking Israel, which caused no casualties, nobody pays much attaention to the attacks being carried out by the same Iranian drones in northwestern Syria, where they regularly kill civilians.
Israel’s recent strike on central Iran was a warning shot for Tehran, tempered by a desire to close the recent spate of tit-for-tat attacks and by pressure from the U.S. Yet this may have only ended round one of the Iran-Israeli showdown.
Despite talk of a smaller impact, Israel is prolonging its war on Gaza with more bombing campaigns that regularly kill civilians. The daily slaughter continues as the international community and Middle East have been focused on the growing tensions between Israel and Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran wants to destroy Israel and seems willing to obliterate Iran in the process. How do you deal with a regime that sees international chaos as serving divine wishes? Many in Iran see the direct challenge from Israel as the path to their nation’s liberation.
April 22 – April 28, 2024
Will former U.S. President Donald Trump maintain his “dealmaker” approach towards Egypt in case he finds his way back to the White House?
What are the links between Iran and the two powers challenging the Western order, Russia and China? And how do their relations affect the international climate? This is a key question at a time when the logic of war is at work in several regions of the world.
Seeing the near-perfect effectiveness of Israel’s defense against Iranian drones and missiles, Ukrainians are bitterly wondering why the West is denying them life-saving assistance. Fear of confrontation with a nuclear Russia remains the main reason.
The world watches as Netanyahu walks that fine line between deterrence and escalation.
April 15 – April 21, 2024
Rafah’s modern tragedy began with the U.S.-brokered Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The misery brought on then peaked in 2014 with the forced displacement of the Egyptian city’s residents, and is now suffering more than ever as Israel vows to invade Rafah as part of its war on Gaza.
Another deal that would see Israeli hostages released has fallen through. Six months into the war in Gaza — and six months without their loved ones — where do the family members of the Oct. 7 hostages stand on the war and the negotiations?
Updated March 26, 2024 at 12:15 p.m. Signed on this day in 1979, the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was a historic agreement, formally ending the state of war between the two nations and established diplomatic and economic relations. What was in the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty? The peace deal included provisions for Israel to withdraw its military […]
Released detainees detail how Israel’s military used them as human shields in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Soldiers would put civilian Palestinians in front of military targets, endangering their lives, according to accounts from recently-released detainees.
Israel’s war on Gaza could be seen as “a cultural genocide,” which targets Gaza’s history, the Palestinian cause and traces of those who lived in the strip. That will have consequences that would last for centuries.