First Independent Mena Newspaper
The Arab revolutions of 2011 have brought into immediate focus the following question related to Turkey’s foreign policy: ‘Can Turkey’s economic and political model become a reference-point for the region’s post-autocratic societies, similar to the EU for east-central Europe after 1989?’. Indeed, many political observers see the revolutions in the Arab countries as a chance […]
Recently, a truce was mediated – by Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi – between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. But … how long can such a truce last before the new round of warfare is unleashed? Notwithstanding many obvious analogies with the previous tensions between the two sides (such as Operation Cast Lead at the […]
Egypt has purchased ten Turkish-made ANKA drones after months of secret negotiations between the two countries before reaching deal, first of its kind after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising in 2011. With a 56-foot wingspan, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has the ability to fly 24 hours at a […]
New Geopolitical Realities The escalating violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, in which scores of Palestinians and Israelis have so far been killed, is being played out against a fast changing geopolitical setting. The current Israel-Gaza clash is the largest since Israel’s war in Gaza in 2008-2009, when Hamas was a political pariah […]
Egypt has recalled its newly appointed ambassador to Israel, Atef Mohamed Salem, after the commander of Hamas military wing, Ahmed Al-Jaabari. was killed in an Israeli raid on Gaza strip. The announcement was made Wednesday evening by a presidential spokesman in a televised statement. The spokesman said that President Mohamed Morsi has also summoned the […]
The west bank and gaza are on the alert after Israel launched a campaign of air strikes. It has assassinated Ahmed Al-Jaabari, the head of the military wing of the Islamist group Hamas in a missile strike on the Gaza Strip and its foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, is vying for the “toppling” of Mahmoud Abbas […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the Likud party and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu will be forming an alliance for the upcoming elections after the approval of the Likud party. Some of Likud’s 3,700-member ruling body tried to stall the vote by petitioning for a secret ballot, but the alliance […]
US House lawmakers have blocked a $450 million emergency aid the Obama administration was planning to give to the new government of President Mohammed Morsi, facing unprecedented economic crisis, with an estimated budget deficit of $12 billion. Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, says “I am not […]
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has asked UN to grant Palestinians the status of “non-member observer state”, stressing that a “Palestinian state must be realized” One year after his bid for full membership of the United Nations failed because of a lack of support in the Security Council, Mr. Abbas returned to the UN General Assembly. […]
The World Bank has warned that the fiscal crisis in the Palestinian territories is deepening, urged donors to take urgent action to face up the situation and called for lifting the barriers preventing the private sector development. In a report on Palestinian economy monitoring released Wednesday, the international financial institution underscores the key role a […]