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This Happened

This Happened—January 4: Albert Camus Dies

Novelist and philosopher Albert Camus dies in a car crash on this day in 1960.

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Who was Albert Camus?

Albert Camus was a French philosopher, journalist and novelist, best known for his novels The Stranger (1942), The Plague (1947), and The Fall (1956). He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957 at the age of 44, the second ever youngest recipient.

What is one of Albert Camus’s most famous quotes?

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

How did Albert Camus die?

Camus died in a car accident at the age of 46 in northern France. He had just won the Nobel Prize for Literature three years previously.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Israel Blinked: How The Ceasefire-For-Hostages Deal Upends The Gaza War Logic

The Israeli government has agreed to a deal negotiated via Qatar, for a four-day truce and an exchange of 50 hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners. What happens next? That's the big question.

Photo of a man holding his smartphone to light up posters of Israeli hostages, in Jerusalem

Posters of Israeli hostages, in Jerusalem

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — It's the first piece of good news in 46 days of war. In the early hours of Wednesday, Israel agreed to a deal that included a four-day ceasefire and the release of some of the hostages held by Hamas — 30 children and 20 women — in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, again women and children. The real question is what happens next.

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But first, this agreement, negotiated through the intermediary of Qatar, whose role is essential in this phase, must be implemented right away. This is a complex negotiation, because unlike the previous hostage-for-prisoner exchanges, it is taking place in the midst of a major war.

On the Palestinian side, although Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is present in Doha, he does not make the decision alone — he must have the agreement of the leaders of the military wing, who are hiding somewhere in Gaza. It takes 24 hours to send a message back and forth. As you can imagine, it's not as simple as a phone call.

And on the Israeli side, a consensus had to be built around the agreement. Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right allies were opposed to the deal — in line with their eradication logic — even at the cost of Israeli lives. But the opposition of these discredited parties was ignored, and that will leave its mark.

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