Middle East

by Wafa Aludaini wafa_Gaza ( Middle East Monitor ) – In the intensive care room in the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR) lies four-year-old Jibreel Sawarka. The Palestinian toddler is in an extremely critical condition after being hit in a car ramming attack by an Israeli settler in the Palestinian village of […]

Kurds

Amid growing Tension between Russia, Iran and the US, Syria’s Kurds have been Sidelined

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – In north-east Syria, the 12-year conflict is far from over. Russian fighter jets buzz US surveillance drones, threatening to bring them down. Iranian-backed militias occasionally fire rockets at US positions. The Assad regime maintains that it will “regain every inch” of Syria, ending Kurdish autonomy in the […]

Israel/ Palestine

In Israel, Religious Zionism’s End-of-Days hope for “Red Cow” emboldens Extremism

Middle East Monitor

by Dr Mohammad Makram Balawi ( Middle East Monitor ) – A report by the Hebrew Channel 12 a few days ago highlighted the repercussions of the rise of religious Zionism in Israel, its efforts to turn it into an extremist Jewish religious state, and the increasing pace of preparations for the construction of the […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s Extremist Government Eyes Annexing the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza for Intensive Colonization

Middle East Monitor

by Fathi Ahmed Bezalel Smotrich’s settlement plan is to annex the West Bank, increase settlements and bring an end to the Palestinian Authority. He works silently, away from the cameras and the Knesset podium. He is a professional politician who knows how to swim against the tide. Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionist Party, […]

Brazil

Why did China attend MBS’s Ukraine Peace Conference in Saudi Arabia? Breaking with Moscow or Keeping Options Open?

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – China has come out in favour of a third round of talks to design a peace framework for the conflict in Ukraine following its attendance at an international forum in the Saudi city of Jeddah earlier this month. China’s attendance and active participation in the summit was seen […]

China

Palestinians welcome China’s new Middle East Role, but they want more than Mediation

Ramzy Baroud

by Ramzy Baroud RamzyBaroud ( Middle East Monitor ) – It is feasible for China to continue playing an important role in mediating Middle East conflicts. In fact, it already has. In the case of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, however, mediation is hardly the issue. Even before Beijing successfully managed to achieve reconciliation between […]

Featured

Trouble for Abraham Accords: Saudis Try to establish E. Jerusalem Consulate for Palestinians, but Extremist Israeli Gov’t says, “No!”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Quds Press reports that Saudi Arabia has given its ambassador to Jordan, Nayef al-Sudairi, an extra portfolio of consul in East Jerusalem. He presented his credentials to Majid al-Khalidi, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Saudis did not coordinate this appointment with the Israelis, and it is the […]

History

How Lebanon was shaped by its Great Famine in WW I

Marc Martorell Junyent

Brand, Tylor. Famine Worlds: Life at the Edge of Suffering in Lebanon’s Great War. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023. Review of Tylor Brand, Famine Worlds: Life at the Edge of Suffering in Lebanon’s Great War (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2023). Munich (Special to Informed Comment) – Suez, Gallipoli, Kut al-Amara, and Jerusalem saw […]

Climate Crisis

After Maui: Why Sultan al-Jaber both is and isn’t the Right chief for the COP28 Climate Summit

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sultan al-Jaber, the controversial chairman of the COP28 climate conference, is a United Arab Emirates businessman extraordinaire. His role and that of COP28 appear all the more important in the wake of the terrifying wildfires that swept the tropical island (!) of Maui this week and destroyed the ancient capital […]