Worldcrunch
President Donald Trump’s proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there has pushed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to delay his trip to the White House. But Trump holds some big cards that Cairo knows it will have to face.
Following President Trump’s shocking proposal for the U.S. to redevelop Gaza, leaders in Cairo are seriously considering canceling the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. An Egyptian official has said that the U.S. plan, which would displace the Palestinian people, would will push the entire Middle East into a military confrontation whose scope and repercussions are unknown.
The Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has gone into effect and the complex prisoner exchange has started. Yet the road is still too long before it is possible to discuss who is the victor and who is the vanquished. Many factors — in Gaza, Israel and in the new Trump White House — could still revive the conflict.
As Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal, one major question is who would lead Gaza in the post-war period. That person must not only be acceptable to Israel and the United States, as well as the Arab and international parties but also to the Palestinian people and the people of Gaza. Among the most prominent names is Mohammed Dahlan, whose real ambition is to lead a united Palestinian state.
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.
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.
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?
The Salafis, along with Gulf States like Saudi Arabia, consider the Shias as a greater threat to Islam than Zionism.
The Muslim Brotherhood is heading back into Jordanian politics, 30 years after being excluded following the 1994 peace deal with Israel. It’s a post-Oct. 7 sign from Amman about the specter of masses of Palestinians flooding into Jordan from Gaza and the West Bank is scary enough to play ball with the Islamist Brotherhood.
Arab Americans’ outrage over the Biden-Harris administration’s politics is understandable. But boycotting the election — or voting for a third-party candidate — would benefit Donald Trump, who has played up his relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. What choice does that leave?
For years Israeli activists have been helping securing water for Palestinians in the West Bank and recording abuses they suffered at the hands of radical Jewish settlers. The stakes, and risks, have never been higher.
A new Palestinian body is crucially needed to unify the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and across the diaspora. The organization founded by Yasser Arafat and overseen since by Mahmoud Abbas has let its people down one too many times.
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.
Images of recent student-led, pro-Palestinian protests across the world are reminiscent of the demonstrations of solidarity in support of Vietnam, that rocked campuses some 50+ years ago. But beyond the same indignation fueling the demonstrations, the context, and potential political repercussions, vary greatly.
Washington has vetoed Palestine’s full membership to the United Nations and is using talk of the “two-state solution” to distract from Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Pushed by the U.S. to normalize ties with Israel, what will Arab states do?
Spain is leading the way on European recognition of the state of Palestine. Ireland, Malta and Slovenia have also signed a joint statement asserting readiness to recognize the warring region. Will other European Union countries follow suit?
Even while Morocco has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza, it has been crafting one of the most careful diplomatic positions in the Arab World on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in part because of a significant Jewish-Moroccan population. But its stance puts the monarchy in conflict with most of Morocco’s population.
When Arab countries started normalizing relations with Israel, they did so disregarding the fate of Palestinians. It was a terrible error of judgment, and worse. Yet while the Palestinian cause remains a cornerstone of political legitimacy in the Arab world, few reasonable solutions are being brought forward, and radicalization continues to gain ground among the masses.
By sanctioning violent settlers in the West Bank, U.S. President Biden aims to reassure voters unhappy with his support for Israel, and to push Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire agreement.
The “day after” the war and after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a desperate man standing on the edge of his political demise, is the first day of a the two-state solution.
When the guns fall silent, Saudi Arabia and its ambitious prince want to be the historic peacemaker in the Middle East.
Updated Jan. 19, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. On this day in 1997, Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron after 15 years mostly in Tunis. The Palestinian leader had also spent many years in exile in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere in the region. Who was Yasser Arafat? Arafat was a Palestinian political leader. In the latter part […]
The World Cup in Qatar has been political on many fronts. Right now, with the event in an Arab country for the first time and Morocco as the first Arab team to make the quarterfinals, the Palestinian question is now very much on the agenda.
-OpEd- PARIS — With just days to go before the Israeli election, it becomes increasingly difficult to predict who will win the race. The latest polls show the center-left Zionist Union candidates Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni leading over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ruling Likud party. Of course, the country’s proportional system means […]