- June 10, 2025
Articles
Prisoners Uphold Palestinian Cause
By Ramzy Baroud – Special to Gulf News A critical shift in the Palestine-Israeli conflict is now underway. The shift promises an endgame for the Israeli plot in Palestine, and a possible collective response from the Palestinian people. Every Palestinian uprising in the past — from as far back as the late 1920s to the […]
Struggle over Iran: Tumultuous Israeli Politics Will Not Usher Peace
By Ramzy Baroud Israel is currently experiencing the kind of turmoil that may or may not affect its political hierarchy following the next general election. However, there is little reason to believe that any major transformations in the Israeli political landscape could be of benefit to Palestinians. Former politicians and intelligence bosses have been challenging […]
Illegal Settlements Bonanza: Israel Plots an Endgame
By Ramzy Baroud Israel’s colonization policies are entering an alarming new phase, comparable in historic magnitude to the original plans to colonize Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem following the war of 1967. On April 24, an Israeli ministerial committee approved three settlement outposts – Bruchin and Rechelim in the northern part of the […]
Sudan Conflict: War is Not an Option
By Ramzy Baroud In a statement published last July, Amnesty International called on UN member states to control arm shipments to both Sudan and South Sudan. It accused the US, Russia and China of fuelling violations in the Sudan conflict through the arms trade. While China was reportedly supplying the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) with […]
The Rest is Hasbara: Jenny Tonge’s Victory over the Lobby
By Ramzy Baroud ‘My Lords, I was in Gaza six weeks ago,’ began Baroness Tonge, when she spoke at the House of Lords in January 2009. ‘Now, as a result of the impotence of the international community, not just in Gaza, but…over 40 years of occupation of Palestine by Israel, those institutions that I visited […]
Who Owns the Palestine Solidarity Movement?
By Ramzy Baroud A few years ago, after I spoke at a conference in South Africa, Ronnie Kasrils, then the country’s Minister for Intelligence Services, leaned towards me and said, “I agree with everything you said, but in order for the boycott of Israel to become adopted by world governments, the call has to be […]
Mess in Mali: The Logic of Unintended Consequences
By Ramzy Baroud The intentional misreading of UN security council resolution 1973 resulted in Nato’s predictably violent Operation Odyssey in Libya last year. Not only did the action cost many thousands of lives and untold destruction, it also paved the way for perpetual conflict – not only in Libya but throughout north Africa. Mali was […]
What Marwan Barghouti Really Means to Palestinians
By Ramzy Baroud Last week Marwan Barghouti, the prominent Palestinian political prisoner and Fatah leader, called on Palestinians to launch a ‘large-scale popular resistance’ which would ‘serve the cause of our people.’ The message was widely disseminated as it coincided with Land Day, an event that has unified Palestinians since March 1976. Its meaning has […]
Computing Intifada: When Will Palestinians Revolt?
By Ramzy Baroud When will the Palestinians revolt? The answer, according to an Israeli official: not this year (as quoted by Agency France Press). An internal Israeli Foreign Ministry report last month also concluded that a third Palestinian intifada or uprising was ‘unlikely’ this year. According to the unnamed official, “This report, which is more […]
Balandi is America’s My Lai
By Ramzy Baroud Like Vietnam, Afghanistan is a lost cause, and more troops will do nothing but push the US deeper into the quagmire. Some of us warned about the Vietnamisation of Afghanistan as early as the first months of the war in 2001. The Afghans are a proud people with a long and formidable […]
Costly ‘Freedom’ in Afghanistan: On Morbid Wars and Logic
By Ramzy Baroud The Afghans are a proud people with a long and formidable history of resistance to foreign occupation. The fact that they have always prevailed, however, should not distract from the horror they still routinely experience. The latest atrocious episode against Afghans took place on March 11 in the village of Balandi, when […]
Bibi Stirs Trouble with Attack on Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud The first Israeli missile sped down to its target, scorching the Gaza earth and everything in between. Palestinians collected the body parts of two new martyrs, while Israeli media celebrated the demise of two terrorists. Zuhair Qasis was the head of the Popular Resistance Committee. He was killed alongside a former Palestinian […]
Silent Palestinian Warriors
By Ramzy Baroud On March 8, Palestinian women rallied in Gaza and Ramallah to mark International Women’s Day. Activities were held in various cities, villages and refugee camps. Women in Palestine are united by a shared struggle, untold hardship, and also a legendary ability to withstand, survive and flourish under the harshest of circumstances. Even […]
Redefining Our Relationship to A People’s Struggle
By Ramzy Baroud (Based on talks delivered by Ramzy Baroud at Israeli Apartheid Week conferences in Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta, Canada – March 5, 6 2012) In the Winter 2012 Edition of Palestine News – published by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK – and more specifically on page 5, there is a photo […]
Between Politics and Principles: Hamas’ Perilous Maneuvers
By Ramzy Baroud Despite all of Hamas’ assurances to the contrary, a defining struggle is taking place within the Palestinian Islamic movement. The outcome of this struggle – which is still confined to polite political disagreements and occasional intellectual tussle – is likely to change Hamas’ outlook, if not fundamentally alter its position within a […]
The Egyptian Revolution Should Not Be Subsidized
By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News The initial clarity of Egypt’s revolutionary discourse has been replaced by perplexing discussions involving a range of issues from ‘Islamists vs liberals’ to football violence. The latest such issue involves the rift between the US and the Egyptian government over the latter’s crackdowns on organizations with questionable sources […]
Cold War in Warm Waters: US-China’s Dangerous Contest for Asia-Pacific
By Ramzy Baroud On two occasions in my life I found myself living close to the South China Sea. The sea became my escape from life’s pressing responsibilities. But there is no escaping the fact that the deceptively serene waters are now also grounds for a nascent but real new cold war. China takes the […]
BDS: Power of the People at Work
By Ramzy Baroud The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own action (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the […]
Reality of Hamas-Fatah Unity
By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News While top officials representing rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, signed yet another unity agreement on February 6 in Doha, Qatar, Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan crossed the 50-day mark of his hunger strike. His health was rapidly deteriorating. Since his arrest on December 17, “Khader was subjected to […]
Israel Vying for War: Attacking Iran Will Not Repeat History
By Ramzy Baroud On April 10, 2002, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons, ‘Saddam Hussein’s regime is…developing weapons of mass destruction, and we cannot leave him doing so unchecked.’ A year later, Blair, enthusiastically joined a US-led coalition that launched an illegal war against Iraq. Their hunt for weapons of […]
Anti-Semitism and Israel’s Inherent Contradictions
By Ramzy Baroud In a recent article, columnist Yaniv Halili described British author Ben White as ‘anti-Semitic’. He also denounced Arab Knesset member Hanin Zoabi for writing a forward to White’s latest book, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy. Those of us who can see through such distorted thinking know that White is a […]
Blame NATO for the Mess in Libya
By Ramzy Baroud The British Foreign Office and the US State Department are seriously concerned. Human rights officers in the United Nations are angry. Canada, for some reason, seems particularly enraged. The target of all this fury is Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), which is berated for failing to curtail widespread human rights violations throughout […]
US vs. Genuine Reforms at the United Nations
By Ramzy Baroud The country that has long been known to abuse its powers and privileges in the United Nations is now leading a campaign to reform the same organization. While UN reforms are welcomed, if not demanded, by many of its member states, there is little reason to believe the recent US crusade is […]
The Puzzling Matter of the Israeli Liberals
By Ramzy Baroud Regardless of who may rule Israel, little change ever occurs in the country’s foreign policy. Winning parties remain obsessed with demographics and retaining absolute military dominance. They also remain unfailingly focused on their quest to initiate racist laws against non-Jewish residents of the state, and continue to hone the art of speaking […]
A Roadmap for Brave UN Reforms
By Ramzy Baroud Theodore MacDonald was too ill to attend the launch of his book, Preserving the United Nations; Our Best Hope for Mediating Human Rights. Less than three weeks later, on March 7, 2011, the longtime champion of human rights and social justice passed away. Professor MacDonald’s last book was in many ways the […]
The Revolution Will Be Televised, and also Manipulated
By Ramzy Baroud In the final days of the Libyan conflict, as NATO conducted a nonstop bombing campaign, an Aljazeera Arabic television correspondent’s actions raised more than eyebrows. They also raised serious questions regarding the journalistic responsibility of Arab media – or in fact any media – during times of conflict. Using a handheld transceiver, […]
Hamas and the Brotherhood: Reanimating History
By Ramzy Baroud There was an unmistakable hint of triumph in the comments made by Ismail Haniyeh, Prime Minister of the elected Hamas government in Gaza when he was hosted by Mohammed Badie, Supreme Guide of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Both leaders said what would be expected of them under these circumstances. Haniyeh asserted that his […]
Twisted Logic of Using Violence to Achieve Peace
By Ramzy Baroud ‘Sooner or later, there will be no escape from conducting a significant operation [in Gaza],’ said Israeli army Chief of Staff Lieutenent General Benny Gantz on December 27, the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. Gantz’s chillingly casual remarks were cited as just another nonchalant declaration of war against a besieged, impoverished, overcrowded […]
Palestine: Those Who Inspired Us in 2011
By Ramzy Baroud Mustafa Tamimi was a 28-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. His meticulously trimmed beard served as the centerpiece of his handsome face. In December 2011, when an Israeli soldier shot him from a short distance with a tear gas canister, half of Mustafa’s face went missing. More soldiers […]
Iraq War: Moral Victory, and Selective Body Counts
By Ramzy Baroud Someone ought to let mainstream news producers know that the nearly 4,500 US soldiers killed in the Iraq war were not the only victims. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have also been killed as a result of the unwarranted US invasion, and many more have been wounded and/or forever maimed. Chances are, […]
