Everywhere in the world, civil society, government, private sector and religious groups work hard to overcome prejudice and hatred, and to promote tolerance and coexistence.So why is it that all these efforts fail to stem the continued expansion of radical ideologies, while acts

The dispute between Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates and Qatar has added major new developments and regional dynamics to existing dramatic situations across the Middle East — especially in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Palestine.Diving deep into any of these situations inevitabl

In New York City last Saturday-Sunday, I followed President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia while simultaneously scanning assorted Saturday and Sunday cartoon shows on television — and at times it was very difficult to tell the difference between the two.The American preside

My last week in the United States following the run-up to US President Donald Trump’s visit later this week to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican has only confirmed that the erratic, impulsive nature of Trump’s domestic policymaking also seems to apply to his Middle East polici

Many people spend much time and energy these days analysing the causes of the turbulent, often violent and occasionally disintegrating conditions of many countries across the Arab region.Years ago, and even today, occasionally, Western and Arab scholars or analysts alike singled

 I was in Doha, Qatar, Monday evening when Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, issued a new policy statement that amended some of the long-standing hardline positions on Israel in its charter.The next day I also took part in a public panel discussion on

It is bizarre but telling of the modern Arab world that one of the most important meetings that could shape the future condition of hundreds of millions of Arabs and others in this region — the two-day Egyptian-Saudi Arabian summit in Riyadh — has received virtually no serious re

Following day-to-day events in the Middle East is a trying experience, as grown men and women ignore the pain they inflict on so many others.Yet we cannot ignore what is happening all around us, because 400 million Arabs cannot all emigrate to new and peaceful lands; 400 million

The limited news from Washington, DC, on Monday about the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Egyptian Field Marshal-turned-President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has been widely described as marking a historic turning point in United States-Egypt relations, following the cooln