His Majesty King Abdullah spent the past three weeks on a working tour during which he visited three influential capitals, Moscow, London and Washington DC, as part of his relentless campaign to help bring order to a region, which has been condemned to instability and chaos for l

US President Donald Trump’s order banning the entry to the US of all refugees, most travellers and even US permanent residents from seven Muslim-majority countries, took many world leaders by surprise.In fact, the measure took his own Cabinet officials by surprise.According to Th

I still believe it is too early to judge US policies under President Donald Trump. For sure, Israel thought that his first day in office would be its liberation from any pressure, that he would announce immediately the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem.But that did no

The Middle East Paris peace conference aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, convened in Paris this week, has been condemned by Israel as a hostile move orchestrated by the Palestinians and the French.Although this is entirely untrue, it is customary for Israel to op

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s instant reaction to the Palestinian attack last Sunday on Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem was to attribute the attack to a Daesh terrorist, much like what had happened earlier in Nice and Berlin.While the judgment was indeed hasty and mad

The new year will soon bring a new US president, and possibly a drastically different American approach to Palestine, and the region more generally, hopefully one that heeds the lessons and the failings of a troubling past.First, let us consider the outgoing administration of Pre

On December 23, the United Nations Security Council passed an astounding resolution against Israel’s illegal measures in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, with particular focus on the settlements.To everyone’s amazement, Resolution 2334 was adopted almost unanimously

His Majesty King Abdullah has always stepped in promptly to deal with any negative domestic trends that could pose a threat to social order.Recently, the Monarch addressed the very dangerous practice of festive firing after the authorities failed to deal with the matter effective

A recent article in The Economist (December 1, 2016) highlighted a number of reasons why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after 11 years in office, is currently ahead of his game and enjoying a “commanding position” with Israel’s foreign policy also basking in “Sun