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Trump’s Jerusalem Policy is a Wakeup Call for Arabs

03.8.18

BY EKRAM IBRAHIM When President Donald Trump declared in December that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, many observers heard a death knell for Palestinian hopes that Jerusalem would serve as the future capital of an independent state. But in reality, aspirations for an Arab Jerusalem died long before – […]

Why West Bank Settlements Threaten Both Israel and Palestine

06.29.17

BY MATT MCDOLE The clatter of rocks on limestone brings our conversation to an abrupt halt as we dart for cover along the sides of the narrow street. Under the questionable protection of torn awnings, our group of Harvard graduate students resumes the journey into the heart of the medieval Palestinian City of Hebron. Overhead, nets and metal grates hang down, sagging under the weight of kitchen […]

Hezbollah fighter's funeral

Hezbollah in Syria: a gamble too far?

04.18.17

Despite incurring heavy losses, Hezbollah stands to gain from its participation in the Syrian civil war on the side of Assad.

International Relations and Security
Beirut River

Dying of thirst: The Levant’s water worries

02.14.17

Water is the cornerstone of human life – but what happens to countries when they start running out of “blue gold”?

Poverty, Inequality and Opportunity
Separation wall

Israel-Palestine: Can Trump seal the deal?

02.13.17

Trump prides himself on his deal-making abilities, but securing “the ultimate deal” between Israelis and Palestinians presents major challenges.

International Relations and Security
Satellite view of the Middle East

The glass half empty: Water in the Middle East

02.12.17

The Middle East is an arid region to begin with, but climate change is set to exacerbate the region’s water scarcity.

Environment and Energy
Russian military in Syria

Russia, Syria, and the ‘new Cold War’

12.19.16

Russia intervened in the Syrian war to redefine the international balance of power, not as a brotherly commitment to defend his Arab ally.

Ofra and Amona settlements

Israel’s controversial ‘settlement bill’: A conversation with Richard Falk

12.1.16

Embed from Getty Images  Israeli riot police clashed with settlers living in the Amona “outpost” settlement in 2006 A controversial bill in Israel aims to legalize settlements in the occupied West Bank built on privately owned Palestinian land. The bill was proposed after an Israeli court ordered the demolition of the Amona “outpost,” a West Bank settlement […]

Human Rights

‘This was a story that had to be told’:  Sold-out crowd at Palestine Film Festival

10.18.16

Boston’s Palestine Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, opened on Friday, October 15 with a timely, searing showing of Mai Masri’s 3000 Nights. 3000 Nights tells the story of Layal Asfour, a newlywed schoolteacher turned political prisoner in the early 1980s. She gives birth in Israel’s Ramla prison, and, with the other women inmates, raises […]

Gender, Race and Identity

‘Enrichment, not learning’: World Teacher of the Year

09.24.16

Wars may be started by adults, but the effects of war do not discriminate by age. The lives, and futures, of children are just as vulnerable to the physical and mental traumas of modern warfare. Today, Aleppo is one of the most violent battlefields of the war in Syria, and an estimated 75,000 children survive amidst barrel bombs, […]

Education, Training and Labor

Cyberspace: ‘Everyone can attack everyone else’

09.9.16

Eviatar Matania, the head of Israel’s National Cyber Bureau, spoke at Harvard’s Belfer Center on the unique properties of the cyber domain, and how governments can bolster their defenses in cyberspace. Cyberattacks are nothing new. But they are becoming more sophisticated, and more frequent. This year alone, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were left in […]

Science, Technology and Data

Israel’s Arabs: Separate but Equal? 

07.12.16

International media and human rights groups place much focus on Israel’s ongoing occupation of the West Bank and its accompanied detrimental effects. However, outside the confines of this well-reported conflict is the lesser-known and lesser-regarded condition of Israel’s own Arab population.  While Israeli Arabs are offered equal citizenship, freedoms, and voting rights as Israeli Jewish […]

Human Rights

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