Middle East
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COVID-19 in the Middle East
Playing down pandemic death tolls
A new global database shows a significant gap in reported COVID-related deaths, suggesting the actual worldwide death toll is short by at least 1 million. That's due in part to false figures from autocratic regimes. Jennifer Holleis has the details
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9/11 twenty years on
How the 'War on Terror' destabilised the Middle East
Two decades after the attacks of 11 September 2001, the West faces the shattered debris of its failure – not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen. What went wrong in the war on terror? And what lessons can Europe learn from it? Essay by Kristin Helberg
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Western withdrawal from Afghanistan
The symbolic importance of the U.S. defeat
Caught up in discussions on the future of local Afghan forces and new Islamist threats, people are failing to grasp the historic scale of the debacle, argues Stefan Buchen in his essay
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Middle East conflict
"The Palestinians face repression on all sides"
Hamas in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Israel: Palestinians have fewer and fewer rights, says Khaled Elgindy. The Middle East could escalate at any time. An interview by Andrea Backhaus
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Islamic law in Afghanistan
Sharia – nightmare or ticket to salvation?
The Taliban, Islamic State, al-Qaida – for most Muslims their understanding of sharia is a nightmare. But what is sharia law really? Answers by Mathias Rohe
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Film review: "Gaza mon amour"
Palestinian world cinema by the Nasser brothers
With "Gaza mon amour", the Nasser brothers have made a film in a genre that doesn't actually exist: regular Palestinian arthouse cinema. By Bert Rebhandl
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Women in the Arab world
More violence, less income: Arab women bear the brunt of COVID-19
A new survey by Arab Barometer adds numbers to the narrative that COVID has led to a harsher reality for women in the Middle East and North Africa. By Jennifer Holleis and Razan Salman
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The fate of the Armenians
Vakıflı: The last Armenian village in Turkey
The village of Vakıflı (population 150) in the southern Turkish province of Hatay near the Syrian border is the last remaining Armenian village in Turkey. Lately, interest in the town and the history of Armenians has been growing. By Jochen Menzel
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US policy in the Middle East
The America that Israel and Palestine need
Joe Biden promised to make democracy and human rights central to US foreign policy. But that means not insisting on Israel's right to defend itself without mentioning its expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, its policy of discrimination, and its denial of the Palestinians' right to an independent state. By Mohamed ElBaradei
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US withdrawal from Iraq
Not Afghanistan: Why the US and Iraq won't leave one another
While agreeing last week to a withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, neither Iraqi nor US leaders can admit publicly how much they need each other. By Cathrin Schaer
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Promoting human rights in the Middle East
The U.S. and Arab hearts and minds – an impossible task?
As the Biden administration attempts to promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East, it will confront the deep-seated belief among Arabs that U.S. policies are unfair to their central causes and biased in favour of the ruling elite of their countries. By Rafiah Al Talei
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Amina Wadud's "Qur'an and Woman" revisited
"Inequality between men and women is contrary to Islam"
Penned by pioneering American female imam and champion of gender equality within Islam, Amina Wadud, "Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective" (1999) had a huge impact on academic thought across the Muslim and non-Muslim world. Now it has finally been translated into French – reason enough to re-examine her groundbreaking premise. By Malika Hamidi