Middle Orient

Press freedom groups condemn organiser’s last minute decision to deny Declassified entry. A major arms fair has been criticised by press freedom groups for refusing to let Declassified enter the event, which is being held for the first time since Labour took power. The biennial Defence and Security Equipment International …

The Chance for a Two-State Solution Still Exists—but Won’t for Long More than a half century after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 242—which established the principle by which Israel would give up territory it gained in the war in exchange for peace and …

Israel’s airstrike in Doha was directed against Hamas leaders, not Qatar. There is no reason why the leaders of a terrorist organization, responsible for murdering thousands of Israelis and Palestinians, should feel safe anywhere. The war could have ended long ago had Hamas agreed to release the hostages, whom it …

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in New York on Sunday, leading a senior delegation to attend the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The visit marks the first by a Syrian head of state to the United States since President Nur al-Din al-Atasi addressed the UN in …

Bottom Line Up Front Western capitals have been urged to reconsider their approach towards — and in some cases, consider engaging with — groups that are, or have been at one point, labeled as terrorist organizations, given how the process has unfolded in Syria, and to a lesser extent in …

Since the ousting of Bashar Al-Assad, Syria’s transitional government has been racing to project an image of renewal. Nearly every week brings announcements of investment deals, unveiled at high-profile press conferences and televised ceremonies. From glittering real estate ventures to energy and transport projects, these deals are meant to signal …

Israel’s attempted assassination of the Hamas political leadership in Doha, Qatar, has shaken the Gulf region, which hitherto believed that Qatar’s status as a US ally and official mediator in the Gaza war shielded it from such an attack. Considering this willingness to attack Hamas in Qatar, Israel could conceivably …

The so-called “Gaza Riviera” plan is less a vision of the future than an obituary written in the language of luxury. Wrapped in glossy renderings and marketed as a leap into progress, it is in fact the culmination of years of deliberate devastation – a scheme to erase Palestinians in …

Egypt is pushing for the formation of a NATO-like Arab military alliance in the wake of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar last week. For many regional states, Tel Aviv’s unprecedented military action in Doha signalled that no country is off limits to Israeli aggression. The 9 September attacks …

Across the Arab world, a bitter contradiction has emerged. In the streets of Cairo, Beirut and Rabat, crowds still chant passionately for Gaza and the Palestinian cause. Yet behind the marble halls of power, many Arab rulers have grown conspicuously quiet. The Palestinian cause, once the beating heart of pan-Arab …