Dr Adnan Abu Amer, Middle East Monitor

There has been a series of contacts and meetings between Hamas and Russia this year to discuss developments in the Palestinian issue. These included the US deal of the century, Israel’s annexation plan and the dangers of normalisation between Arab countries and the occupation state. In March, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Moscow to brief Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his officials about reconciliation with Fatah […]

Following the normalisation agreements between Gulf states and Israel, the US administration and the Israeli occupation started talking about the next country in line – Sudan. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been exerting pressure on Khartoum to join the normalisation wave. This comes despite the presence of internal opposition in Sudan, coinciding with the US’ offer to remove Sudan from the list of State Sponsors […]

At the height of Israel’s preoccupation with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the increased internal criticism of the government’s failure to deal with it and stop its spread, internal protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have intensified, and calls for his resignation have increased. These calls are being made either due to suspicion of corruption on his part, or his failure to adopt a successful […]

It is no secret that Egypt’s role in Palestine has been declining, especially after failing to mediate a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which Qatar did instead. Moreover, the Turkey-sponsored reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah exposed Cairo’s regional decline in favour of Doha and Ankara. Egypt has failed to support the Palestinians on several occasions, despite the fact that Cairo considers the Gaza Strip to […]

Day after day, the magnitude of the Israeli benefits from normalisation with the Gulf become clearer, especially on the military and strategic levels. The latest benefit is talk about establishing Israeli military bases in the Gulf, the Red Sea and Bab El-Mandab, or benefiting from the Emirati bases scattered in these areas, and the military benefits for Israel brought about by controlling these international seaports. The Emirati-Israeli agreement included many […]

At the dawn of the era of political normalisation between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, Palestinian media circles and journalists have warned against the popular Nas Daily, which millions watch on Facebook and other social media. They have demanded that subscribers should boycott the show, and accuse it of normalising with Israel under UAE auspices. The normalisation agenda aims to train Arab content creators, through the […]

On the 20th anniversary of its outbreak, Israelis still remember Al-Aqsa Intifada and recall the guerrilla operations that shook the pillars of their security, leading many to leave the country. Some areas were turned into ghost towns. The uprising included 10,000 armed attacks which resulted in the death of over 1,000 Israelis. The five years of the intifada are a bloody chapter in Israeli history. The […]

The sixth anniversary of the ending of Israel’s military offensive against Gaza in 2014 was met with escalating tension between Hamas and Israel. There are conflicting readings of the achievements and failures of that offensive, as well as the extent to which the current tension could move to a widespread military confrontation. The 2014 war has not been studied and analysed enough, but one important conclusion […]

Israel is frustrated at its failure to tackle the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement despite the huge budget allocated to the task and the recruitment of pro-Israel activists worldwide to help. The movement continues to flourish in its effort to get Israel to abide by international law. What’s the reason for Israel’s failure? Is it related to financial, political or security issues? What impact […]

There has been a recent increase in security chaos in the West Bank, the latest of which is the killing of some Fatah field leaders by internal fire, in conjunction with the decline in the security control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which may reinforce the hypothesis of increased incidents of security chaos among its leaders and bodies. In recent weeks, the West Bank has witnessed […]

The rapid development of normalisation of the Emirati-Israeli relations has constituted a truly historic occasion to turn the page after decades of clandestine contact, only then to make them public without shame nor consideration for any Palestinian and Arab response. Abu Dhabi’s haste in an official announcement to normalise its relations with Tel Aviv, without an urgent motivation or need to take this step is surprising, […]

While Israel is commemorating the 15th anniversary of the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, a number of senior Israeli officials have revealed what they are calling new secrets that are coming to light for the first time. These secrets are related to a plan prepared by Ariel Sharon, the then prime minister of Israel, to implement the second part of the disengagement in […]

The possibly temporary postponement of Israel’s annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank and Jordan Valley arose out of disagreements from within the Zionist state itself as well as other voices warning of the consequences of such a move. The fear is that Israel will be portrayed even more strongly as an apartheid state, recreating the disgraceful, disgraced and dismantled South African apartheid system. Indeed, […]

In 2005, the Israeli army began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip as part of the unilateral disengagement plan, and with this anniversary many Israeli circles criticised the plan, due to its major disadvantages. Palestinians and Israelis commemorate each summer the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, amid Israeli fears that similar action will be taken in the occupied West Bank. This could be […]

Recent meetings between representatives of Fatah and Hamas have had major coverage in the Israeli media. They are a source of great concern in case they provide Hamas with political and security cover in the occupied West Bank enabling it to resume resistance operations against Israel if the Palestinian Authority stops its own persecution of the movement. The most recent online meeting was between Jibril Rajoub, […]

Despite the “temporary” delay in announcing the Israeli annexation plan, the Israeli readings remained unchanged, offering a number of scenarios and assessments regarding the implications implementing the plan will have on the relationship with the PA. At the same time, Israeli officials continued their readings and expectations of the implications of the annexation plan and what may result, specifically at the security level. They also mention its […]

Israeli security assessments revealed that the implementation of the annexation process in the West Bank will lead to the return of individual Palestinian attacks, leading to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. They have not ruled out the scenario of a new intifada because the Palestinian security services may allow the Palestinians to demonstrate and confront the Israeli army in points of friction, but it will […]

A crisis erupted between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the UAE, in light of the PA’s rejection of a medical aid shipment offered by Emirati authorities to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which travelled through Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. The PA stated that the reason behind its refusal to accept the gift was the UAE’s failure to coordinate with the local authorities about the shipment, saying that it […]

The Israeli army is preparing for the annexation of the West Bank, and possible Palestinian responses, although calls for action against the occupation state may not be heeded in the present circumstances. Various factors make it unlikely for the Palestinians to engage in activities against Israel, including the Palestinian Authority’s rejection of armed resistance (President Mahmoud Abbas is ready to thwart attacks against the colonial-settler state), […]

Palestinians recently launched a massive campaign to boycott Israeli social media pages and apps, especially those connected to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) responsible for communicating with them. COGAT presents itself as a contributor to the betterment of their personal and social activities. The Palestinians, however, view it as a dangerous portal for security and intelligence recruitment. The campaign has so far […]

Palestinians and Israelis are still surprised by the recent guerrilla operation that took place in the town of Ya’bad, on the outskirts of Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank. During the operation, an Israeli soldier from the elite Golani Brigade was killed when a young Palestinian threw a large stone at him, killing him instantly. The element of surprise among Palestinians and Israelis […]

Mohammad Shtayyeh is finishing his first year as Palestinian Prime Minister, but he faces several challenges, most notably the coronavirus pandemic in the occupied West Bank, which is taking a dangerous turn after the daily increase in cases of infection. He is also facing the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis following the fall of domestic revenue and foreign aid, as well as Israel’s refusal to hand over […]

Mohammed Nazzal, a member of the Hamas political bureau, revealed for the first time the details of the meeting between the movement’s leaders and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in 2015. He also revealed that the previous two Saudi monarchs donated millions of riyals to the movement, and that it continues its communications with Saudi Arabia to release dozens of its members detained since […]