Nawaf Salam

Palestinian Circumlocutions

The unending Palestinian saga seems to thrive on power politics entanglements, unwinding political patronages and the externalization of blame without any critical retrospection to figure out the rationale behind the unending cycles of political entrapment and outright instrumentation. We are faced with a behavioral pattern that never belied ...

Trump Cautions Israel After Qatar Attack

Days after Israel attacked Qatar in an airstrike targeting Hamas leaders, US President Donald Trump made careful remarks Sunday as Washington's two powerful Middle Eastern allies face a worsening rift. "Qatar has been a very great ally. Israel and everyone else, we have to be careful. When we attack people we have to be careful," ...

Qatar PM urges world to 'stop using double standards' and punish Israel

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged the international community on Sunday to "stop using double standards" and punish Israel for what he described as its "crimes." He was speaking at a preparatory meeting on the eve of an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders organized by Qatar after Israel carried out an ...

Rubio Visits Israel in Aftermath of Qatar Strike

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio prayed at Jerusalem's Western Wall Sunday as he opened his visit to Israel, reaffirming the Trump administration's steadfast support in its war with Hamas despite backlash over a strike in Qatar. The trip is taking place after President Donald Trump rebuked Israel over the unprecedented attack against Hamas ...

Palestinians Flee Gaza City Under Israeli Bombardment

Palestinian families streamed out of Gaza City on Sunday, some crammed into pickup trucks, others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the territory's main urban center. Parents carried their children while the elderly hobbled along, an AFP journalist reported. A man in a wheelchair and another on crutches were among the long line ...

Israel Army Says over 250,000 Residents Have Left Gaza City

The Israeli military said Saturday that more than 250,000 people had fled Gaza City since it began intensifying operations there, as Palestinian officials reported many had been unable to evacuate south due to overcrowding. The United Nations estimated in late August that about one million Palestinians lived in and around Gaza's largest urban ...

Israeli Incursion in Odaisseh, Fatal Strike in Aitaroun

At dawn, Israeli forces advanced into the outskirts of the town of Odaisseh, where they carried out an explosion. Meanwhile, an Israeli drone dropped a bomb near the old square of Kfar Kila. The Israeli Army also reported that a Hezbollah member was killed in an airstrike last night in the Aitaroun area of southern Lebanon. A drone later flew ...

New Details on the Israeli Attack in Doha

The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported that the Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha, was carried out using long-range missiles launched by F-15 and F-35 fighter jets from Red Sea airspace, at a distance of more than 1,800 kilometers. According to the report, the US military was notified of the ...

Arab, Muslim Leaders to Meet in Qatar to Denounce Israeli Attack

Qatar said Saturday it will host a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders to denounce Israel's attack on Hamas officials in Doha and to show solidarity with the Gulf state. Monday's meeting would consider "a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar" to be drafted Sunday at a ministerial meeting, said foreign ...

Trump Will Host Qatar’s Leader as Rubio Heads to Israel

US President Donald Trump will meet Qatar's prime minister on Friday after an Israeli strike on Hamas in the key US partner, the White House said. Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff "will be having dinner" with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, it said in a brief statement. The announcement came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...

Al-Sharaa Says Syria in Talks with Israel on Security Deal

President Ahmad al-Sharaa said Friday that Syria was negotiating with Israel to reach a security agreement that would see Israel leave areas it occupied after the December overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. As the Islamist-led forces toppled Assad on December 8, Israel deployed troops to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights ...

UN Revives Two-State Solution by Excluding Hamas, “Which Must be Disarmed”

The UN General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted the “New York Declaration,” aimed at reviving the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, but explicitly excluding Hamas, which “must hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority.”   The resolution, presented by France and Saudi Arabia, was ...