Middle East
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Middle East conflict
Israel's endless occupation
Fifty-five years after Israel began occupying Palestinian lands, it is more difficult than ever to imagine a way out. The seeds of the two-state solution that were planted by visionary leaders on both sides have failed to take root. All that remains is a fatalistic acceptance of the conflict’s insolubility. Commentary by Schlomo Ben-Ami
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Putin’s new world order
What does the war in Ukraine mean?
Despite what heads of state may claim, the Russian attack on Ukraine is not a wake-up call for a self-confident Europe that defends its values. The war is accelerating the decline of the old continent and rousing familiar spectres from the past that never really went away. Meanwhile, the Middle East is reprising its not unfamiliar role as an under-reported fringe region. Essay by Stefan Buchen
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Syria before the war
An exhibition to remember
A new exhibition, "Syria – Against Forgetting", at Cologne’s Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum focuses on Syria's artistic and cultural heritage and pays tribute to the country before the war. By Torsten Landsberg
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Emancipation in the MENA region
The patriarchy is crumbling
With regard to gender justice, things look bleak in the Arab world. Laws typically discriminate against women, while national legislation all too often does not comply with the international agreements governments have signed. By Mona Naggar
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COP27 in the Middle East
Egypt calls for 'reality check' in UN climate talks
Egypt hopes to jump-start the action needed to face a warming world when it takes the presidency of major UN climate talks in November, but warns that countries need a "reality check" as progress stalls
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Which country will be next?
Lebanon and Sri Lanka share economic collapse
Lebanon and Sri Lanka may be a world apart, but they share a history of political turmoil and violence that has led to the collapse of once-prosperous economies bedevilled by corruption, patronage, nepotism and incompetence. By Zeina Karam and David Rising
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Documenta 15 and anti-Semitism
Yazan Khalili – an artist misunderstood?
Yazan Khalili is spokesman for The Question of Funding, a collective of artists taking part in the leading German contemporary art festival Documenta 15. Here, he responds to allegations that he has in the past spread anti-Semitism. By Joseph Croitoru
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Deutsche Welle in the Middle East
We need dialogue
When times are tough, the exchange of ideas and perspectives becomes especially important. It takes dialogue. And at Deutsche Welle, we need distributors and cooperative partners for that – now more than ever. By Peter Limbourg
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Syrian civil war
Bashar al Assad's killing machine exposed
A leaked video shows scenes of a grisly Damascus massacre by Assad forces. Six minutes of horror from the war in Syria that were never intended to be made public. By Luisa von Richthofen and Khaled Salameh
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Khaled Khalifa’s “No One Prayed Over Their Graves”
The maelstrom of Aleppo
Longlisted for the 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction and now available in German translation, Khaled Khalifa’s novel “No One Prayed Over Their Graves” details lives and loves lost against the backdrop of a city undergoing seismic change. Joseph Croitoru read the book
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Water mismanagement in Iran
Drought and diversions – pulling the plug on Isfahan
Drought and upstream water diversions have seen the Zayandeh Rood, "fertile river" in Persian, run dry since 2000, with only rare exceptions. The famed river bridges of the Iranian city of Isfahan are a beloved tourist draw – but much of the time their stone arches span just sand and rocks, not water
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Iraq bans contact with Israel
Anti-Semitism as state doctrine?
A law has been passed by the Iraqi parliament that criminalises any contact with Israel. In the midst of heated debates on the subject, one crucial aspect has been forgotten: the restitution of Jewish property. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad