• March 29, 2024
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Articles

Articles Palestine/Israel

Israel’s High-Stake Game in Al-Aqsa and Why Netanyahu May Prevail

By Ramzy Baroud The State of Israel was established on the ruins of Palestine, based on a series of objectives that were named after letters from the Hebrew alphabet, the consequences of which continue to guide Israeli strategies to this day. The current violence against Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem is […]

Articles Middle East Palestine/Israel

How Yarmouk Came About: Israel’s Unabashed Role in the Syrian Refugee Crisis

By Ramzy Baroud When Zionist Haganah militias carried out Operation Yiftach on 19 May, 1948, the aim was to drive Palestinians in the northern Safad District outside the border of Israel, which had declared its independence a mere five days earlier. The ethnic cleansing of Safad and its many villages was not unique to that […]

Articles Media Middle East

Huffington Post Arabic and the Absurdity of ‘Liberal’ Expectations

By Ramzy Baroud What does it mean to be a ‘liberal Arab’? Even in the West, definitions of the ‘liberal’ vary. In the American context, the demarcation of the ‘liberal’ overlaps cultural and political lines. Republicans use the term in a derogatory way to describe their opponents. Watch ‘Fox News’ to understand. (On second thought, […]

Articles Palestine/Israel Ramzy Baroud News

دعوة الي الفلسطينين في كل مكان: ساعدونا في كتابة تاريخ الشعب الفلسطينى

أعزائي الفلسطينيون في كل مكان يقود المؤلف والمؤرخ والصحفي الفلسطيني د. رمزي بارود مجموعة من الباحثين والصحافيين للمساعدة في كتابة كتابه الجديد حول الشعب الفلسطيني. الفكرة من وراء الكتاب المساعدة في جسر الهوة بين السياسة، الأيديولوجيا، الدين، والجغرافيا، وذلك بالنظر للتاريخ، والماضي والحاضر الفلسطيني بطريقة تساعد في الإجابة على أسئلة متعلقة بالوحدة، والهوية والأمة الفلسطينية. […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Palestine’s Crisis of Leadership: Did Abbas Destroy Palestinian Democracy?

By Ramzy Baroud The crisis of leadership throughout Palestinian history did not start with Mahmoud Abbas and will, regrettably, be unlikely to end with his departure. Although Abbas has, perhaps, done more damage to the credibility of the Palestinian leadership than any other leader in the past, he is also a by-product of a process […]

Articles Palestine/Israel Ramzy Baroud News

A Call to Palestinians Everywhere: Help Write Our History

Dear Palestinians Everywhere, Palestinian Author, historian and Journalist, Dr. Ramzy Baroud is leading a group of researchers and journalists to help write his new book about the people of Palestine. The idea behind the book is to bridge politics, ideology, religion and geography to look at Palestinian history, past and present in a way that […]

Articles Middle East

‘Islamic State’ Pretence and the Upcoming Wars in Libya

By Ramzy Baroud Another war is in the making in Libya: the questions are ‘how’ and ‘when’? While the prospect of another military showdown is unlikely to deliver Libya from its current security upheaval and political conflict, it is likely to change the very nature of conflict in that rich, but divided, Arab country. An […]

Articles Global Affairs Media Middle East

Misreading the Refugee Crisis

By Ramzy Baroud So far this year, “nearly one quarter of a million migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe”, reported Al Jazeera’s Inside Story, citing the International Organisation for Migration. The situation is indeed bleak, not only because the number of refugees is constantly on the rise, but also because Europe appears rather disinterested […]

Articles Global Affairs

Western Legacy in Libya Leaves a Hole Filled by Migrants Fleeing for Europe – Interview with Ramzy Baroud

By Sputnik International The scale of the crisis in the Mediterranean can’t be ignored. Two thousand migrants have died already this year on their journey to Europe. Fifty migrants remain unaccounted for after their rubber dinghy sank, this came just days after 200 migrants were presumed dead after their boat capsized off the coast of […]

Articles Global Affairs Middle East

War Begets War Refugees: The Moral Bankruptcy of Italy and NATO

By Ramzy Baroud On April 26, 2011, a meeting that can only be described as sinister took place between the then Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The most pressing issue discussed at the meeting in Rome was how to deal with African immigrants. Sarkozy, who was under pressure from his […]

Articles Media Middle East

Shifting Priorities: The Rise and Fall of Arab Revolutionary Discourse

By Ramzy Baroud Strange how intellectual discussion concerning the so-called “Arab Spring” has almost entirely shifted in recent years – from one concerning freedom, justice, democracy and rights in general, into a political wrangle between various antagonist camps. The people, who revolted across various Arab countries are now marginalized in this discussion, and are only […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Missing Link in Palestinian Baby’s Murder

By Ramzy Baroud The legacy of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas is draped in contradictions and utter defeat. His reign can only be regarded as an astounding failure, during which not a single Palestinian national objective was attained, nor a liberation vision put forward. Alas, the 80-year-old leader remains at the helm of […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

The Palestinian Bubble and the Burning of Toddler, Ali Dawabsha

By Ramzy Baroud One-and-a-half year old Ali Saad Dawabsha became the latest victim of Israeli violence on July 31. He was burnt to death. Other members of his family were also severely burnt in a Jewish settlers’ attack on their home in the village of Duma, near Nablus, in the West Bank. A spokesman for […]

Articles Middle East

Darker Horizons Ahead: Rethinking the War on ‘IS’

By Ramzy Baroud As much of the Middle East sinks deeper into division between competing political camps, the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (‘IS’) continues its unhindered march towards a twisted version of a Muslim caliphate. Many thousands have lost their lives, some in the most torturous ways, so that ‘IS’ may realize its nightmarish dream. Of […]

Articles Middle East

A Chance for Arab-Iranian Reconciliation: An Opportunity in the Iran Nuclear Deal

By Ramzy Baroud “The Americans have taken the Shia Muslim side in the Middle East’s sectarian war,” declared Robert Fisk in the “Independent” newspaper on July 15, a day after the US and five major world powers reached a landmark agreement with Iran about its nuclear programs. Fisk’s proclamation is quite cursory. Aside from the […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Why Palestinians Fight Back: The Logic of Life and Death in Gaza

By Ramzy Baroud Another row is brewing between Israel and the Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, over the release of Avraham Mengitsu, an Israeli citizen who, according to Israeli military sources, ‘slipped into Gaza’ on September 7, 2014. The circumstances of Mengitsu’s entry into Gaza remain unclear, especially since Hamas’ political leader, Khaled Mashaal, denied that […]

Articles Global Affairs Media

No ‘Crisis in Islam’: Just Apathy of So-called ‘Historians’

By Ramzy Baroud On the “BBC This Week” program, historian Tom Holland labored to counter the argument that the so-called Islamic State should not be labeled as such: “The Islamic State”. Holland’s logic in the program seemed more philosophical, concerned with dialectic and logic of language, and hardly situated in any proper historical context. His […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Baskin’s Generous Offer: Making Peace with Israeli Occupation

By Ramzy Baroud It would be fair to assume that Gershon Baskin’s recent article in the Jerusalem Post – Encountering Peace: Obviously no peace now, so what then? (June 24) – is not a mere intellectual exercise aimed at finding ‘creative’ solutions to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Baskin is a regular contributor to the […]

Articles Global Affairs Middle East

The B Vocabulary: The Western Left and Its Sterile ‘Field of Ideas’

By Ramzy Baroud Over the year, I realized that the term ‘left’ is not exclusive to a political ideology, but a mode of thinking championed mostly by self-tailored ‘leftist’ western intellectuals. I grew to dislike it with intensity. But that has not always been the case. My father was a communist, or so he called […]

Articles Middle East

Just Politics: Iran, Like the Rest, Is Not Blameless

By Ramzy Baroud When the United States government declared its war on Afghanistan in October 2001, thus taking the first step in its so-called ‘war on terror’, following the devastating attacks of September 11 earlier that year, Iran jumped on board. Then Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, dubbed a reformist, provided substantial assistance in the US […]

Articles Media

Middle East Reporting: The Need for Honest Journalism

By Ramzy Baroud Writing about and reporting on the Middle East is not an easy task, especially during these years of turmoil and upheaval. But I cannot remember another time in recent history when we have needed journalists to shine in order to challenge conventional wisdom, to think in terms of contexts, motives, alliances, and […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

The Good, Bad and Uncertain about Recognizing ‘Palestine’

By Ramzy Baroud No matter what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does, his popularity is declining. In some ways, Abbas’ threshold for popularity was really never impressive to begin with, a trend that is unlikely to change in the near future. But now that a power struggle in his Fatah party is looming, and his […]

Articles Global Affairs

Beyond the Middle East: The Rohingya Genocide

By Ramzy Baroud “Nope, nope, nope,” was Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s answer to the question whether his country will take in any of the nearly 8,000 Rohingya refugees stranded at sea. Abbott’s logic is as pitiless as his decision to abandon the world’s most persecuted minority in their darkest hour. “Don’t think that getting […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Nakba and the Question of ‘Palestinian Strategy’

By Ramzy Baroud “What is the Palestinian strategy?” is a question that I have been asked all too often, including on 15 May, the day that millions of Palestinians around the world commemorated the 67th anniversary of the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Zionist militias in 1947-48. The question itself doesn’t require […]

Articles Middle East Palestine/Israel

The Arab Boat: It’s an Arab-Palestinian Nakba, and We Are All Refugees

By Ramzy Baroud In a western capital far away from Gaza and Cairo, I recently shared a pot of tea with an “Egyptian refugee”. The term is familiar to me, but never have I encountered an Egyptian who refers to himself as such. He stated it as a matter of fact by saying: “As an […]

Articles Palestine/Israel

Birzeit Wins again: Students of the West Bank Unite

By Ramzy Baroud In November 1993, I was on a mission. At the age of 21, I wanted to change the world, starting with Birzeit University, the second-largest Palestinian university in the West Bank, situated near Ramallah, in the heart of the occupied territories. Back then I had made a name for myself with my […]

Articles Middle East

No Arab Bolivars: As Region Implodes, Arab Socialism Fizzles out

By Ramzy Baroud A student group recently asked me to address socialism in the Arab world. This with the assumption that there is indeed such a movement capable of overhauling inherently incompetent and utterly corrupt regimes across the region. But today such a group, or configuration of socialist groups, exists only in name. I recall […]

Articles Middle East Palestine/Israel

Stuck in Area A: How We Were Duped into Disowning the Palestinians

By Ramzy Baroud Are you surprised that there has been little mobilisation to help Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, which is overrun by militants, and besieged by the Syrian army? Palestinians – and Syrians – there are killed in a myriad of ways, including starvation. As we stand and watch […]

Articles Global Affairs

An Interview with Ramzy Baroud: The Rise of Religious Powers and the Failure of the Left in The Middle-East

Souad Sharabani: In the past three decades or so, Communists, trade unionists and secular nationalist movements like pan Arabism were replaced by religious and ethnic dividers as the forces that mobilize, galvanize and divide the people in the Middle-East. We see the same results in every country with different circumstances. What are the factors that […]

Articles Middle East Palestine/Israel

My Missing Family in Syria: Naming and Shaming in Yarmouk

By Ramzy Baroud Members of my family in Syria’s Yarmouk went missing many months ago. We have no idea who is dead and who is alive. Unlike my other uncle and his children in Libya, who fled the NATO war and turned up alive but hiding in some desert a few months later, my uncle’s […]