Mahmoud Abbas

Topic: Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian schoolgirls from Hebron on their way to school (photo: HAZEM BADER/AFP/Getty Images)

Hebron: a divided city

"Palestine is like a prison"

The war in Gaza this past summer triggered memories of life during and after the second intifada in the West Bank. In Hebron in particular, many Palestinians fear that restrictions on their freedom of movement, which is already limited, could be tightened even more. Impressions of a divided city by Susanne KaiserMore

The Israeli army in the West Bank: The punishment of Palestinian citizens Interview with Abdallah Abu Rahma: Creative resistance to barbed wire and walls Attacks and unrest in Jerusalem: A third intifada in the making?Rebuilding Gaza: The back of the Gazan economy has been broken

Palestinian youths engaged in street battles with Israeli security forces on 7 November 2014 in East Jerusalem (photo: Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Attacks and unrest in Jerusalem

A third intifada in the making?

Jerusalem is once again a front-line city, haunted by the spectre of intifada. An update from Inge Günther in JerusalemMore

Israeli-Palestinian relations: Dialogue in a time of conflict Interview with Yehuda Shaul: "The treatment of the Palestinians is the biggest threat to Israel"Dossier: Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue

Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the gathering of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 22 July 2014 (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Germany's shared responsibility for the Gaza conflict and its end

Déjà vu in Gaza

For months, there has been an intense debate about whether Germany should assume greater foreign policy responsibility. Yet when it came to the conflict in Gaza, Germany's politicians have once again slipped into the role of the horrified bystander. By Muriel Asseburg und René WildangelMore

The EU and the Gaza conflict: "Effective diplomacy needs engagement with all sides"Europe and the Gaza conflict: "The Europeans must conduct a direct dialogue with Hamas"Interview with Yehuda Shaul: "The treatment of the Palestinians is the biggest threat to Israel"

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with his new government of national unity (Photo: Reuters)

Europe and the Gaza conflict

"The Europeans must conduct a direct dialogue with Hamas"

In light of the inability of those involved in the Gaza conflict to make peace, Europe cannot just stand on the sidelines and watch. If it does, the conflict will come here. The ostracisation of Hamas has proved counter-productive. A commentary by Abdel Mottaleb El HusseiniMore

Interview with Amos Oz: "For Israel, it is a lose-lose situation"Interview with Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert: "Nobody is safe in Gaza"The EU and the Gaza conflict: "Effective diplomacy needs engagement with all sides"

Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President (photo: picture alliance/dpa)

The EU and the Gaza conflict

"Effective diplomacy needs engagement with all sides"

While Europeans are focusing on Ukraine and Iraq, the oldest of the Middle East issues will haunt them for some time. The wider Israel–Palestinian conflict needs the full attention of Europe, writes Mattia ToaldoMore

Israeli military offensive in Gaza: Israel cannot win Interview with Raji Sourani in Gaza: "We are just soft targets: we are very cheap"The Israeli army in the West Bank: The punishment of Palestinian citizens

Interview with Amos Oz

"For Israel, it is a lose-lose situation"

Israel's ground offensive against Gaza is justified but excessive, says Amos Oz in this interview with Dennis Stute. However, the Israeli writer is also critical of the Hamas strategy of attacking Israel from within civilian areasMore

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Gaza: Propaganda war Israeli military offensive in Gaza: Israel cannot win Interview with Raji Sourani in Gaza: "We are just soft targets: we are very cheap"

Ruins of a house in Gaza after a rocket attack on 13.07.2014. Photo: Reuters

Escalation in the Middle East

Provocation and violence

What set off the new spiral of violence in the Middle East? Does Palestinian organisation Hamas deserve the blame? Bettina Marx doubts that's the case and takes a look back at developments in recent weeksMore

The Israeli army in the West Bank: The punishment of Palestinian citizens Israel's crisis politics: On hope and despair in the Middle East Palestinians in Israel: Crossing borders

Members of the Israeli army carrying out a raid in Hebron on 21 June 2014 (photo: Reuters/Mussa Qawasma)

The Israeli army in the West Bank

The punishment of Palestinian citizens

Israel's heavy-handed acts of retaliation against both Hamas and Palestinian civilians are threatening to provoke a new escalation of violence. The Israeli military deployment in the West Bank is the biggest since the end of the second Intifada in 2005. A commentary by René WildangelMore

Interview with the Israeli Peace Activist Uri Avnery: ''Israel Needs Peace, Not Settlements''The Palestinian Minority in Israel: Systematic Discrimination Essay by Tony Klug: Two States – by Design or Disaster Palestinian UN Initiative: A Positive Step

Hamas chief Ismail Hanija (right) and Fatah representative Azzam al-Ahmed in Gaza City on 23 April 2014 (photo: Reuters)

Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah

No peace without Palestinian unity

The Palestinian organisations Hamas and Fatah plan to seal an alliance with each other – primarily out of necessity. Reconciliation is difficult; the danger of failure is great. It is for precisely this reason that the US and Europe should support the process. A commentary by René WildangelMore

Interview with Sari Nusseibeh: Plea for Radical Pragmatism Protests against the Palestinian Authority: ''The People Want to Bring down Oslo''Interview with Matt Beynon Rees: "Hamas and Fatah Have an Interest in the Conflict Continuing"

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (photo: dpa)

Essay by Tony Klug

Two States – by Design or Disaster

In his essay, Tony Klug warns that there might soon come a time when it will be too late to negotiate a peaceful two-state settlement through mutual agreement. But, he says, Israel and its people will ultimately have to pay a high price - unless Israel soon starts to support the inevitable two-state solutionMore

Interview with Uri Avnery: ''Israel Needs Peace, Not Settlements''Interview with Mustafa Barghouti: ''This Society Does Not Want Extremism''Commentary by Daniel Barenboim: Perhaps the Last Chance

Uri Avnery (photo: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

Interview with the Israeli Peace Activist Uri Avnery

''Israel Needs Peace, Not Settlements''

Despite growing international criticism, Israel is pressing ahead with the construction of new settlements in and around Jerusalem. In this interview with Diana Hodali, peace activist Uri Avnery says that the current Israeli government does not actually want a two-state solution, regardless of what it saysMore

Interview with Uri Avnery: ''Israel Was Also Proclaimed Unilaterally''Commentary by Daniel Barenboim: Perhaps the Last Chance Interview with Sari Nusseibeh: A Virtual State Called Palestine

Commentary by Daniel Barenboim

Perhaps the Last Chance

In this commentary, pianist and star conductor Daniel Barenboim writes that the fact that Palestine was recently awarded non-member observer state status by the United Nations could be the last chance to breathe life into the two-state project in the Middle EastMore

Interview with Daniel Barenboim: ''Mutual Appreciation Is Essential''The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Consoling Concertos

Sari Nusseibeh (photo: Club Bertelsmann)

Interview with Sari Nusseibeh

A Virtual State Called Palestine

Sari Nusseibeh, Palestinian philosophy professor and President of the Al Quds University in East Jerusalem, talks to Inge Günther about the state of the peace process with IsraelMore

Palestinian UN Initiative: A Positive Step Interview with Moshe Zimmermann: ''One Has to Be in Favour of the UN Resolution''Interview with Sari Nusseibeh: Plea for Radical Pragmatism Dossier: Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue

Demonstration against the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah (photo: © René Wildangel)

Protests against the Palestinian Authority

''The People Want to Bring down Oslo''

Following a number of demonstrations in Ramallah, some of them brutally crushed by Palestinian police, the political future of occupied Palestinian territories is again thrown into question. By René WildangelMore

Middle East Peace Process: Palestinian Unity Required to Move Forward Mustafa Barghouti: Palestinians and the Path of Peaceful Resistance Islamism and Politics in the Middle East: Is Hamas Reinventing Itself?

Interview with Mustafa Barghouti

''This Society Does Not Want Extremism''

The Arab Spring is having an affect on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to Mustafa Barghouti, a politician and civil liberties campaigner from Ramallah, it is also having an affect on internal Palestinian relations. He talked to Kersten KnippMore

Interview with Mustafa Barghouti: Palestinians and the Path of Peaceful Resistance Islamism and Politics in the Middle East: Is Hamas Reinventing Itself?Interview with the Jewish Palestinian Politician Ilan Halevi: With One Foot in the UN

In Ramallah, Palestinians celebrate the unity deal between Hamas and Fatah on 6 February 2012 (photo: dpa)

Islamism and Politics in the Middle East

Is Hamas Reinventing Itself?

The signing of a new unity deal between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah party earlier this month has heightened an unprecedented struggle within Hamas over its future course as an Islamist movement. By Michael BröningMore

Interview with Mustafa Barghouti: Palestinians and the Path of Peaceful Resistance Interview with Matt Beynon Rees: ''Hamas and Fatah Have an Interest in the Conflict Continuing''Interview with the Jewish Palestinian Politician Ilan Halevi: With One Foot in the UN