Middle East
Eastern Syria’s Clashes
In the months leading up to the current unrest, the focus of the U.S.-led forces shifted from combating jihadist cells to monitoring a plan to expel the Kurds from the area, with the help of individuals linked to the Assad regime.
The Fatalism of Israel’s Druze
The Druze community’s stance has changed since just five years ago, when they were among those leading the movement against the controversial 2018 Israeli nation-state law. A sense of disenfranchisement has been festering among even the most pro-Israeli members of the Druze community.
Israel’s Current Crisis Exposes Christian Zionism’s Contradictory Ideals
Christian Zionists tend to be friendly with the Israeli right, especially with Benjamin Netanyahu. And they have, in eras past, involved themselves with Israeli politics when it suited their goals. So why have they been practicing a studied neutrality on the judicial overhaul bill and the political unrest of recent months?
In Israel, Religious Zionism Keeps Flexing Its Muscles Amid the Ongoing Battle With Liberalism
For more than a century, Religious Zionism has been the designation for a range of movements and figures, many of which would scarcely recognize the party that now bears its name. Religious Zionism’s story is a creative, desperate, moving and scary search for a compass in the exhilarating and terrifying modern world.
If It’s Thursday in the Middle East, It’s Time for a Wedding
The Jordanian royal wedding was one of the biggest celebrations the region has seen in decades — and, internationally, perhaps second only to that other royal wedding. Above all, it was a night to celebrate love and everything that folklore has told us to expect of a Thursday night, because across the Arab world, Thursday has become the day of weddings.
Innovators in the Gulf Envision Traditional Ways to Reduce Reliance on Air Conditioning
For centuries, people in the Gulf relied on ingenious architectural solutions to control the climate. With the arrival of modern air conditioning, architecture and lifestyles changed, but the future may look more like the past.
Chips Oman Keeps the Past Alive in Dubai’s Booming Food Scene
Dubai is, after all, a city riddled with opulence and unapologetic about it — gold vending machines, 23-karat edible gold sundaes and a collective penchant for all things over the top. In contrast, the hero ingredient of the cheap, cheerful sandwich is the humble Chips Oman, a brand of potato chips that debuted back in 1983 and is widely dubbed Oman’s greatest export.