News related to
James M Dorsey

Ultra rightist group says whoever attacks Israel must lose their land

James M Dorsey Even by Israeli standards, Uri Tzafon (Awaken North) is a far-right fringe group. Amid mounting tension with Lebanese Shiite political group and militia, Hezbollah, along the Lebanon-Israel border, Uri Tzafon is calling for Israeli settlement of southern Lebanon. The group has yet to gain traction. Uri Tzafon’s membership is in the low teens. Less than 300 people attended the group’s recent online conference. Few, if […]

Israeli setbacks empower Hamas to take harder positions

James M Dorsey Israeli military triumphs and exploits often produce battlefield victories that fail to garner political gains. The Gaza war has changed that paradigm. It has produced neither a military nor a political victory. Adding fuel to the fire, Israel has abandoned the notion that soft power is as important as hard power in the vein of scholar Joseph Nye, who recently cautioned that “ignoring or neglecting […]

Next Week Could Mark A Make Or Break For Netanyahu’s Political Future

Next week could be make or break for Netanyahu

James M Dorsey The coming week or two could determine Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s political fate and reshape the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s Gaza war. That is, if Netanyahu fails to comply with war cabinet member Benny Gantz’s demand that the prime minister produce a plan for the post-war administration of Ga If Gantz resigns, he will likely be joined by fellow war cabinet member and […]

Political pressure from all sides puts Jordan King in hopeless situation

James M Dorsey Jordan’s King Abdullah is caught between a rock and a hard place.  Hamas and its regional supporters, as well as Israeli politicians and vigilantes, are pressuring King Abdullah from both ends of the political spectrum. Iranian-backed Syrian and Iraqi militants seek to draw the kingdom, in which Palestinians account for at least 50 per cent of the population, into the Gaza war. Hamas, the […]

Biden plays high-risk poker with Netanyahu

James M Dorsey US President Joe Biden doesn’t fit the mould of a high-risk gambler. Yet, gambling is the crux of his velvet glove dealings with Israel. With one eye on Israeli politics and the other on presidential elections in the United States in six months, Biden is walking a tightrope. The stakes and the costs couldn’t be higher. At its core, despite the administration’s escalating verbal […]

What Jews, Palestinian Israelis and Turkish Kurds have in common

James M Dorsey Diaspora Jews, Palestinian Israelis, and Turkish Kurds have more in common than meets the eye. The similarities in how the three minority communities define themselves offer insights into what will make either a one- or two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict viable. To be sure, it’s hard to see, amid the Gaza carnage and Israel’s blinded and traumatised view of future relations with the Palestinians, how the two […]

Netanyahu buys time by rejecting Gaza ceasefire

James M Dorsey This week’s Gazan short-lived celebration of a ceasefire that was not to be, highlights what is at stake in the seven-month-old war and Israel’s refusal to end the carnage. Thousands poured into Gazan streets within minutes of Hamas advising it had accepted a Qatar and Egyptian ceasefire proposal. “We have shown the world that we survived this war as Palestinians. We stood our ground on our land. […]

Israel puts Gaza ceasefire ball in Hamas court

James M Dorsey Israel’s latest Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal puts the ball in Hamas’ court. The proposal, drafted in recent days by Israeli negotiators and Egyptian interlocutors, goes some way to address Hamas’ long-standing demands. The proposal makes concessions Israel has rejected in the past but raises as many questions as it opens doors to possible breakthroughs in the long-stalled negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt. In response, Hamas said […]

Rafah: Make or break for Netanyahu?

James M Dorsey An Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gazan enclave of Rafah is a question of when, not if. Not because Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is oblivious to US and international pressure but because it could prove to be make or break for Israel’s embattled leader. Netanyahu has promised “total victory” in the Gaza war and to “finish the job” in Rafah. The stakes for  Netanyahu could […]

Middle East totters on the edge of a cliff

James M Dorsey Multiple overt and covert wars have pushed the Middle East to the edge of a cliff. Increased tension between Iran and Israel complicates efforts to pull the Middle East back from the abyss. With the two archenemies walking a fine line between waging covert or overt war, escalation between Israel and Iran has the greatest potential to push the Middle East off the cliff. […]

Biden, Hamas tie up Netanyahu in knots

James M Dorsey Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is tying himself up in knots as he grudgingly, and only to a limited degree, bows to US President Joe Biden’s demands. In doing so, Netanyahu is puncturing Swiss-cheese size holes into Israel’s Gaza narrative, making it easier for Mr. Biden to take him publicly to task. Biden has demanded that Israel allow the unfettered flow of desperately needed humanitarian […]

Greater Middle East is a ticking time bomb

James M Dorsey The Greater Middle East is a ticking time bomb. Generations in war-wracked Palestine, Syria, and Yemen have little, if anything, to look forward to. Moreover, discontent is mounting and could explode anytime in countries like Jordan, Egypt, and Iran. Palestine is a pressure cooker. Gazan youth has known little else than two decades of wars and siege. Beyond the trauma of the latest six-month-old war, Gaza’s next […]

Palestine security forces caught between a rock and a hard place

James M Dorsey Muhammad Manassara walked in late February into a gas station near the West Bank settlement of Eli. Armed with an automatic weapon, Manassara killed two people before he was shot dead by the owner of a restaurant at the station, the site of the killing last summer of four Israelis. Three weeks later, Mujahid Barakat Mansour, a father of two small children, opened fire near the […]

Aid is at the core of Israel, Palestine struggle to control post-war Gaza

James M Dorsey Israel’s refusal to lift restrictions on the unfettered entry into Gaza of food, medical supplies, and other desperately needed humanitarian goods, has less to do with a stand-alone starvation policy and more with who controls distribution in the Strip. Both Israel and Hamas see control of aid distribution as a building block of who comes out on top once the guns fall silent. The […]

Netanyahu’s walls are caving in

James M Dorsey Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s walls are caving in. His multiple battles fall into two categories: keeping his increasingly fragile government in place and fighting a war he has already lost in the court of public opinion and possibly on the ground in Gaza if measured by the prime minister’s war goals. On Monday, Israel suffered its most significant international setback since 2016 with […]

Palestinians may be more accommodating than Israelis

James M Dorsey A just-published Palestinian public opinion survey offers pointers for what a successful transition from the devastating Gaza war to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have to entail. The survey’s pointers take on added significance as the United States, Europe and Arab states seek to turn the fallout of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the carnage caused by Israel’s assault on the Strip […]

Biden may not have enough rope to push his vision of the Middle East

James M Dorsey This year’s US presidential elections are not the only potential hurdle confronting President Joe Biden’s multi-pronged vision for a Middle East peace once the Gaza war ends. So is Israeli intransigence, the prospect of a long-term insurgency in post-war Gaza, and increasing Saudi Chinese technological cooperation. The Biden administration is pushing for a multi-pronged comprehensive Middle East deal that would not only end the […]

Innocent Gazans pay a heavy price for Hamas and Israel’s disregard for human life

James M Dorsey \Failed efforts to achieve a Gaza ceasefire on the eve of Ramadan leave innocent Gazans in the lurch, highlight the gap between Israel and Hamas’ demands in negotiations, and raise the stakes for the United States. At the core of the stalled negotiations is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing Israel’s assault after a ceasefire and an exchange of some Hamas-held hostages kidnapped […]

Gaza war turns Palestine into a potential Middle Eastern lightning rod

James M Dorsey The Gaza war has turned Palestine into a lightning rod for mounting frustration and discontent in Arab autocracies such as Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Concerned that the war could mobilise segments of civil society, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates where any form of public protest is banned, have cracked down on expressions of solidarity with Gaza, including the sporting of […]

Ceasefire talks are about more than a Gaza truce and prisoner exchange

James M Dorsey A proposed temporary Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange appears designed to buy war-battered Gazans relief while enabling Israel and Hamas to claim a success. However, whether Israel or Hamas emerges as the ultimate victor will be determined by whether the truce becomes permanent and the war ends. Negotiated by Qatar, Egypt, the United States, Israel, and Hamas, the deal would be whittled down to […]

Soccer incidents question fundamentals of Saudi-Iran detente

James M Dorsey Two recent soccer incidents suggest that beyond optics little has changed in the Saudi-Iranian rivalry since China mediated the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries a year ago. On the contrary, the Gaza war has highlighted the potential threat Iran and its non-state allies pose to the kingdom, even if both countries have toned down their rhetoric, are cautious not to provoke the other, […]

Iran Facilitates Biden’s Support For Israel, But Tel Aviv Makes It Increasingly Difficult

Hardliners Ride High In Miidle East As Border Hostilities Escalate Unexpectedly

History Repeats Itself With The Killing Of Senior Hamas Official Saleh Al-Arouri

Israel, Hamas Prisoner Exchange Talks Further Mired

Hamas Manoeuvring Complicates Efforts To Secure Prisoner Swaps With Israel

UAE walks an ever-tightening geopolitical tightrope

James M Dorsey The United Arab Emirates walks a geopolitical tightrope, juggling big power rivalries and mounting regional instability fuelled by the Gaza war.  Putin’s movements beyond the confines of Russia are restricted. Signatories of the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court are obliged to arrest Putin against whom the court has issued a Ukraine-related international arrest warrant. Visiting the UAE and Saudi Arabia was a […]

Counterintuitive Palestine Politics: Hamas May Be Treading A Path Paved By PLO Earlier

By James M Dorsey Spanish philosopher George Santayana didn’t have Palestine in mind when he coined the phrase, ‘history repeats itself. ‘Yet, Santayana’s maxim may apply to Hamas when comparing the group’s political evolution to the 16-year-torturous road traversed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from classification by Israel and its Western allies as a […]

The post Counterintuitive Palestine Politics: Hamas May Be Treading A Path Paved By PLO Earlier first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

Gaza Conflict Ends Up Separating Wheat From Chaff Among Religious Leaders

By James M Dorsey Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel has not just divided Muslim political leaders. It’s also solicited diverse responses from religious figures and institutions, reflecting deeper divisions about what Islam stands for in the 21st century. At the core of the differences is the ability and willingness to empathise with innocent victims […]

The post Gaza Conflict Ends Up Separating Wheat From Chaff Among Religious Leaders first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.