Another war is being waged on Palestinian soil

An article in El Pais recently attracted my full attention. Similar articles can be read every other day, but that´s precisely what disturbs me the most. People may not die, but individuals are deprived from their basic rights, and that´s also a kind of war for me: ongoing instability and fear haunting the legitimate inhabitants of a territory. And the situation is getting worse: clashes between Palestinians and settlers have increased in the West Bank in recent months, with a radical fringe of Israelis (settlers armed with guns and other kind of weapons!) attacking Palestinian property, including olive trees (according to OCHA, approximately 100,000 Palestinians are economically dependent on these trees olive) and cars. Couldn't that also be considered by the ICC as a war crime? Food for thought...

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What about Lebanon?

I would never dare to think I have enough knowledge so as to freely talk about this issue and produce a meaningful article, but I will try to write down what I have understood so far (I already had to edit as I misunderstood some facts, thanks Louis!). Lebanon and Syria have always been deeply interconnected. Both countries were part of the Ottoman Empire, both countries were under the dominance of France's colonization, both countries share an extremely complicated ethnic/religious division, and both countries political scenes still depend on the other's. More recently, Syria was a key player in the brokering of the 1989 Taif Accords putting an end to Lebanon's civil war, and its troops (and many authorities) stayed in the country (allegedly guaranteeing the non resumption of violence) until 2005, when the country's population unanimously demanded their retreat. It all started in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, next to the country's northern borde...

Palestina: hoja de ruta, callejón sin salida

El 13 de septiembre se cumplió el vigésimosegundo aniversario de la firma de los Acuerdos de Oslo , texto que marcó un antes y un después en el conflicto entre Israel y Palestina . Para los israelíes, los acuerdos tenían por objeto garantizar a su población un cierto grado de seguridad, así como un socio con el que compartir mesa de negociación cada cierto tiempo. En el caso de los palestinos, los acuerdos fueron diseñados para proporcionarles un cierto margen de libertad política y económica y un horizonte de autogobierno.

El claro ganador de las presidenciales en Siria – y que no debería sorprendernos en exceso

Lo que al principio parecía una broma pesada se ha convertido en una realidad ineludible: Siria celebrará elecciones presidenciales el próximo 3 de junio, y todo apunta a que Bashar Al Assad está en posición de declararse vencedor de las mismas. La única pregunta es ahora con qué margen . Independientemente de la utilidad de debates bizantinos sobre si estos comicios deberían tener lugar o no, lo cierto es que no resulta tan descabellado a día de hoy comparar, aunque salvando las distancias, los escenarios electorales en Siria y Egipto. A pesar de que ambos régimenes son perfectamente capaces de manipular los resultados, esto no será necesario, ya que una mayoría considerable de la población se muestra favorable a que un hombre fuerte siga dominando un país que aún se enfrenta a numerosas amenazas. Cartel electoral en Latakia / Foto: Flickr

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