Ramzy Baroud

One hundred years ago, representatives from a few powerful countries convened at San Remo, a sleepy town on the Italian Riviera. Together, they sealed the fate of the massive territories confiscated from the Ottoman Empire following its defeat in World War I. It was on April 25, 1920, that the San Remo Conference Resolution was … Continue reading “100 Years of Shame: Annexation of Palestine Began in San Remo”

Shortly after an agreement to form a "national emergency government" in Israel, leader of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party, Benny Gantz, tweeted triumphantly that "democracy" in Israel has been "safeguarded". But how is a deal that would grant Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a veto power over the very judicial system which … Continue reading “Hating Arabs as a Common Ground: Why Israel’s Coalition Government Is Likely To Survive”

Spitting at someone is a universal insult. In Israel, however, spitting at Palestinians is an entirely different story. Now that we know that the deadly coronavirus can be transmitted through saliva droplets, Israeli soldiers and illegal Jewish settlers are working extra hard to spit at as many Palestinians, their cars, doorknobs, and so on, as … Continue reading “Spreading the Virus of Occupation: Spitting as a Weapon in the Hand of Colonial Israel”

Call it a "quarantine", a "shelter-in-place", a "lockdown" or a "curfew", we Palestinians have experienced them all, though not at all voluntarily. Personally, the first 23 years of my life were lived in virtual "lockdown". My father’s "quarantine" was experienced much earlier, as did his father’s "shelter-in-place" before him. They both died and were buried … Continue reading “A Palestinian Guide to Surviving a Quarantine: On Faith, Humor, and ‘Dutch Candy’”

Tunisia is the Middle East’s greatest success story, according to the findings of the V-Dem Annual Democracy Report 2019. One of the world’s most regarded annual reports on democracy and good governance, the V-Dem Report is produced by the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While Tunisians can be … Continue reading “Tunisia Leads the Way: New Report Exposes Israel’s False Democracy”

The Middle East region, battered by wars and adjoining humanitarian crises that have left millions of people stateless, hungry and diseased, is in urgent need for peace, security and reconstruction. Thanks to the US, Russian, French, Israeli and other weapons manufacturers, however, it is now the dumping ground for military hardware, an ominous sign for … Continue reading “Technology of Death: The Not-So-Shocking Report on Israeli Weapons Exports”

“I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” current Democratic Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, said in April 2007, soon before he was chosen to be Barack Obama’s running mate in the 2008 elections.  Biden is, of course, correct, because Zionism is a political movement that is rooted in … Continue reading “‘Zionist’ Biden in His Own Words: ‘My Name is Joe Biden, and Everybody Knows I Love Israel’”

Merely two weeks after Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, declared that the PA will suspend all “security coordination" with Israel, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank killed unarmed teenager, Salah Zakareneh. Zakareneh is not the first and, sadly, will not be the last Palestinian to be killed by the PA security forces, which in … Continue reading “Abuse, Oppression, and Murder: The PA Does Israel’s Dirty Work in the West Bank”

What if the Coronavirus reaches the besieged Gaza Strip? While the question carries great urgency for all Palestinians living under Israel’s military occupation, the Gaza situation is particularly complex and extremely worrying. Nearly 50 countries have already reported cases of COVID-19 disease, one of several epidemics that are caused by the Coronavirus. If developed countries, … Continue reading “A Terrifying Scenario: Coronavirus in ‘Quarantined’ Gaza”

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, must be channeling the spirit of Houdini as he continues to plot his escape from one of the most convoluted political dilemmas in Israel’s history. It is no secret that Netanyahu’s political behavior is almost entirely shaped by his desire to survive in office for as long as possible in … Continue reading “Beyond Israeli Elections: Israel at the Cusp of a Bleak Era”