Middle East Press on: Israeli, Palestinian, Prisoners, Gaza, Ceasefire, Hamas: New Age Islam's Selection, 22 January 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
22 January 2025
Contrasting Reality: Treatment Of Israeli And Palestinian Prisoners
Gaza Ceasefire At Last: How Israel's 'First Defeat' Will Shape The Country's Future
Sanctions On Sudan’s RSF Leader’s Financial Assets May Limit Or Curtail His Ability To Wage War
Israel At A Crossroads: Peace Or Perpetuating The Cycle Of Violence
Choosing Life Over Death: What Drives Israel’s Deal With Hamas
How Turkey’s Founding Ideology Shaped Its Oppression Of Kurds And Minorities – Opinion
2nd Trump Term: Is Peace In Europe And The Middle East Attainable?
How Gaza Became Israel’s Achilles’ Heel
Will West Bank Be Next In Israel’s Firing Line?
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Contrasting Reality: Treatment Of Israeli And Palestinian Prisoners
By Jamal Kanj
January 21, 2025
The release of three Israeli women held captive in Gaza on Sunday attracted significant global media attention. However, there was comparatively limited coverage of the freed Palestinian women, who had been kidnapped and detained by Israel without charge. This disparity reflects the normalisation of the dehumanisation of Palestinians, perpetuating a narrative that enables Israel to murder more than 46,000 Palestinians with impunity.
Initial medical assessments by the Red Cross and Israeli doctors indicated that the women were in good health, suggesting they had been treated well during their captivity. Their accounts speak of humane conditions with access to food, water and shelter. Israeli captives were afforded medical care and sustenance, when Israel starved Palestinian children, murdered doctors and burned down hospitals.
The Israeli women were treated with dignity during their captivity. In contrast, a United Nations report highlights the mistreatment of Palestinian women in Israeli jails, and how they are “subjected to sexual assault, stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers”, and threatened with sexual violence. The same report also noted that Israeli soldiers took photos of female Palestinian detainees “in degrading circumstances” and threatened to post the images online to further humiliate and exert control over them.
The well-being of the released Israeli captives—despite the devastation in Gaza at the hands of Israel⎯bespeaks of the humane values of their captors. Without a doubt, their visible appearance reveals that they had enjoyed what the majority of Gazans did not have access to, under the malevolent Israeli siege, such as food, fuel to keep warm or safe shelter to protect them from Israeli bombs and the elements.
Meanwhile, a video of the released Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian woman prisoner leader, shows her struggling to walk—a contrast to the image of her before she was kidnapped by Israeli Occupation forces in December 2023.
The care shown to Israeli prisoners is the polar opposite of the treatment Palestinian prisoners received in Israeli custody. Among them, detained Palestinian doctors tortured to death not for carrying a gun, but rather for holding a scalpel in the operating room to treat the injured, possibly including Israeli captives.
Palestinians who survived Israeli torture, like body-builder Moazaz Obaiyat, tell a different story. Obaiyat was detained following a pre-dawn raid on his West Bank home in October 2023. Unlike the healthy Israeli women who sprinted into the Red Cross vehicles upon their release, the once strong and muscular Obaiyat was unable to walk unaided, after being held without charge for eleven months.
For Palestinians held in Israeli jails, the reality could not be more different since 1948. The maltreatment of Palestinian prisoners, torture, abuse and even death in custody have been well-documented by human rights organizations. According to UN sources, 56 Palestinians have lost their lives in Israeli prisons due to torture since 7 October,2023.
Male Palestinian detainees have also been victims of sexual assault as a means of humiliation and coercion. These crimes are not isolated incidents but part of a racist Israeli policy designed to break their will. Not only have the Israeli perpetrators gone unpunished, but their actions have often been justified or defended by Israeli leaders. For Palestinian prisoners—many held without charge or trial—captivity is an experience of unimaginable torment.
Torture and the humiliation of Palestinians in Israeli jails is backed by Israeli officials, such as Israeli lawmaker, Hanoch Milwidsky. When asked if it was acceptable “to insert a stick into a person’s rectum”, Milwidsky responded, “Yes, if he is a Nukhba (Hamas militant) everything is legitimate to do! Everything!”
According to Israeli accounts, this qualification of being a Hamas militant effectively applies to every Palestinian in Gaza, as per Israeli government, “there are no innocent civilians”. This sentiment was echoed earlier by the self-proclaimed moderate Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, who declared, “An entire nation out there is responsible.”
In defending the abusive actions by reservist jailers, the racist Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, wrote in a post on social media: “Take your hands off the reservists”, referring to Israeli soldiers charged with sodomising Palestinian prisoners.
Torture, detention without charge and other punitive measures remains a persistent feature of Israeli policy discourse. This institutional backing not only perpetuates abuse but also normalises this behaviour in the Israeli culture, against the Palestinian “goyim”.
When abuses are exposed, Israeli officials often deny or downplay them as isolated incidents. They refuse to allow independent investigations or hold anyone accountable. Israeli prison officials and political leaders consistently defend their actions, framing any criticism as an attack on Israel’s security apparatus. Some Israeli lawmakers and public figures argue that the humanisation of Palestinian prisoners undermines the morale of security forces.
The disparity in the treatment of prisoners serves as a microcosm of the broader power and ethical divide between Israelis and Palestinians. While Israeli captives are humanised, Palestinians in Israeli jails endure systemic abuse that reflects the dehumanisation of an entire people. This double standard is not only a moral failing but also a reflection of the deep-seated Zionist ideology that dismisses the humanity of Palestinians.
The international community’s silence on the plight of Palestinian prisoners stands in stark contrast to the overwhelming outpouring of concern for Israeli captives. This selective outrage only enables the Israeli policies of dehumanisation, injustice and oppression. The contrasting reality between Israeli and Palestinian captives exposes not just the dehumanisation inherent in the Israeli culture toward non-Jews, but also strips naked the selective morality of the West.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250121-contrasting-reality-treatment-of-israeli-and-palestinian-prisoners/
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Gaza Ceasefire At Last: How Israel's 'First Defeat' Will Shape The Country's Future
By Dr Ramzy Baroud
January 21, 2025
Regardless of the reasoning behind this statement, which the article divides into 14 points, it suggests a shattering and unprecedented event in the 76-year history of the state of Israel. The consequences of this realisation will have far-reaching effects on Israelis, impacting both this generation and the next. These repercussions will penetrate all sectors of Israeli society, from the political elite to the collective identity of ordinary Israelis.
Interestingly, and tellingly, the article attributes Israel’s defeat solely to the outcome of the Gaza war, confined to the geographical area of the Gaza Strip. Not a single point addresses the ongoing crisis within Israel itself. Nor does it explore the psychological impact of what is being labelled as Israel’s first-ever defeat.
Unlike previous military campaigns in Gaza – on a much smaller scale compared to the current genocidal war – there is no significant strand of Israeli society claiming victory. The familiar rhetoric of “mowing the lawn”, which Israel often uses to describe its wars, is notably absent. Instead, there is a semi-consensus within Israel that the ceasefire deal was unequivocally bad, even disastrous for the country.
The word “bad” carries broad implications. For Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, it represents a “complete surrender”. For the equally extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, it is a “dangerous deal” that compromises Israel’s “national security”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog refrained from offering political specifics but addressed the deal in equally strong terms: “Let there be no illusions. This deal – when signed, approved and implemented – will bring with it deeply painful, challenging and harrowing moments.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, along with other Israeli officials, tried to justify the deal by framing Israel’s ultimate goal as the freeing of captives. “If we postpone the decision, who knows how many will remain alive?” he said.
However, many in Israel, along with an increasing number of analysts, are now questioning the government’s narrative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously rejected similar ceasefire agreements in May and July, impeding any possibility of negotiation.
In the time between those rejections and the eventual acceptance of the deal, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded. While these tragedies have been entirely disregarded or dismissed in Israel, many Israeli captives were also killed, mostly in Israeli military strikes.
Had Netanyahu accepted the deal earlier, many of these captives would likely still be alive. This fact will linger over whatever remains of Netanyahu’s political career, further defining his already controversial and corruption-riddled legacy.
Ultimately, Netanyahu has failed on multiple fronts. Initially, he wanted to prevent his right-wing, extremist coalition from collapsing, even at the expense of most Israelis. As early as May 2024, many prioritised the return of captives over the continuation of war. Netanyahu’s eventual concession was not driven by internal pressure, but by the stark realisation that he could no longer win.
The political crisis that had been brewing in Israel reached a breaking point as Netanyahu’s administration scrambled to navigate the growing discontent. In an article published soon after the ceasefire announcement, Yedioth Ahronoth declared Netanyahu politically defeated, while his Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, was blamed for military failure.
In reality, Netanyahu has failed on both fronts. Military generals repeatedly urged him to end the war, believing Israel had achieved tactical victories in Gaza. During the war, Israel’s political and social crises deepened.
Netanyahu, at the helm, resorted to his old tactics. Instead of demonstrating true leadership, he engaged in political manipulation, lied when it suited him, threatened those who refused to follow his rules and deflected personal responsibility. Meanwhile, the Israeli public became increasingly disillusioned with the war’s direction and frustrated with Netanyahu and his coalition.
In the end, the entire Kafkaesque structure of Israeli governance collapsed. The failure to manage both the political crisis and the military strategy left Israel’s leadership weakened and increasingly isolated from the public.
Of course, Netanyahu will not give up easily. He will likely attempt to satisfy Ben-Gvir by insisting that Israel retains the right to return to war at any time. He will likely enable Smotrich to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank and may try to redeem the military’s reputation by escalating operations there.
These actions may buy Netanyahu some time, but they will not last. The majority of Israelis now seek new elections. While previous elections have ignored Palestinians, the next election will be almost entirely defined by the Gaza war and its aftermath
Israel is now facing the reality of a political and military failure on a scale previously unimaginable. Netanyahu’s handling of the situation will be remembered as a key moment in the country’s history, and its consequences will continue to affect Israeli society for years to come.
Netanyahu’s departure from the political stage seems inevitable – whether because of the war’s outcome, the next elections or simply due to illness and old age. However, the material and psychological impacts of the Gaza war on Israeli society will remain, and they are likely to have irreversible consequences. These effects could potentially threaten the survival of Israel itself.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250121-gaza-ceasefire-at-last-how-israels-first-defeat-will-shape-the-countrys-future/
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Sanctions On Sudan’s RSF Leader’s Financial Assets May Limit Or Curtail His Ability To Wage War
By Khalil Charles
January 21, 2025
It is difficult to assess whether the major loss incurred by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)’s military leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo in Sudan’s second city is more damaging than the imposition of international sanctions on his financial assets. After being defeated in Madani by the Sudan Armed Forces, led by Abdul Fatah Al-Burhan, the RSF leader’s reputation and financial standing has been impacted. His considerable fortunes amassed from his private army for hire, his vast gold assets and his holding companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) now all appear to be at risk.
Almost two years after his failed attempt to overthrow Al-Burhan in April 2022, Dagalo and his paramilitary militia RSF continue to be locked into a protracted war with the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). However, many commentators – including journalists – do not believe Dagalo is still alive. Rumours about his whereabouts persist as he has not been seen in public for the past year. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the doubts, Dagalo’s forces’ presence in the capital and other parts of the country still remain a major threat to the stability of Sudan and the region.
Removing Dagalo and his family from the political and historical heritage of Sudan may still prove a difficult task. Commonly known as Hemedti, Dagalo is from the Rizeigat Arab tribe, a native of Chad and Sudan’s old kingdom of Darfur. His grandfather was the head of a sub clan of the Mahariya Rizeigat and his uncle was chief of the elite Awlad Mansour clan of the tribe. Dagalo left formal education in the third grade and became a camel trader. Landless and marginalised in both countries, the young man became involved in the unrest and instability in Darfur. His family became a core element of the Arab militia that fought in Sudan’s government counterinsurgency efforts against rebels from the JEM and SLA Armed Movements.
Rising rapidly in the ranks of the Arab militia, Dagalo became a commander of the notorious ‘Janjaweed’ militia formed by former President Omar Al-Bashir. The effectiveness of his quelling rebellions eventually won him the affection of Al-Bashir, and he soon regarded as part of Al-Bashir’s elite force. The nickname “Hemedti” was given to him by the former president, meaning “my protector”. Ironically, the nickname proved to be a misnomer as Hemedti eventually turned against Al-Bashir, removing him from office.
In 2007 Dagalo led a rudimentary Janjaweed rebelled against Al-Bashir and the Khartoum elites. He led his Janjaweed militiamen into the bush, promising to fight Khartoum “until Judgment Day”. Through a series of bold moves, including shooting down a military plane and initiating an alliance with the Darfur rebels they fought against, they were able to bring Al-Bashir and the ruling party to the table for negotiations. Out of these negotiations, he was able to collect unpaid salaries for his militiamen, and receive compensation for the wounded and the families of those killed. The ‘crown jewel’ was his promotion to general, and a handsome cash payment. This sharped Hemedti’s prowess and exposed his opportunist nature.
In 2013 Dagalo’s notorious Janjaweed officially became the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary unit under the oversight of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). Affiliation with the NISS gave Dagalo, an outsider to Khartoum political circles, and his reformed Janjaweed, a newfound legitimacy. He soon exploited his new status by securing international security contracts signed under Al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP). In 2015, when the US supported Saudi Arabia-UAE air strikes on Yemen’s Iranian allied Houthis failed to bring about their objective, Hemedti stepped in supplying mercenaries for the ground invasion of Yemen.
Within a year, the European Union (EU) contracted the RSF to lead a migration control programme. Hemedti’s forces were now receiving training and payment from the EU. Hemedti garnered more international acceptance when he dispatched mercenaries to Libya to fight alongside General Khalifa Haftar, further ingratiating himself with the ruler of UAE. By this time, the RSF’s strength “had grown tenfold”, according to Alex de Waal, a Sudanese researcher. However, despite these new developments, the command structure remained static, unchanged. It consisted of Arab tribesmen from Darfur firmly under the control of the Dagalo family. The RSF was now a Dagalo-owned transnational mercenary company enjoying financial autonomy from the state. Leaked documents show bank accounts are under their name.
Following South Sudan’s separation from the north, the loss of oil revenues for the north led the government to focus on gold. By 2017, gold sales accounted for 40 per cent of Sudan’s exports. Gold mines in Jebel Amir, Darfur, were under the control of the Janjaweed commander Musa Hilal. There, Musa Hilal’s militiamen and allies controlled not only the production of some of the mine’s shafts but also the taxation of the mining site, functioning as the local governmental authority challenging Al-Bashir and denying the government access to Jebel Amir’s mines. With Al-Bashir’s full consent, Hemedti’s RSF went on the counter-attack, arrested Hilal, and the RSF took over Sudan’s single largest source of export revenues, gold. Hemedti now had his hands on the country’s two most lucrative sources of hard currency, mercenary contracts and gold mines.
The influx of wealth provides the Dagalo family opportunities to expand their commercial activities, notably the founding of Al Junaid, a mining and gold prospecting firm. Al Junaid Company is owned by Hemedti, his brother, Lt. Gen. Abdelrahim and Abdelrahim’s two young sons. Through Al Junaid the RSF could effectively demand and seize all mining concessions. Al Junaid wielded state regulatory and enforcement powers, granted by the NCP, allowing it to monopolise portions of Sudan’s gold mining sector with no government oversight. However, with the latest imposition of sanctions, the Dagalo family may begin to look for new and interesting ways to break the financial restrictions now imposed on his wealth. Recently, the family hired the services of the Canadian lobbying firm Dickens & Madson with the explicit aim of repairing his image and gaining favourable recognition.
Despite these external efforts to polish his image, unless there is a major change on the ground – he will continue to be seen as a brutal war profiteer, filling the family coffers from the suffering of millions.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250121-sanctions-on-sudans-rsf-leaders-financial-assets-may-limit-or-curtail-his-ability-to-wage-war/
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Israel At A Crossroads: Peace Or Perpetuating The Cycle Of Violence
By Manuela Rotstein
January 21, 2025
Yesterday, our hearts were filled with elation – it finally happened. We eagerly awaited the moment when three families were able to embrace their loved ones once again. It had been 471 days.
We have battled alongside the families since October 7, 2023. Now we face the most important fight of all: to ensure that this deal leads to the end of the war, the return of all hostages, and the start of the process to end the cycle of violence between us and the Palestinians.
In the days leading up to the hostage deal, there was much speculation and many leaks and contradictory statements from government officials, with the entire Israeli society trapped in a roller coaster of hope and fear.
It was apparent that the government had approached the deal without deciding which of two fundamental paths it wished to take: whether to perpetuate an unending cycle of bloodshed and despair or to take a chance on breaking free from decades of conflict and foster hope, stability, and genuine security for generations.
The path of continuing the war was not without its supporters. Some argued that a hardline approach would ensure Hamas’s deterrence and prevent future attacks. They contended that compromising might embolden Hamas and other militant groups, leading to even greater insecurity. This perspective reflects a deeply ingrained fear and distrust, shaped by decades of violence and broken agreements. Furthermore, proponents of reoccupying Gaza, including their government representatives, opposed any such deal as it halted their objectives.
The alternative: reaching a comprehensive deal to return all 98 hostages, ending the war, and ensuring the safe return of soldiers is a viable and imperative path. Otherwise, all of us will still be trapped in Gaza’s tunnels, with the remaining hostages’ lives hanging precariously in the balance. Israelis will continue to live this ongoing nightmare of anxiety, grief, and rage while innocent Gazan mothers and children will keep suffering.
After 15 months of war, the IDF has been returning time and again to the same places they had already cleaned out. Young soldiers continued to die in Gaza. Death, chaos, and hunger played into Hamas’s hands, enabling them to recruit new fighters with ease. In the absence of any other organized group, they are the only players. Military force alone cannot bring long-term security, as evidenced by this most brutal war in our modern history.
We are fully aware that pursuing peace is not without challenges. Leaving Gaza unilaterally would be a repetition of previous mistakes, which ultimately led to October 7.
Talks are underway between Egypt, the UAE, the Palestinian Authority, and the United States to establish a temporary post-war administration in Gaza, plan its reconstruction, and envision a local leadership to manage civilian issues and assume control with international support. The Israeli public, however, remains largely uninformed of these developments. The government, with the silent acquiescence of the mainstream media, seems to prefer to keep us fearful and vulnerable, refusing to consider any short or medium-term plan for the “day after.”
We must foster meaningful public debate on the options before us, which are whether to continue the cycle of bloodshed, risking more lives and perpetuating despair, or to engage in negotiations and work toward a political agreement with the Palestinians, with international oversight, strong enforcement mechanisms, and proactive efforts to build mutual trust; an agreement where both our fundamental need for security and our aspirations for peace are prioritized.
We urge our government to act with courage and wisdom: Choose life, end the war, and commit to comprehensive agreements that address the root causes of the conflict, paving the way for a just and sustainable peace.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838420
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Choosing Life Over Death: What Drives Israel’s Deal With Hamas
By Yael Eckstein
January 21, 2025
Our hearts are full. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Today, we cling to hope as we take the first steps toward bringing our loved ones home.
For nearly five hundred days, a shadow has hung over our nation. Israelis – infants, elders, and entire families – were ripped from their homes, torn from their lives, and plunged into the abyss. They were kidnapped by Hamas, imprisoned in Gaza’s hellish tunnels, and subjected to cruelty beyond words.
This week, we read the opening chapters of the book of Exodus and hear the timeless cry of our ancestors in Egypt: “I have seen the affliction of My people… I know their pain.” Those words resonate in our hearts as we witness the suffering of the hostages, enduring horrors that defy comprehension.
Hamas is not merely an enemy. They are the embodiment of darkness. Last week, a chilling video emerged of Liri Albag, an 18-year-old girl held hostage since October 7, 2023. Her face was gaunt, her fear palpable. Around her neck was a dog collar. A young woman, dehumanized and degraded, treated as less than an animal. This is who Hamas is – a force devoid of humanity, a cult of death reveling in cruelty.
And now, a hostage deal. Is it fair? No. It is excruciatingly lopsided: a handful of our loved ones for thousands of their killers – many with innocent blood on their hands, many who will return to their murderous ways.
This is more than a battle for territory or security. This is a war of values. On one side stands Israel, a nation that sanctifies life above all else. On the other side are those who glorify death, who hide behind human shields, and who store weapons in hospitals and mosques. This is the eternal battle between light and darkness, between those who cherish life and those who revel in its destruction.
For Israel, every life is sacred. We have made the agonizing, illogical, and profoundly moral choice to do whatever it takes to bring our people home. We cannot rest knowing that our babies, our grandparents, and our loved ones are languishing in the cold, merciless depths of Gaza, enduring unspeakable torment.
This is not a decision born of weakness. It is a declaration of strength – a profound reflection of the enduring values of our people, shaped by the Torah and etched into our national soul. It is a statement to the world that we will sacrifice, endure, and persevere to honor the sanctity of life.
The United States has stood firmly by our side. The new administration has made it clear that Hamas will face severe consequences if the hostages are not released. Their declaration – “there will be hell to pay”– reinforces a shared truth: Israel’s values are America’s values.
Both nations cherish freedom, democracy, and the inalienable dignity of life. But freedom is not free. It requires vigilance, sacrifice, and an unyielding commitment to justice.
Hamas has been explicit about their goals. “First, the Saturday people,” they proclaim – the Jews. “Then the Sunday people”– the Christians. First, Israel, the “Little Satan.” Then America, the “Big Satan.” This is a shared struggle, a fight for the soul of humanity.
This hostage deal is neither fair nor just. It is painful, and it feels wrong. Yet it is also a resounding declaration to the world: we choose life. We choose hope. We choose to uphold the values that make life worth living.
If Hamas honours this deal, some of our loved ones will return home. Many, tragically, will not. But we believe that our prayers – offered with tears, hope, and trembling over these many months – have been heard. We thank God for His mercy and compassion, and we pray for the hostages’ healing, for their strength to reclaim life, and for our people’s resolve to continue sanctifying life even amidst the darkest trials.
As we open the book of Exodus and recall our ancestors’ liberation from bondage, we are reminded that the story of Israel has always been one of hope triumphing over despair, of life prevailing over death. May we continue to stand firm in our mission: to bring light into the darkness, to sanctify the life God has gifted us, and to uphold the values that define us as a people.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838411
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How Turkey’s Founding Ideology Shaped Its Oppression Of Kurds And Minorities
By Mehmet Kucuk
January 21, 2025
When we think about Turkey, what usually comes to mind is either Ataturk’s Modern Turkey or Erdogan’s Islamist Turkey. The former is associated with positive connotations, while the latter is seen negatively. It is not difficult to discern that Erdogan is criticized primarily for being an Islamist.
Turkey has been seen as the land of Turks: modern Turks, secular Turks – Ataturk’s Turks, who are now, in a way, held hostage by the Islamist dictator Erdogan. Word association is immediate: if Erdogan is an Islamist dictator, and if pre-Erdogan Turkey was modern and secular, then the problem lies with Erdogan. This association is so ingrained that it becomes difficult to make the case for the Kurds.
There are roughly 20 million Kurds in Turkey, with zero recognition that they even exist. Zero. And this has nothing to do with Erdogan but everything to do with the Republic’s founding ideology.
What was that ideology, and why did it lead to massacres and genocides? To understand this, we need to go back to the founding principles of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire was ruled by Islamic Sharia. Under Sharia, Muslims were considered superior to non-Muslims (Dhimmi). A Muslim would not pay certain taxes, while a non-Muslim could not ride a horse or wield a sword. These and other privileges were reserved for Muslims.
Over time, many Dhimmi accepted Islam in order to join the superior echelon of society. Ottoman Muslims included Greeks, Armenians, Serbo-Croatians, Bulgarians, and others. Descendants of Turkic tribes were only a tiny portion of the population.
Things changed following the French Revolution. Starting with the Greek Orthodox Christians, the peoples in the western parts of the Empire began to see themselves as distinct nations. These were Serbs, Bulgarians, and others in the West, but also Armenians in the East – all non-Muslims.
Observing the Empire’s irrevocable losses in the Balkans, some young officers in the military and bureaucracy, later known as the Young Turks, doubted the Empire could prevent a total collapse. They eyed Anatolia and Kurdistan as the “homeland” of Ottoman Muslims. The problem was that significant Greek and Armenian populations lived there.
These Greeks and Armenians were important members of the Empire’s social fabric and formed the newly developing capitalist class. They were well-educated, often abroad in Europe, fluent in multiple languages, and had commercial and political connections with the West.
They demanded equal rights with Muslims, including political offices. The Young Turks, being members of the superior class, who were educated in Western Europe – mostly in France and later in Germany – never truly embraced the idea of equality with the Dhimmi, the Christians, and the Jews.
IN FRANCE, they learned about the idea of being a nation, and in Germany, the idea that part of your society could be “a pest.” This toxic mix became the ideology of the Committee, causing the Armenian and Greek genocides. As a committee member, it was also the ideology of Ataturk, and ultimately of the so-called “Modern Turkish Republic.”
In the Ottoman era, “Turk” essentially meant “Muslim.” A Catholic Albanian, a Greek Orthodox, or a Jew who converted to Islam would become a Turk, which meant accepting Islam. At the time, the word did not have any ethnic connotation. This was not true in the Near East, in Kurdistan, but this did not bother the Young Turks.
Upon forming the Turkish Republic and following the path laid in front of him by the Committee, Ataturk declared that every citizen of his Republic was a Turk, famously saying, “How happy is the one who says, ‘I am a Turk.’”
The Kurds did not agree. They never accepted being non-Kurds, and the Turks have never understood why. As Emin Sirin, a former MP from Erdogan’s AK Party, once asked, “How could the Kurds not accept being Turkish when I, as a Circassian, did?” This single example explains the problem the Kurds have had with the Turks since 1924.
Continuing the job started by the committee, the Turkish Republic has actively worked on erasing any trace of non-Turkishness from the land and the minds of the people. With fear and terror, millions were forced to abandon their heritage and adopt Turkish/Muslim last names (“soyisim”).
All toponymy – cities, towns, villages, rivers, streams, mountains, and hills – were replaced with invented Turkish ones. Kurds have suffered most under this racism because only Kurds had the mass to resist. To this day, the Kurdish language is effectively banned; the use of Kurdish letters (x, w, and q) is prohibited, and there is not even one school that educates in Kurdish – not one. This constitutes extreme racism by any standard definition.
In his Federalist No. 10, James Madison warned that “In a democracy, majority factions gain power, and that leads to tyranny.” Turkey, in its current form, is a tyrannical state ruled by an ‘invented’ ethnic majority.
Turkey was founded as a republic for Turks, with a racist constitution that granted the land only to Turks. The ideology that the Republic is founded on, “Turk Yurdu” (Turkish Homeland), appears to have been co-developed with the Nazis’ “Lebensraum.” While the Nazis were defeated, Ataturk’s Republic – from the Committee of Union and Progress to Erdogan’s regime – remains largely intact, now with Erdogan’s irredentist ambitions added to the mix.
Turkey’s irredentist policies, from its actions in Cyprus to its growing involvement in Syria, highlight a policy of territorial expansion and ethnic dominance. This hostility extends not only toward the Kurdish people within its borders but also to Kurds living beyond them. Facing the threat Turkey presents cannot be left to the Kurds alone.
As Turkey forms a new axis of evil together with the Islamic Brotherhood network in the region, it is the moral and strategic duty of the international community to unite in opposing Turkish irredentism and supporting the Kurdish struggle for independence. Only by standing together can we ensure a future where justice, freedom, and equality prevail over oppression and expansionism.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-838409
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2nd Trump Term: Is Peace In Europe And The Middle East Attainable?
By Aylin Ünver Noi
Jan 21, 2025
The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the U.S. took place on Jan. 20, 2025. He said during his election campaigns, "There will be no war from Day 1 when I come to the office." It is too early to tell if he can achieve its objectives and commitments to ending wars in Europe and the Middle East, but it is obvious that Trump is more powerful than he was in his first term. He took the majority of both the House and Senate and will be in full control of the United States government for the next two years.
Leaders and people wonder how Trump will address geopolitical rivalries and achieve his commitment to end wars. We expect radical executive decisions to be forthcoming in his second term. One of his decisions will be to rely less on the United Nations, the WTO and the G-7. He will focus on the G-20 summits and pay attention to BRICS. His 100% tariff threat on all goods from BRICS countries, if they attempt to replace the dollar with BRICS currency in international trade, was one of his first announcements after winning the election. In his second term, it seems he will try to eliminate any opportunities China can exploit.
The first signals of his foreign policy approach indicate that Trump will not address geopolitical rivalries acting as a policeman of the world. For instance, during his election campaign, he accused Taiwan of imitating the U.S. chip industry and threatened Taiwan to impose tariffs. It seems that he will seek bilateral negotiations to pursue the national interest of the U.S. rather than acting as a policeman of the world. To achieve his objectives, he will seek a balance of power between the U.S. and China. That is why Trump already picked Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as his National Security Advisor, both China hawks. In other words, neither Europe nor the Middle East will be the primary focus of Trump's attention. As a means of refocusing his attention on China, he will reach a compromise with Russia. This is the reason why Trump made the statement to end the war in Ukraine in a day.
In his first term, Trump was against the war. He believed in negotiation through strength. In the 45th U.S. administration, he was doing it from the point of strength. In the 47th U.S. administration, he will do it from the point of weakness. In the past four years, the U.S. has become weaker in many respects against its adversaries, such as China, Russia and Iran. Today, Trump knows the weaknesses of the U.S. He will seek the national interest of his country through his "America First" policies, focusing on the border, energy, rare minerals and economic security instead of continuing to be the policeman of the world.
On that path, Trump will pursue a realistic approach. The reality requires the U.S. to eliminate its "soft bellies" to remain the sole superpower of the world. The road to eliminate these soft bellies passes through collaboration with Türkiye. Mediterranean and Black Sea are complex regions at the center of a new chess board since the return of great power rivalry. Türkiye is geographically located at the center of this most critical region. There are wars in Türkiye’s north and south and all over its borders. This is one of the primary reasons Türkiye needs peace and stability in its surrounding area. This is also one of the major factors that enable Türkiye to play an increasingly mediator role in various conflicts.
The balance of power in Europe is between the European Union, Russia and Türkiye, and the trade between them is significant for all three parties. Neither one of these can hold its power without the other two. Their interdependence makes them strong and vulnerable at the same time. In other words, this interdependence creates the balance of power in the western Eurasia.
Interdependence on not only trade but also energy security is one of the main determinant factors in this balance of power. Ukraine’s decision to stop the transit of Russian gas to the EU member states resulted in the loss of a significant market for Russia. This situation also highlighted the continued vulnerability and dependence of certain EU member states on energy supplies from Russia. After this decision taken by Ukraine, the TurkStream gas pipeline came to the agenda for some EU member states that suffer from energy shortages.
Trump understands these balances of power in Europe and the Middle East, where Türkiye is one of the main pillars. The two leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Trump, know how to work together well. On that note, we can understand why Trump complimented Erdoğan and Türkiye on what lately transpired in Syria.
In an ensuing statement, he clearly stated that "Erdoğan is smart, and he is behind the Syrian takeover." He continued in his statement, saying that the U.S. has nothing to do in Syria. The Syrians and the rest of the region must resolve their problems without America. Additionally, Trump is fully aware that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have to be resolved via the mediation of Türkiye. That brings us back to the U.S. foreign policy objectives of the Trump administration. It will solely be focused on China. As a result, Trump will put Europe and the Middle East on the back burner. His recent comments on Panama and Greenland support this argument.
Will that in turn lower the number of conflicts around the world? Only time will tell. Nevertheless, if the first Trump term is an indication, one thing is certain: There is likely to be another negotiation process with China. In other words, Beijing will experience another Trump term in Washington, who is expected to resume his "negotiation with China" policy. That, in turn, should give the world some hope that there will be no World War III if nothing else.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/2nd-trump-term-is-peace-in-europe-and-the-middle-east-attainable
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How Gaza Became Israel’s Achilles’ Heel
Osama Al-Sharif
January 21, 2025
Gaza has been a thorn in Israel’s side for decades. That narrow strip of land, home to more than 2.4 million people — 70 percent of whom are refugees — would not exist if it were not for the creation of Israel in 1948. Its very existence is, in fact, a daily reminder of the tragedy that has befallen the Palestinians, who, until today, are denied justice and the right to self-determination.
Gaza is home to eight refugee camps, although Israel has largely obliterated them in the past 15 months. Today, more than 90 percent of Gazans are displaced as a result of Israel’s barbaric war. The humanitarian crisis in the Strip will last for years. Israel’s horrific violations of human rights and international law in Gaza will haunt that nation forever.
Even before Hamas took over in 2007, Gaza represented a security nightmare for Israeli leaders and its military, especially in its crowded and poverty-stricken refugee camps. In 1992, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was quoted as saying: “I wish I could wake up one day and find that Gaza has sunk into the sea.”
It was in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp that the First Intifada detonated in 1987, before quickly spreading to the rest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It marked the first popular uprising against the Israeli occupation since 1967. Between 1987 and 1991, Israel killed at least 1,087 Palestinians, of whom 240 were children. The Intifada created political undercurrents that led to the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991 and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Under the latter, Israel agreed to withdraw from Gaza as an initial step toward ending its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat arrived in Gaza in July 1994, marking a historic return of a Palestinian leader, himself a Gaza refugee, to a self-ruled area. Israel dismantled its Gaza settlements and withdrew in 2005.
But Gaza and its refugee camps were also the birthplace of Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which became the primary opponent of Fatah, the largest of the Palestinian groups, whose head was Arafat. Hamas appeared during the First Intifada and vowed to use armed resistance to liberate all of Palestine.
After Hamas carried out a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority in 2007, it assumed complete control of Gaza. The year before, it had won a majority of seats in the Palestinian legislature. President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to ask Ismail Haniyeh, a leading Hamas figure, to form a short-lived government.
Hamas’ takeover of Gaza led to Israel imposing a blockade on the Strip and that triggered multiple bloody confrontations between the two sides. These involved the firing of rockets from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes, as well as limited ground invasions. Thousands of Gazans were killed in these fights. But nothing compares to Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
Between Oct. 8, 2023, and Sunday’s pause, Israel carried out a war on Gaza that killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. That figure is likely to rise sharply, since thousands remain buried under the rubble and are unaccounted for.
While Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government, waged a genocide, Gaza became every Israeli’s nightmare: a threat that simply will not go away. After 470 days of the most brutal and indiscriminate bombing of one of the most crowded places on Earth — destroying more than 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure — Netanyahu was forced into accepting a ceasefire deal by incoming US President Donald Trump. The agreement differs little from former President Joe Biden’s suggestion of last May, which was accepted by Hamas at that time.
When Netanyahu declared war on Gaza, he set three main goals for a war that he said must end in “total victory.” They were the destruction of Hamas, the return of all Israeli captives and full Israeli military control of Gaza. While the second and third phases of the deal need more negotiations, few in Israel believe Netanyahu has fulfilled any of these objectives.
While a now humbled Netanyahu has said that Israel will resume its attacks on Gaza at any given moment, the reality is that neither Trump nor the rest of the world would allow a resumption of the bloodbath. In a few days, the foreign press will enter Gaza — Israel has banned them since Day 1 of the war — and they will report to the rest of the world the horrors and the tragedy that Gaza has suffered.
While the future of Gaza — including who will end up running it and how normality can ever be achieved — remains ambiguous, the reality is that Israel has failed to erase the people of the Strip or drive them into the desert. Injured, shell-shocked, hungry and cold, the people of Gaza have derailed Israel’s plans. People are returning to the battered north, Israel’s army is withdrawing, aid is flowing in and Jewish settlers are not colonizing the Strip. And to rub it all in, Hamas, while weakened, has not been destroyed.
Sunday’s prisoner exchange, with elite Hamas fighters emerging in military gear, sent a chilling message to Netanyahu and the extremists. All the killings and all the destruction only brought shame and debacle for Israel: it has a prime minister who is now wanted for war crimes and the country itself is facing charges of genocide at the world’s highest court.
While the future of Gaza remains ambiguous, the reality is that Israel has failed to erase its people or drive them into the desert.
But soul-searching and cool heads are now needed on both sides. The Palestinians have paid a high price — the highest since the Nakba — for a war they did not choose to start. Hamas bears responsibility for a decision it made that has left the Strip in ruins.
Israel, too, must try to learn from its Gaza blunder. It has blemished itself and the stains are indelible. Israel cannot claim victory or a moral high ground when the horrors of what happened to Gaza will continue to unfold for generations to come.
Gaza has become Israel’s Achilles’ heel, a traumatic event that is now stuck to it and taints its existence. The country’s far right has erased the romantic, often false, narrative espoused by Israel. Its legacy today is one of genocide, the killing of babies, war crimes, rape, torture and the usurping of land.
If anything good has come out of this war, it is this: The Palestinians have survived, will continue to survive and will seek justice and accountability. But only Israel, the one that seeks penance, can deliver both.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2587252
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Will West Bank Be Next In Israel’s Firing Line?
Yossi Mekelberg
January 21, 2025
A huge sigh of relief was breathed on Sunday, when a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas came into effect — as uncertain and fragile as this hiatus in the hostilities still feels. There was relief for all who hoped that the death and devastation that had ruled supreme for months would come to an end. Yet, in our focus on Gaza — and rightly so for obvious reasons — we were neglecting the deteriorating conditions in the West Bank, where there has been an increasing number of violent incidents and it has become even more apparent that the settler movement has lost any measure of either morality or pragmatism that it might have possessed before Oct. 7, 2023.
For any reasonable person of conscience, the last 15 months have been a time of excruciating pain and sorrow. Yet, for a substantial number of the settlers and, even worse, their leadership, it has been perceived as an opportune moment to accelerate their clear ambition to annex the West Bank to Israel and, by that, confining the notion of the two-state solution to the history books.
It is not unreasonable to argue that there is nothing new in pointing out that the settler movement would like to annex the West Bank. Or that, from the very first time those with religious-messianic-nationalist zeal set foot in this land, this was their objective. Furthermore, one of their main tools for achieving this was to marginalize, if not expel, the Palestinians who have lived there for many generations.
But the war has released even worse demons among certain elements of the settlers, who feel exonerated in their claim that there is no prospect of peace with the Palestinians, not just with Hamas, and that any difference between those who engage in militancy, even terrorism, and the rest of the Palestinian people is artificial, misguided and a threat to the survival of Israel. For them, the brutality of Oct. 7 justifies any level of brutality against all Palestinians, militants or not. Perceptually and practically for these settlers, it has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to resolve this conflict by taking total control of the “promised land.”
The war in Gaza has given a tailwind to these extremist settlers, who follow a distorted version of both Judaism and Zionism. In addition to feeling vindicated, they have also witnessed a world that for so long has done so very little to stop the carnage in Gaza, despite the horrific daily images beamed from there to our TV screens. In their minds, resettling at least parts of Gaza and ethnically cleansing it is completely legitimate.
And if this could be done in Gaza, why not in the West Bank? After all, for so long those extremists among the settlers — and it is worth emphasizing that they are a minority, although a vocal and dominant one, who resort to terrorism against their Palestinian neighbors — have acted with complete impunity, in many cases with at least the tacit support of the Israeli government and army. Then came what they now see as the “miracle” of Oct. 7, which has provided them with a divine license to accelerate attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, but this time with the idea of emulating what is taking place in Gaza.
They do not even bother to hide their intentions. In the government, it is the odd couple of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich who are leading this line. The main reason that Finance Minister Smotrich is not as much in the limelight for expressing some outrageous views is that his colleague, Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, is outperforming him in the revulsion stakes.
This was the case before they entered politics, when they became elected politicians and, equally so if not worse, since they, by a fluke of history — in other words, through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desperation — were appointed as Cabinet ministers in key positions. Yet, Smotrich’s comments in a meeting with heads of the settler movement earlier this month — the day after a terror attack near the settlement of Kedumim that killed three settlers — should send shivers down the spines of those who have any regard for the rights and well-being of the Palestinians in the West Bank.
His request for an urgent meeting with the security Cabinet and call to take the offensive against cells of Palestinian militants “until they are completely destroyed” may have been from the same rhetorical playbook of “total victory” in Gaza. But his claim to have drafted a plan that would make the Palestinian towns of “Al-Funduq, Nablus and Jenin look like Jabalia,” in northern Gaza, should receive the full attention of the international community before more war crimes are committed.
“Looking like Jabalia” means total destruction. Even in the general horrendous devastation that has befallen most of Gaza over the last 15 months, Jabalia stands out as suffering more than most. Until recently, it was one of the Occupied Territories’ largest camps, with half of its 200,000 residents officially registered as refugees. By the time the ceasefire was called last week, it was almost deserted. Even former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon last month referred to what was happening there as ethnic cleansing.
Aerial photography shows acre after acre of rubble, with almost no people. And this is what one of the prominent settler leaders envisages for Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank. And it is not only Smotrich. The mayor of the illegal settlement of Ariel, Yair Shtebon, has demanded a large-scale military operation in the West Bank “that destroys the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria, in Tulkarem, in Jenin, in Nablus and wherever there is a threat to residents of Israel.”
Before we witnessed what was happening to large parts of Gaza at the hands of the Israeli army, we could have shrugged our shoulders and regarded Smotrich and Shtebon’s statements as pieces of vile rhetoric to rally the political base, but one that would never be translated into an actionable plan. But now, we — or, more accurately, the Palestinians — ignore this threatening language at our peril. Fifty years ago, not many envisaged 700,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, or that certain elements within them would resort to terrorism and their representatives would hold key positions in the Israeli government. Currently, this is a daily reality.
Unless those who are using this kind of language are sanctioned and removed from power, under international pressure if necessary, these extremist settlers will continue to believe that their “grand design” for the Holy Land is within touching distance.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2587234
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