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Palestine

December 28, 2025

Ramallah 11:13 pm

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Analysis

Gaza realities test Trump’s 2025 Middle East ambitions

During its first year, the second Trump administration confronted wars in Gaza and Sudan, forged new ties with Syria and grappled with the growing nuclear threat from Iran.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in a joint news conference with US President Donald Trump (not seen) in the State Dining Room at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.

Analysis

In 2025, Netanyahu saved his coalition but stalled on Gaza, Iran, Lebanon

With 2025 ending, Israelis are frustrated over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to fully end the Gaza war, solve the Hezbollah problem, reach a deal with Syria or find a way to constructively impact talks on the Iranian nuclear program.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

US President Donald Trump speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025.

Analysis

Trump has upper hand over Netanyahu, but is it enough for Gaza?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been stalling on the implementation of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, but at the end of the day, Trump has much more leverage over Netanyahu.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Latest News

Maersk resumes Red Sea passage after two-year halt amid easing Houthi threat

A ship sails along Egypt's Suez Canal near Ismailia, April 16, 2025.

Facing Israeli pushback, Turkey recalibrates public messaging on Gaza force

Saeed Jaras / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Trump's Syria envoy Barrack tests Israel's patience as Netanyahu pushes back

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with US special envoy Tom Barrack, Jerusalem, Dec. 15 2

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

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

RAMALLAH, -: Palestinians hold a banner showing late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (L) and Fatah MP Mohammed Dahlan during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah 11 January 2007, to mark the 42nd anniversary of the Fatah movement. Thousands of flag-waving chanting supporters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party poured into central Ramallah for a second rally in less than a week aimed at staging a show of force agains the ruling Hamas movement. AFP PHOTO/PEDRO UGARTE (Photo credit shou

Palestinian Authority targets Dahlan’s supporters in West Bank

Supporters of the exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan appear to be taking the brunt of the Fatah leadership's anger, with rounds of political arrests.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - AUGUST 16: Members of the Palestinian police force of the Islamic group Hamas display automatic rifles allegedly seized from the Doghmush clan August 16, 2007 in Gaza City, Gaza. The Doghmush clan, linked along with the Army of Islam to the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnson, was involved in gun battles on August 14 that left two Hamas police officers dead. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

Why Hamas can’t control arms proliferation in Gaza

Amid the uncontrollable proliferation of weapons in the Gaza Strip, human rights centers and institutions sounded the alarm, while Hamas seems unable to prevent citizens from obtaining arms.

Palestinian women mask-clad due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic wait with their children in a UN clinic to take Polio vaccine and Rota virus vaccines at Bureij refugee camp in the central of Gaza Strip on September 9, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaza women use social media to reveal domestic abuse

In light of the rise of domestic abuse cases in the Gaza Strip, women are resorting to social media to share their stories and try to protect their rights.

Israeli earth movers remove concrete blocks along the side of a road lying in "Area C" of the occupied West Bank where Israeli administers full civil and security control, in the flashpoint city of Hebron on July 2, 2020. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

West Bank village celebrates end of 20-year-old Israeli roadblock

The residents of Qalqas, south of Hebron, will finally see the main road to their town’s entrance reopened, blocked in 2000 by the Israeli authorities.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan (C) attends an emergency meeting at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on November 25, 2019, to discuss the US decision to no longer consider Israeli settlements in Palestinian Territories illegal. - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on October 18 that after legal consultations, that Washington had concluded the establishment of settlements was "not, per se, inconsistent with international law". (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by

Saudi Arabia’s fragile support to Palestine

Saudi Arabia’s traditional pro-Palestinian positions are unlikely to be compromised even if some gestures are made to the Israelis and to the Trump administration.

Palestinians cover their ears as a masked man fires a volley from his rifle, during the funeral of Dalia Ahmed Suleiman Samudi, 23, in Jenin city in the occupied West Bank on August 7, 2020, who was killed by Israeli fire during clashes. - Samudi died of a gunshot wound after being shot near the site of clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP) (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian Authority cracks down on drug, arms traffickers in West Bank

The Palestinian security services increased their operations against arms and drug traffickers in the West Bank in light of the high level of armed crimes and killings.

Hamas, Fatah agree to hold Palestinian elections within six months

The deal comes after reconciliation talks in Turkey this week aimed at resolving the differences between the two main Palestinian factions.

In Turkey, Palestinian leaders announce breakthrough on unity, elections

Fatah and Hamas appear to have deals on a unified approach and elections, following Israel's normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

An open letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Yossi Beilin, who participated in the back-channel negotiations leading the 1993 Oslo Accord, pens an open letter to the Palestinian president calling on him to stay focused on making peace.

(L to R) Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Abu Ahmad Fuad, Assistant Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) Talal Naji, Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine Ziad al-Nakhala, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Fahd Suleiman attend a meeting with representatives of other Palestinian factions at

Palestinians pivot to Turkey, Qatar for support in wake of normalization deals

The various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, are shoring up ties with Turkey and other countries in the region that stand against normalization with Israel.

Egyptian media campaign targets Hamas

Egyptian media has renewed its attacks against Hamas following an investigative report by Al Jazeera accusing Egypt of tightening the siege on Gaza.

Palestinians hold pictures of late leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City on November 9, 2017, during a festival to commemorate the 13th anniversary of his death.
According to organisers, the event was called by exiled Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan (portrait), partly to celebrate a recently agreed reconciliation agreement between the major Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. Dahlan has been in exile in the UAE since falling out with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and expelled from his Fatah movem

Palestinian security forces round up Dahlan supporters in West Bank

Palestinian security forces are arresting supporters of exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan following Israel's normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain.