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1 week ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
The State of Israel emerged in 1948, and its emergence was accompanied by a war and the expulsion of the Palestinian population. Its birth thus became the foundational act that precipitated many subsequent wars and, eventually, the “Arab-Israeli conflict.” However, its emergence was also foundational to the rise of military regimes and radical ideologies in the Levant.
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1 week ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
In one of his memorable comments on the current state of Europe, the late Pope Francis expressed the wish that in a world gripped by turmoil and war the old continent becomes a field hospital for victims from the four corners of the globe. The comment implies that real or imagined victimhood provides anyone with a seat at the high table of privileges cast as human rights.
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1 week ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Nabil Amr
Camp David II ended in utter failure in 2000. However, what concerns us most, here, is how extremists’ campaigns undercut the talks and contributed to that failure. In addition to the fact that they were held during the last year of Clinton’s term, both Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat were outdoing one another with their displays of weakness and haste to achieve, in one fell swoop, outcomes that suit one side but not the other.
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1 week ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Nabil Amr
Were the Lebanese really liberated on the 25th of May twenty-five years ago? The official answer has not changed: yes. The commemoration of this occasion and its elevation into a national holiday, “Resistance and Liberation Day” was born of this answer. The residents of the region that had been occupied returned to their towns and villages after the Israeli army’s withdrawal, and the state and its institutions reestablished a nominal presence there.
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1 week ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Nabil Amr |Sam Menassa
In mid-June, the Lebanese authorities will begin receiving weapons handed over by Palestinian factions operating in refugee camps, starting with the camps in Beirut and its southern suburbs. By implementing this decision, Lebanon will end a dangerous chapter of history that began in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Mustafa Fahs |Hazem Saghieh |Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh
Between Aoun's insistence on the state monopolizing arms and Hezbollah reverting back to its position on maintaining its arms, reproducing its previous taboos and reiterating the notorious threat “to cut off the hand that reaches for the weapons,” Lebanon (its state, people, sectarian and political parties) face two opposing challenges.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hazem Saghieh |Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
A few days ago, on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Lebanese war, the culture of shirking responsibility for this conflict beamed once again. Several writers and observers have pointed to some manifestations of this culture whose prevalence has not been hindered by its corruption. The war is "the events," or the "inauspicious" or "painful" events - terminology that is meant to downplay its belligerent identity and emphasize its emotional impact while also obscuring its real makers.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Amir Taheri |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Hazem Saghieh
It was barely a month ago when TV watchers across the globe saw a show in which new US president Donald Trump treated visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as one of those voodoo dolls made for pushing needles into thus dodging a curse. After the show TV talking heads speculated that having come to the White House dressed as a rockstar rather than a statesman, Zelensky had angered Trump and thus deserved what he got.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed |Hazem Saghieh |Eyad Abu Shakra
The moment Naim Qassem publicly and explicitly approved the ceasefire agreement, before Amos Hochstein even landed in Tel Aviv, he was, in effect, admitting to the collapse of Hezbollah’s project. The party’s insistence on securing a binding ceasefire agreement, even while Israeli forces remained on southern Lebanese soil, amounts to nothing less than a confession: the gamble on “resistance” has failed, and the role of the weapons has expired.
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1 month ago | 
english.aawsat.com | Amir Taheri |Hazem Saghieh |Hanna Saleh |Tariq Al-Homayed
Despite the great deal of sound and fury that it has generated, it is perhaps too early to assess the lasting impact of President Donald Trump’s latest fireworks on tariffs. Some things, however, are certain. Contrary to assertions by talking heads on the small screen, we are not heading for a global trade war. True, the US is the world’s biggest economy and ranks second as a trading power. But its share of world trade hovers around 12 percent or under 10 percent of its GDP.
