Demonstrations in the Arab-Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm spun out of control, and accusations of excessive force by the police have reached the Knesset. Early this January, armed assailants shot the former mayor of Umm al-Fahm, Suleiman Aghbariah, leaving him seriously wounded. In response, the people of the city have …

The Biden administration, some Arab writers have said, “has adopted a policy of “antagonizing allies while appeasing enemies.” [Syrian journalist Abduljalil] Alsaeid said he believed that former Obama administration officials, who are now part of the Biden administration, are intentionally trying to damage US-Saudi relations. “The Obama wing inside the …

The Arab League last month resumed some of its activities in Damascus for the first time since November 2011, when the organization’s foreign ministers suspended Syria’s membership. As the 10-year anniversary of the Syrian civil war looms, many predict that, despite the great human cost of the conflict, the country …

Syrian intellectuals and activists from across political and intellectual spheres are busy searching for a way out of the disastrous situation their country has reached after ten years of violent conflict. The issue is not straightforward, and the exit is unclear, with everyone trying to feel their way out in …

The Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration announced that 94 Syrian refugees have been stripped of their residency permits and asked to return to Damascus, in an unprecedented European move. Danish Immigration Minister Matthias Tesfaye said that his “country has been open and honest from the beginning about the situation …

The Israeli military is updating plans to strike Iranian nuclear sites and is prepared to act independently, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has said, according to Fox News. Israel has identified numerous targets inside Iran that would hurt its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. “If the world stops them …

Czechia launches first ever legal case against another EU member state over environmental issues, while Slovakia’s coalition continues to buckle under the strain of the pandemic. So much for the vaunted unity of the Visegrad Four. The Czech Republic this week announced plans to launch a legal case at the …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared Wednesday that the relationship between the United States and China is the world’s “biggest geopolitical test” of the century. In his first major foreign policy speech, Blinken said the new Biden administration would “manage” ties with China “from a position of strength.” “That …

The big powers have long understood the need to unite scientific know-how with diplomacy both to deal with common problems and raise their international profiles – when will the Balkan states do likewise? “To remain relevant and competitive, we need to engage more in science diplomacy and global scientific collaboration,” …

It is time the West offered robust support to the Istanbul-based Patriarchate – now being squeezed by Ankara and Moscow, both of which see it as a threat to their illiberal projects. The Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, is the spiritual leader of some 300 million Orthodox …