English

Netanyahu is trying to provoke Tehran to save himself. But it won’t take the bait… for now

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Most observers agree that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will do absolutely anything he can to avoid giving up power and conceding defeat to the new coalition partners who are set to unseat him. He is trying to foil them by goading Iran into a war that would reshuffle the political cards in Israel and prevent a change of government. Last week he reiterated his determination to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities even if that risked ‘friction’ with the United States.

Israel’s war on Gaza has reminded the US of the importance of Egypt’s regional role

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Israel’s latest war on Gaza achieved big political and military successes for the Palestinians and did unprecedented damage to the occupier state and its aura of invincibility. But it also had a further consequence: the return of Egypt as a major power and conflict-manager in the Middle East. Egypt is beginning to reclaim its historic regional leadership role after a decades-long absence due to the paralysis of the Hosni Mubarak era and the introspection that followed the Arab Spring period and its repercussions both at home and in the region.

The US and Israel want to capitalise on the destruction to restore the status quo

By Abdel Bari Atwan

The purpose of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s current Middle East tour is to rob the Palestinians of their victory in their 11-day confrontation with Israel and undermine their re-found unity under the guise of strengthening the cease-fire and rebuilding the Gaza Strip.

Blinken made this plain at his joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He reiterated the US commitment to Israel’s right to self-defence and determination to prevent Hamas and other resistance groups from using financial and reconstruction aid to rebuild their military infrastructure.

The greater struggle for freedom is just beginning

By Abdel Bari Atwan

After Gaza’s ‘missile intifada’ succeeded in forcing Israel to beat a retreat and back down from the confrontation in defeat, the question is how the Palestinians can rise to the challenge of sustaining and building on this victory against the occupying power.

The greater struggle is only just beginning. Further and fiercer battles lie ahead with enemies of this victory who will attempt to steal it: the clients of Israel and the US who will set out to spread discord and divide the ranks of the resistance front.

Against the odds, the Palestinians are winning this first round in the next stage of their long struggle

By Abdel Bari Atwan

The ability of Palestinian resistance groups in the Gaza Strip to continue launching missiles against Israeli cities and settlements for a second week is in itself a victory and a mark of Israeli failure. Israel’s security and military establishment has been making every effort to score a military success it can sell to a worried public to justify withdrawing from the developing war of attrition.

For all its military might and brutality, ‘superpower’ Israel suddenly feels embattled and vulnerable

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Now we know the contents of the ‘target bank’ Israeli commanders spoke about when they launched their latest assault on Gaza: residential tower blocks, schools, shelters for the elderly, and other predominantly civilian targets.

The Gaza Strip may be tiny and impoverished and the most densely populated place on earth. But it has the advantage of a determined and capable resistance under resolute leadership that enjoys solid popular support.

Those who thought they could subjugate the Palestinians forever are realising how wrong they were

By Abdel Bari Atwan

The heroic steadfastness being shown by Jerusalem’s Palestinians is not in defence of a few homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood or to secure the reopening of the Damascus Gate plaza. It is an initial explosion of pressure that has been building inexorably at the hands of a racist and cruel occupier intent on uprooting them and wiping out all traces of their presence.

The escalating attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq will ultimately compel Washington to pull out its forces in defeat, just as it did in Afghanistan

By Abdel Bari Atwan

Pro-Iranian militia factions have stepped up their attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq recently, in actions that may be related to the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Tehran, speculates the editorial in a pan-Arab news portal. The escalation may also have been inspired by the Taliban’s success in forcing a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, something that powerful elements in Iraq are seeking to emulate in response to U.S.

Iran and its allies have had enough of Israeli attacks and provocations

By Abdel Bari Atwan

It was no small matter for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene a meeting of Israel’s top military and security chiefs along with its defense and foreign ministers on Saturday, 24 hours after a Syrian missile landed near the Dimona nuclear complex.

The media were told the emergency conference was a response to the recent spate of missile firings from the Gaza Strip. Its supposed aim was to deliver a warning to Hamas that Israel would invade or carpet-bomb the territory if violations of the de-escalation agreements persist.

It’s good the two sides are discussing their disputes, so why does Riyadh deny it?

By Abdel Bari Atwan

In the 1970s, the doyen of Saudi journalists and editor of the semi-official daily al-Riyadh, Turki as-Sudairi, wrote an article criticising the Saudi state media and the restrictions placed on journalists trying to cover domestic, Arab and foreign affairs. He coined the term ‘Denial Agency’ to describe the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), because most of the news it published, apart from the comings and goings of the king and princes and their foreign guests, consisted of statements denying various reports about the kingdom in the Arab and foreign press.