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Blurring the lines: The case of the Nakhsa Warriors
Photo by Rouzbeh Fouladi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
  • Analysis
  • Blurring the lines: The case of the Nakhsa Warriors

    Blurring the lines between the physical world and the online one, the Iranian group known as the “Nakhsa Warriors” remains cloaked in mystery. Their identity and status are unclear. Are they a military force that carries out operations, an online group of like-minded individuals that share content, part of an Iranian disinformation campaign — or perhaps something else altogether?

    April 7, 2020

    What do Russia and Hamas see in each other?
    Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • Analysis
  • What do Russia and Hamas see in each other?

    While much of the focus on Russia’s foreign policy toward the MENA region is on Syria and Libya, the dire situation in Gaza is another area where Moscow seeks to play a growing role. From Putin’s perspective, Moscow must involve itself in the Palestinian cause in order to further facilitate Russia’s “return” to the region. In practice, this has entailed Moscow and Hamas improving their relations, underscored by numerous visits and communications between high-ranking Russian government officials and Hamas representatives in recent years.

    April 2, 2020

    Whither the MFO? The US presence in Sinai has seen its best days
    Photo by Bettmann/Contributor via Getty Images
  • Analysis
  • Whither the MFO? The US presence in Sinai has seen its best days

    The Sinai-based Multinational Force & Observers (MFO) will soon celebrate its 41st anniversary. Like most of what the MFO does, recognition will be low key and understated. The MFO has always operated under the radar, but this may soon be changing. 

    April 1, 2020

    How the coronavirus exposed Israeli occupation's green line
    Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • Analysis
  • How the coronavirus exposed Israeli occupation's green line

    Less than a year after the U.S. State Department removed the term “occupation” from its 2019 human rights report, and just a few weeks after it stopped referring to the residents of East Jerusalem as Palestinians, the coronavirus has exposed the reality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories like never before.

    March 31, 2020

    The coronavirus pandemic and the Middle East
    Middle East Institute
  • Podcast
  • The coronavirus pandemic and the Middle East

    MEI’s Paul Salem, Khaled Elgindy, and Fatima Abo Alasrar join host Alistair Taylor to discuss the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the Middle East as nations scramble to contain the spread of COVID-19 and the massive humanitarian and economic toll it could take on already vulnerable populations.

    March 27, 2020

    Israeli elections and the Joint List
    Ayman Odeh (C), leader of the Hadash party that is part of the Joint List alliance, gives an address with other alliance leaders at their electoral headquarters in Israel's northern city of Shefa-Amr on March 2, 2020, after polls officially closed.
  • Commentary
  • Israeli elections and the Joint List

    Whether or not Gantz succeeds in forming a government, the Joint List has cemented its role as “king makers” in Israeli politics.

    March 16, 2020

    Little hope for an end to Israel’s political turmoil
    An emblem of Israel with the Knesset in the background, seen on the day of Israeli Legislative Elections 2020, in Central Jerusalem.
  • Commentary
  • Little hope for an end to Israel’s political turmoil

    Neither Likud nor Kahol Lavan was able to break the political stalemate and clear the path to the immediate formation of a majority government.

    March 9, 2020

    Can Palestinian citizens of Israel teach other Arabs a lesson in democracy?
  • Analysis
  • Can Palestinian citizens of Israel teach other Arabs a lesson in democracy?

    While attention in the third Israeli general elections in a year has focused on the performance of the caretaker prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a powerful light must be shed as well on the successful performance of Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who again increased their representation in Israel’s parliament.

    March 6, 2020

    And now what? A realistic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse
    Thousands of protesters gather at Al-Manara Square to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, in Ramallah, West Bank on February 11, 2020.
  • Analysis
  • And now what? A realistic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse

    The announcement of Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” was a rude shock, roundly condemned by almost everyone concerned with peace and justice between Israelis and Palestinians. But it also presents an urgent challenge for all those who reject it because they realize the dire implications of what it portends for the future of any peaceful negotiated solution. If a genuine two-state solution is truly dead, and an equitable one-state solution is even harder to achieve, then where does that leave us? What is, or should be, the agenda for the foreseeable future for those concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

    March 2, 2020