Middle East

Photo: Photo: Six potential candidates for the 2021 presidential elections in Iran. The moderate Rouhani will be stepping down. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Time to Resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal

The thirteenth Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Iran on June 18, 2021. The moderate Rouhani will be stepping down and there is the likelihood that a hard-line conservative will succeed him – someone who is less keen on negotiations.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – John le Carré died December 12, 2020. He is widely regarded as one of the most talented of novelists. He has written marvellous, intricate, plots of spying and espionage. In his youth, he worked for MI6 (Perhaps, for all we know, alongside James Bond). He knew it all. He is what is called a “trusted source”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 22 December 2020

Photo: A UN patrol team, deployed for monitoring ceasefire, drives through the Smara area of Western Sahara. The Moroccan Government has reportedly launched an operation on the southern border of Western Sahara. UN Photo/Martine Perret (file)

Morocco's Covert Ties to Israel Belie ‘Historic Breakthrough’ Narrative

By Lisa Vies, Global Information Network

NW YORK (IDN) – While the news media from coast to coast has been trumpeting a “historic breakthrough” between Israel and Morocco with credit to the Trump administration, ties between the two countries have been close for decades, with cooperation on intelligence and military matters that even included the assassination of an opposition leader.

: Global Information Network; Africa; 14 December 2020

Photo: Families in Gaza receive food baskets through the UNRWA home delivery programme. Credit: UNRWA/Khalil Adwan

Gaza Strip Rapidly Becoming 'Unliveable'

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – “The UN said some three years ago that it expects Gaza to become ‘unliveable’ by 2020,” recalls Majed Abusalama, award-winning Palestinian journalist, scholar, campaigner and human rights defender.

“Since then, Israel not only refused to take action to reverse Gaza’s rapid deterioration into a post-apocalyptic wasteland but intensified its attacks on the Strip, hindering efforts by activists, NGOs and locals to keep this open prison habitable for a little longer. With the novel coronavirus now spreading throughout refugee camps and communities across Gaza, we cannot afford to wait any longer for the world to acknowledge our suffering and take action.”

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Middle East; 29 November 2020

Photo: Bedouin boys living in Jabal al-Baba in the remains of their family’s home which was demolished in 2017. (file photo) Credit: UNRWA/Lara Jonasdottir

United Nations Panel Calls for End of Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territory

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali *

FREMONT, California (IDN) – The United Nations has overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for Palestinian self-determination and end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967.

The resolution was approved on November 19 by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee — the committee that deals with human rights and humanitarian affairs. It was passed 163 to 5, with 10 abstentions. Those who voted against were: the United States, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru also voted against the resolution.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 28 November 2020

Image: The ethno-religious composition of Syria. Credit: Institute for the Study of War. Public Domain.

Joe Biden's Dilemma on Syria

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – If you like confusion in foreign policy take a new look at Syria, the country that has the worst civil war since the one that raged in Angola in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Syria is now a near-total wreck. Four of its historically important Christian cities are in ruins. More than half a million civilians are dead and many more wounded. Millions are without jobs. This legacy that happened on the watch of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump now lands in Joe Biden’s in-tray.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 November 2020

Photo: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left), US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (centre), and then-tourism minister Yariv Levin (right) during a meeting to discuss mapping extension of Israeli sovereignty to areas of the West Bank, held in the Ariel settlement, February 24, 2020. Credit: David Azagury/US Embassy Jerusalem.

Biden Administration Will Help Stem the Slide into A De Facto Bi-National State Reality

Viewpoint by Avi Gil

The writer is a former diplomat, who served under Shimon Peres for almost 30 years in various capacities. Ambassador Gil has been closely involved in Israel's policy-making and peace efforts, including the negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords. This article is being republished from The Blogs in the Times of Israel.

JERUSALEM (IDN) – Trump’s defeat marks the end of the Israeli right’s four-year celebration. At the global level, Trump has significantly intensified the erosion of the liberal world order. In a world where human rights are underrated, the on-going Israeli occupation provokes less condemnation, and the Palestinian plight has been pushed off the agenda.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 November 2020

Photo: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with the then US Vice President Joe Biden. Source: The Times of Israel.

Biden Is A Veteran Friend of Israel But Against Settlement

By Raphael Ahren

The writer is the diplomatic correspondent at The Times of Israel, which published it on November 7, 2020.

JERUSALEM (IDN) – Joe Biden, the newly elected 46th president of the United States, is a true friend of the Jewish state, friends and even political adversaries of the emerging president-elect agree.

“He has a deep feeling for Israel,” said Michael Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the US when Biden was vice president. Oren opposed almost all of the Middle East policies championed by Biden and his boss, Barack Obama, especially on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian question. Still, he annually attended Biden’s Rosh Hashanah party, and asserts that the former Delaware senator is genuinely concerned about Israel’s well-being.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East; 07 November 2020

Photo: PM's wife Aliza Olmert tours along the Israeli-Egyptian border where Sudanese refugees had crossed the border. Credit: Ohayon Avi, GPO. 19/07/2007

Sudanese Refugees Face Uncertainty in Israel If Bilateral Ties Are Resumed

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Sudanese refugees who live in Israel are wondering what their future holds if ties are normalized between the two countries as predicted and the Israeli government launches deportation proceedings against them.

There are around 6,500 Sudanese nationals in Israel, representing 20 per cent of all the asylum seekers in the country. Of these, 4,500 have submitted requests for political asylum and have been awaiting a decision for many years.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 November 2020

Photo: Iranian women wearing masks to protect themselves from coronavirus walk at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran on February 20, 2020. Credit: © 2020 WANA/Nazanin Tabatabaee via Reuters

Iran's #MeToo Movement Challenges Patriarchy and Western Stereotypes

Viewpoint by Sara Tafakori*

BEIRUT (IDN) – It has been called an Iranian #MeToo movement, and it is. Thousands of women in Iran – and some men – are going online to speak about the sexual assault and harassment they experienced. What is crucially important, at what promises to be a historic turning point in Iranian women’s struggle for their rights, is to set the movement clearly in its proper local and global context, rather than locating it in terms of the familiar binaries of East and West, as much of the coverage in the coming weeks and months will do.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 15 September 2020

Photo: The Port of Beirut eleven days after the disaster. The French amphibious assault ship Tonnerre is the large ship on the right, which arrived in the port on 13 August to provide food, construction materials, medical supplies, and personnel. CC BY-SA 4.0

People Are Leading Beirut's Recovery in the Absence of the State

Viewpoint by Aseel Naamani and Ruth Simpson*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

BEIRUT (IDN) – Recent events in Lebanon tell a story of interwoven crises, culminating in the explosion in Beirut on August 4. To overcome the crisis in the long-term, recovery efforts must be participatory and take a bottom-up approach, based on communities’ needs, while protecting shared spaces and cultural heritage.