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Middle East

A Diary of Gaza’s Destruction

The Ravages of Displacement in Gaza

Now, within the hollows of devastation, we stand as we watch our worlds crumble around us. A barrage of agonizing inquiries besieges us, propelling us toward oblivion: What of safety? Of dreams?

The Gaza War’s Traumatized Children

Children of War

The impact of the intractable conflict on Israeli and Palestinian children was severe even before the Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s military response, but according to child psychologists, the current conflict has intensified their trauma and left indelible scars.

Revisiting the Adams Colony Affair in Palestine

Revisiting the Adams Colony Affair in Palestine

The story involves a hard-drinking lapsed actor and former Mormon abolitionist who sets off from Maine in 1866 to build a colony in Palestine. He fails spectacularly and his followers, after facing disease, bandits and financial ruin, end up on a ship home with a highly amused Mark Twain.

The Cost of Leaving Gaza

The Cost of Leaving Gaza

Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza have one way out, through the Rafah crossing. But Egyptian brokers require a bribe of up to $10,000 per person, while Israeli authorities demand astronomical fees from registered citizens for their legal right to repatriation. The bureaucracy takes weeks, the bombs fall and hunger rages.

Making It Work From the River to the Sea

Making It Work From the River to the Sea

Negotiations and wars have demonstrably failed to bring any resolution to Israel and Palestine. But while history is littered with failed partitions, there is another way. The challenge is to decouple peace from land, and recognize that security depends not on territory but on equal treatment.

Israeli Raids Rekindle Memories of War in South Lebanon

Israeli Raids Rekindle Memories of War in South Lebanon

Israeli warplanes recently conducted 10 raids on Wadi Saluqi in southern Lebanon, the valley nestled between the villages of Chakra and Hula. This valley holds a peculiar place in my memories, serving as a conduit for impossible events and strange tales, and the attacks rekindled long-dormant memories of the area.

The Erasure of Palestinian Society

The Erasure of Palestinian Society

Israeli leaders, and Western discourse at large, have long reduced the Palestinian national struggle to particular leaders or factions. Palestinian people, according to this perspective, are little more than puppets manipulated by those leaders, human shields behind which they hide or collateral damage of Israel’s military campaigns.