The unfinished business of the Arab Spring
Washington Post

“Ten years ago, much of the Arab world erupted in jubilant revolt against the dictatorial regimes whose corruption, cruelty and mismanagement had mired the Middle East in poverty and backwardness for decades. Ten years on, the hopes awakened by the protests have vanished — but the underlying conditions that drove the unrest are as acute as ever."

Image: Fountains at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

New report: Gaza is almost unlivable after 15 years of blockade
EuroMed Monitor

“The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for putting an end to the 15-year-old tragedy of the Gaza blockade; stressing that the current arrangements for holding general Palestinian elections require serious international guarantees that the blockade will end without conditions related to the election results.”

Image: The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor report on Gaza. (EMHRM)

Bishops reiterate need for direct Israel-Palestine negotiations if there is to be peace
Angelus News

“A group of Christian leaders who advocate for the Holy Land this week reiterated a call for Israeli and Palestinian authorities to negotiate directly for the sake of peace in the region. They also encouraged Israel to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible to Palestinians. The Holy Land Coordination group, which was founded by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, is comprised of bishops from the U.S. and Europe, as well as a bishop of the Church of England. Since 2000, the group has taken an annual trip to the Holy Land, and promotes awareness, action, and prayer for the region.”

You can read the full statement here. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is one of CMEP's member communions. 

Image: A bishop of the Holy Land Coordination surveys the construction of a separation wall in Palestine's Cremisan Valley, Jan. 17, 2017. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk via CNA)

Biden to restore Palestinian aid, reopen diplomatic missions shut by Trump, UN envoy says
Haaretz

“The United States intends to reopen Palestinian diplomatic missions shuttered by the Trump administration and restore U.S. aid to the Palestinians, acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told the Security Council on Tuesday (January 26). Mills added that President Joe Biden's administration will restore U.S. assistance programs to the Palestinians, suspended by former President Donald Trump, in order to create a stable environment, rather than strictly doing favors for Palestinian leadership.”

Image: President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, in Washington, January 25, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Renewed talk of two-state solution illustrates US influence - analysis
J-Post

“A report from Arab News noted on Monday (January 25) that US President Joe Biden was throwing his weight behind a 'two-state solution for Palestine and Israel as Russia called for a new Middle East peace conference, to include Saudi Arabia.' That extraordinary sentence tells us many things. It mentions how the Biden administration’s renewed call for two states was putting wind in the sails of discussions from Moscow to Riyadh.”

Image: Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden in Jerusalem in 2016. (Debbie Hill/Reuters)

Cabinet authorizes normalization with Morocco
J-Post

“The cabinet approved Israel’s normalization agreement with Morocco in a unanimous vote on Sunday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the agreement ‘a historic moment after four peace agreements with four Muslim and Arab states in four months’ and praised King Mohammed VI.”

Image: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government's cabinet formalizes the normalization agreement with Morocco. (Chaim Tzach/GPO)