Place de le République, Paris, 21 February 2021. As they have done every Sunday in the last year, Algerians and French-Algerians gathered in solidarity of the Hirak Movement in the French capital. Last Sunday, however, was different from the others. Among the many Algerian and Amazigh flags there were several banners recalling  with renewed emphasis […]

* Quote from Amjad Iraqi, editor of the Palestinian news outlet +972 and policy analyst at Palestinian Think Tank Al Shabaka.   When Yassar Arafat returned from exile after the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, he addressed a crowd of over 70,000 Palestinian refugees in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza […]

The Trump administration made its intention towards Jerusalem clear when in 2018 it relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In accordance with Peace to Prosperity, the borders of Jerusalem will be set to remain along the separation wall that Israeli has already unilaterally built. This, it states, will create an ‘un-divided’ Israeli […]

Tunisia’s 2019 legislative and presidential elections have drastically reshuffled the country’s highly contested political system. Incumbent parties have suffered heavy electoral losses, with Ennahdha losing 17 MPs and Nidaa Tounès only keeping 3 seats following a series of internal splits (Machrou’ Tounès, Tahya Tounès). Neither of the presidential candidates officially endorsed by Ennahdha (Abdelfattah Mourou) […]

The drums of water wars have been banging in the Middle East for decades. From local journalists to taxi drivers and heads of state, many see these wars as inevitable. The argument runs that with climate change and booming populations, there isn’t going to be enough water for everyone. What follows is intuitively simple: when […]

Protests in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq bring to mind images of the Arab Spring that shook the MENA region in 2011. Thousands of demonstrators in different Sudanese, Algerian, Lebanese and Iraqi cities have taken to the streets calling for political change and chanting the famous 2011 slogan “the people want the fall of the […]

  Did Khalifa Haftar genuinely believe that he would easily take control of Tripoli, and that he and his troops would be welcomed as liberators of the city? Did political leaders in Europe and the Middle East decide to take him at his word, hoping that a quick demonstration of military force would eventually put […]