- October 25, 2026
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Turkey Cornered into Israeli Embrace
By Ramzy Baroud An Israeli-Turkish rapprochement is unmistakably underway, but unlike the heyday of their political alignment in the 1990s, the revamped relationship is likely to be more guarded and pose a greater challenge to Turkey rather than Israel. Israeli media last week referenced a report by Turkish newspaper Radikal regarding secret talks between Turkey […]
Photographing Tragedy: What the Victims Actually Want
By Ramzy Baroud When one looks at scenes of feeling refugees from Syria, browse through images of their squalid refugee camps, hears their plea for solidarity, for mercy, for God’s help to end their suffering, one finds eerie similarities between their experiences and those of Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis. The worse part of the tragedy, however, […]
Iraq at the Brink: A Decade after the Invasion
By Ramzy Baroud Soon after the joint US-British bombing campaign ‘Operation Desert Fox’ devastated parts of Iraq in Dec 1998, I was complaining to a friend in the lobby of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. I was disappointed with the fact that our busy schedule in Iraq – mostly visiting hospitals packed with injured or Depleted Uranium […]
What Palestinians Can Expect from Obama
By Ramzy Baroud – Special to Gulf News Judging by the final statement of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit held in Cairo on February 6-7, Arab and Muslim countries have little to offer Palestinians — or anyone else for that matter — apart from the ever-predictable rhetoric and promises of financial assistance. Fiery speeches […]
New Actors in Palestinian Peace Charade
By Ramzy Baroud Despite much saber-rattling by Israel and the US administration and hyped-up expectations by the Palestinian leadership, the recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state last November is fast becoming yet another footnote in the protracted conflict. Only hours after the announcement of Palestinian’s "state" status, Israel had its own to make: […]
No Security Firms for African Refugees: Opportunities and War in Mali
By Ramzy Baroud The British security firm G4S is set to rake in massive profits thanks to crises in Mali, Libya and Algeria. Recognized as the world’s biggest security firm, the group’s brand plummeted during the London Olympics last year due to its failure to satisfy conditions of a government contract. But with growing unrest […]
Arab Springboard for Intervention? Two Years of Revolution and War
By Ramzy Baroud Reform movements in the Arab world are indicative of the rise of new players in a political game historically reserved for the locals and their western benefactors. On January 25, Egyptians commemorated the second anniversary of their revolution. Some spoke of historic achievements, others bemoaned lost opportunities and many more were just […]
Exploited and Misused: The Impossible Discourse of the ‘Arab Spring’
By Ramzy Baroud A reductionist discourse is one that selectively tailors its reading of subject matters in such a way as to only yield desired outcomes, leaving little or no room for other inquiries, no matter how appropriate or relevant. The so-called Arab Spring, although now far removed from its initial meanings and aspirations, has […]
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Intifada
By Ramzy Baroud If Palestinian leaders only knew how extraneous their endless rounds of “unity” talks have become, they might cease their enthusiastic declarations to world media about yet another scheduled meeting or another. At this point, few Palestinians have hope that their “leadership” has their best interests in mind. Factional interests reign supreme and […]
The Forgotten Palestinians: Factionalism and Its Discontents
By Ramzy Baroud In and around the southern mountains of Hebron (Al Khalil) there are thousands of people who dwell in tents, huts and caves. Before Israel came to existence in 1948, they moved about unhindered in the vast area, tending to their crops, sheep and traditional way of life as they had done for […]
History of the People: Articulating ‘Palestine’ Despite Israeli Hasbara
By Ramzy Baroud What does a Palestinian farmer who is living in a village tucked in between the secluded West Bank hills, a prisoner on hunger strike in an Israeli jail and a Palestinian refugee roaming the Middle East for shelter all have in common? They are all characters in one single, authentic, solid and […]
‘The Iranians Are Coming’: The Imagined, ‘Sinister’ Iranian Threat in Latin America
By Ramzy Baroud Reading the text of a bill that was recently signed into law by US President Barack Obama would instill fear in the hearts of ordinary Americans. Apparently, barbarians coming from distant lands are at work. They are gathering at the US-Mexico border, cutting fences and ready to wreak havoc on an otherwise […]
Nakba Revisited: Tragedy of Syria’s Palestinians and Centrality of Right of Return
By Ramzy Baroud It must have been 2007, although I cannot remember the exact date. I do recall getting lost in what seemed like a futile search for the headquarters of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Rome. There was a meeting of NGOs and some General Assembly body, consisting of several UN ambassadors, […]
The War in Mali: Stability at Stake in West Africa
By Ramzy Baroud ‘Many of us may not be able to point to Mali on a map,’ began National Public Radio show host Neal Conan last Thursday, “but this landlocked nation in West Africa has emerged as a crisis.” The buzzword is, of course, Al Qaeda. Although it is the least urgent component of the […]
Understanding Hamas at 25: Beyond the Tired Language
By Ramzy Baroud “In a moment of high theatre he dropped to his knees, placed his lips on the ground and kissed the land he has commanded by proxy”. This is how Robert Tait of the British Telegraph worded the moment Khaled Meshaal arrived in Gaza on Dec 07. Tait’s report on what many in Gaza […]
Palestine’s New Status: A History Rerun or a New Palestinian Strategy
By Ramzy Baroud Palestine has become a “non-member state” at the United Nations as of Thursday November 29, 2012.The draft of the UN resolution beckoning what many perceive as a historic moment passed with an overwhelming majority of General Assembly members: 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. It was accompanied by a passionate speech […]
Of ‘Symbolic’ Victories and Real Defeats
By Ramzy Baroud A small group of students affiliated mostly with leftist Palestinian factions meandered through the streets of the small town of Birzeit near Ramallah in the summer of 1993. It was an impromptu political rally. They denounced what they understood as the relinquishing of basic Palestinian rights in exchange for meagre returns: Self-autonomy […]
A Different War in Gaza, and the War Ahead
By Ramzy Baroud In life, some phenomena cannot be explained by ordinary logic or technical language, let alone official discourses. How did Gaza manage to fight back with such ferocity and undying vigor in quelling the latest Israeli war despite years of a bloody siege and one-sided war in 2008-9? It simply cannot be explained […]
Netanyahu’s High-stakes Game in Gaza: Same Time, Same Place
By Ramzy Baroud Many key phrases have been presented to explain Israel’s latest military onslaught against Gaza, which left scores dead and wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flexing his muscles in preparation for the Israeli general elections in January, suggested some. It is Israel’s way of testing the administration of Egyptian President Mahmoud Morsi, […]
Lip Service to Peace: EU as an Enabler of Netanyahu’s Colonial Policies
By Ramzy Baroud Europe is different, as we are often reminded. The general wisdom is unlike the United States’ unconditional support for Israel. European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their politicians are less receptive to being bought and sold by pro-Israeli lobbies. Their media is far more […]
