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July 26, 2026

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Culture

How Argentina-Spain World Cup final became debate over Israel, Palestine

Governments and fans alike have turned teams and players into symbols of political division.

Government Media Office Director Ismail Thawabteh (R) and Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem (L) speak at a press conference.

Explainer

What does Hamas' move to dissolve its Gaza government mean?

Hamas has agreed to hand civilian administration over to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, but the committee is not yet in Gaza and may not deploy until Hamas’ disarmament is resolved.

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

In an interview with Al-Monitor, head of the Arab-Israeli Hadash-Ta'al Knesset faction, Ayman Odeh, said his party is prepared to make difficult decisions to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

Latest News

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Amnesty International accuses Israel of state-led ethnic cleansing in West Bank

Israeli security forces attempt to disperse Palestinians who had gathered to protest the reported burning of land by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Idna, west of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on June 5, 2026.

Ireland bans hard-line Israeli ministers Ben-Gvir, Smotrich: What to know

Israeli policemen surround Israeli Minister of National Security and far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir as he arrives outside the Damascus Gate of the walled Old City of Jerusalem on May 26, 2025, during a flag march for Jerusalem Day, commemorating the Israeli army's 1967 capture of the city's eastern sector during the Arab-Israeli war.

Record Israeli arms exports highlight global rush for air defense

People stand in front of the Arrow 3 shield system during an event of the German Air Force to declare the Initial Operating Capability for the Arrow Weapon System for Germany at the Annaburger Heide Air Base in Schoenewalde / Holzdorf, eastern Germany, on Dec. 3, 2025.

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Daoud Kuttab

Palestine Columnist

In Amman, reporting on Palestinian politics

Rasha Abou Jalal

In Gaza City, reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abeer Ayyoub

In Istanbul, reporting on Palestine

Naima Morelli

In Rome, reporting on Middle East culture

Fatima AbdulKarim

In Ramallah, reporting on the West Bank

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, is pictured on a television screen as he delivers a televised statement on Hamas TV, in Gaza August 20, 2014. Hamas's military wing said on Wednesday an Israeli air strike in Gaza had failed to kill its military commander, Mohammed Deif. In a televised statement, Ubaida said Israel had missed its target. Deif's wife and seven-month-old son were killed in the attack. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITI

Mohammed al-Deif lives

Commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Mohammed al-Deif is responsible for some of the most murderous terror attacks against Israelis, yet during the Gaza war the IDF failed again to eliminate him.

Palestinians walk out of Israel's Erez Crossing after leaving Gaza July 13, 2014. According to a spokesperson for Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), about 850 Palestinians with dual citizenship left Gaza on Sunday at the request of their foreign embassies. Israeli naval commandos clashed with Hamas militants in a raid on the coast of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in what appeared to be the first ground assault of a six-day Israeli offensive on the territory aimed at stopp

Gaza-West Bank split divides lovers

Palestinian officials, both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, are obstructing the union of couples who are separated by the Palestinian division.

A bulldozer works at a construction site in Pisgat Zeev, an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, August 13, 2013. A 10-minute drive from where negotiators will sit down on Wednesday to resume long-stalled Middle East peace talks, Israeli bulldozers are busy reshaping land that Palestinians want for their future state.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) - RTX12JQ0

Settlement funding: Likud betrays the poor

Over the years, the Likud Party has preferred to grant vast funds to settlements, instead of caring for the weak and poor sectors, which got it to power in the first place.

A Palestinian man watches as Islamic Jihad militants take part in a rally celebrating what they say was a victory over Israel following a ceasefire in Gaza City August 29, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, took effect on Tuesday evening. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. Israel launched an offensive on July 8, with the declared aim of

Islamic Jihad takes mediator role between Hamas, Fatah

Islamic Jihad is considering joining a Hamas-led administrative committee in Gaza, as it breaks its silence in a bid to resolve the Hamas-Fatah feud that's crippling the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian political unity welcomed for Israeli elections

Palestinians in the occupied territories welcomed the decision by their brethren in Israel to form a joint list for the March elections.

Knesset (parliament) member Israeli Arab Ahmad Tibi campaigns seeking reelection ahead of Israel's general elections in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm on January 14, 2013. Arab-Israelis, descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who stayed on after the creation of Israel in 1948, make up 20 percent of the population. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Will a united Israeli Arab party survive elections?

Despite huge ideological gaps, Arab parties in Israel are trying to form a joint list for the election, but their traditional voter base might not follow.

A Palestinian woman fills a kettle with water from a tank placed outside her house, that witnesses said was damaged by Israeli shelling during the July-August war between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza militants, in the east of Gaza City January 4, 2015. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4K04H

Gaza water desalination plants cause severe health risks

The lack of supervision over water desalination plants and the Israeli siege contribute to the contamination of drinking water available to Gaza’s residents.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (front) talks with reporters aboard his government aircraft shortly after departing Seoul Air Base April 13, 2013, for Beijing, China. To rear of Kerry are Senior Staff members Glen Johnson (2nd R) and Jen Psaki (R) REUETRS/Paul J. Richards/Pool (SOUTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXYJO9

Did US backtrack on Palestinian statehood to please Israel?

The United States’ strong position against recognition of a Palestinian state has exposed the vacuity of its two-state rhetoric.

Members of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas march during a parade marking the sixth anniversary of the death of former Hamas interior minister Saeed Seyam, in Gaza City January 18, 2015. Seyam was killed by an Israeli air strike during the three-week offensive Israel launched in 2008 and 2009. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANNIVERSARY) - RTR4LUN5

Gaza bombings deepen Hamas-Fatah rift

Fatah believes Hamas is behind the recent spate of explosions in the Gaza Strip in an effort to add pressure on the Palestinian unity government.

Palestinians load suitcases onto a cart as others, hoping to cross into Egypt, wait for a travel permit at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip January 21, 2015. Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday for three days, officials said. Rafah is the only major crossing between impoverished Gaza, home to 1.8 million Palestinians, and the outside world that does not border Israel, which blockades the strip and allows passage mainly on humanitarian grounds. Egypt s

Gaza's brain drain

Hamas officials see the flight of professionals and talented youth from the Gaza Strip as part of a systematic Israeli policy to empty the territory of skilled citizens through siege and regular wars.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a speech during the launch of his Likud party election campaign in Tel Aviv January 5, 2015. Netanyahu was re-elected head of the right-wing Likud party last week, overcoming his first hurdle toward winning a fourth term in office in a March general election. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4K5IA

Netanyahu responds to Erdogan's provocations

For a long time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attacks against him and Israel, but with the upcoming elections he has apparently decided to abandon his self-restraint policy to prevent being perceived as weak.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker poses with Quartet Representative to the Middle East and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) ahead of a meeting at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir (BELGIUM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4M5XT

Is Quartet making comeback?

The public declaration by US envoy to the UN Samantha Powers of an upcoming Quartet meeting might suggest a shift by the United States to reinvigorate the dormant international group.