Gaza: humanitarian urgency amid ongoing violence

By Andrea 

Note: Due to the evolving nature of the situation, please note that the news is current at the time of writing (20 December). This piece of news is not intended to show any position of the Observatory and its members who express their solidarity to all the people who are suffering under the noise of bombs and rockets.

Bombs have not stopped falling over Gaza. Israel’s war on the territory reached 74 days of violence with no apparent willingness for a truce. The number of direct Palestinian casualties has already exceeded 19.000, of which at least 7.729 children. The humanitarian situation in the strip keeps worsening, with famine and diseases causing suffering and desperation.



Global call for ceasefire: On December 12th, an overwhelming majority of nations voted for an urgent cessation of hostilities at the UN General Assembly. Even though, such results do not imply any legally binding action: they simply depict an image of the world’s opinion on the conflict. The UN Security Council is working on a new ceasefire draft resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates, after the previous resolution was vetoed by the United States on December 8th. While the vote was meant to take place on December 18th, it has already been postponed three times. Such a resolution could have a real impact, since the Security Council is able to implement binding decisions.



Shipshape chaos? Yemen’s Houthis have increased their attacks on commercial vessels during the last few days, which has prompted several shipping firms to suspend their travels through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Houthi representatives have stated that their offensives on the Red Sea come as a protest towards the Israeli military aggression in Gaza. A multinational security initiative has been disclosed by Lloy Austin, the US Defence Secretary, to defend trade in the area against such attacks. The response involves a total of ten states: the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Norway, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Seychelles and France.





Stifling the opposition while dealing with Brussels

By Luca

Narrowing freedom. Opposition leader Chaima Issa, popular writer and prominent member of the National Salvation Front - the Tunisian political movement founded in 2022 in response to the democratic backsliding under the leadership of Kaïs Saïed - was sentenced to one year in prison for insulting the President. Already arrested last February with other 20 Tunisian political leaders, she was accused of undermining the security and stability of the state. Legal avenues for political purposes have become Tunis’ favourite means. As shown by Amnesty International, Decree-Law (2022-54) on Cybercrime has long been used by Saïed to target political opposition and civil resistance. While combining military prosecutions with civilian charges is aimed at eventually straining and draining any resilient residue of democratic soul.



Normative Neighbourhood? Not really. This week the European Commission has announced that an agreement has been reached with Tunisia over a 150 million euro programme. The deal falls within the MoU signed this summer on a new “strategic and global partnership”. What’s that? In other words, money in exchange for border control. It comes indeed as no surprise that funds will be disbursed under budget support. So basically, directly in Tunis’ pocket while opposition and civil society are being silenced as national presidential elections approach next year.





No surprises for elections in Egypt

By Blanca

And the winner is [drumroll]…Abdel Fattah al-Sisi! The result of the Egyptian election was released earlier this week and, to no surprise, President al-Sisi managed to stay in power for a third term, guaranteeing six more years in office. The economy and the war in Gaza were main topics in the campaign. However, much criticism across media sources, human rights groups and intellectuals concerns the fairness of the process and other candidates’ ability to stand a chance. If this interests you, the Observatory is about to release its piece on the Egyptian elections and the main challenges for al-Sisi’s third term. Keep your eyes peeled!



Be water, my friend. In other news regarding Egypt, on 9 December an agreement was signed between the North African country and the EU to establish a sustainable water partnership. In this vaguely-worded agreement, the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, and the Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, agreed to maintain joint cooperation to “increase our water resilience”. The idea is to establish regular cooperation between the two political bodies in order to help each other face water scarcity challenges, but it is hard to analyse what real consequences this will have.





Iran: A year of struggle and unrest
By Andrea

Recognition of bravery: This year’s Sakharov Prize has been awarded to Jina Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life, Freedommovement in Iran. This distinction is granted yearly by the European Parliament to honour organisations and individuals who fight for fundamental freedoms and human rights. The recognition comes a year after mass protests took over the streets of Iran, with women and men protesting against the regime’s discriminatory laws. At the same time, Nobel Peace Prize Iranian Narges Mohammadi was unable to attend the award ceremony in Oslo due to her imprisonment in Tehran’s Evin prison since 2021. Her children accepted the prize in her name, emphasising Mohammadi’s fight against the oppression of Iranian women.



State violence and repression: One year after the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s murder, protests spread around the nation and they were yet again responded to with severe regime violence. Iranian civil society regularly suffers from prosecutions, arrests, torture, and intimidation. Human rights groups are inspecting the killing of over 500 civilians, counting 69 children, since the beginning of the demonstrations in 2022. Moreover, experts alert that the number of executions has increased at a disturbing rate in comparison to the previous year, with at least 499 executions in 2023.



Unnoticed attack? Eleven officers of the Iranian police were killed in an attack on the station on December 15th in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The Sunni armed group, Jaish Al-Adl, took responsibility for the attack in this impoverished Southeastern province. This border, that Iran shares with Afghanistan and Pakistan, has already been the set of several attacks in the past. However, this offensive has proven the deadliest in the region in recent years. The Deputy Minister announced the arrest of the attackers and claimed the area had been secured.

Now, a bit of culture...

In this section, we uncover some of the most listened and watched musicians, writers or YouTubers of the MENA or new publications, articles or books either from or on the region. If you have any suggestions, you’re always welcome to tell us via our email!



Sketching a Fortress Europe. Seeing the complexity of EU-MENA relations, it is not uncommon to find that the interaction between colonialism, post-colonialism, trade, migration, and security is often overlooked. To tackle this, Raffaella Del Sarto has stepped in with her book, Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East. Del Sarto covers the imperial relationship between Europe and the so-called Mediterranean Middle East in the 1995-2015 period, while exploring the concept of “normative Empire Europe.” Borderlands is particularly relevant for academics and students who look forward to understanding how borderlands shape almost every aspect of Europe’s relations with southern Mediterranean countries.



Civil Society in Action. As part of a group of civil society leaders, two of our fellows had the opportunity last week to attend the Laureate Panel of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. It was truly inspiring to get to share reflections with the representatives of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, as well as other finalists such as human rights defenders in Nicaragua, abortion right advocates, and finally, Sakharov Fellows in the fields of sustainable fashion and political opposition.



Spoiler Alert, Christmas Gift! On December 25th, the Observatory will release the third episode of MENA Stories. Delving into the Middle East legacy of one of the most controversial American diplomats, Henry Kissinger, we will take you back in time to link the dots between the past and the ongoing War in Gaza. Save the date and enjoy it!



Winter Break! 2023 is coming to an end and these have been wonderful months of InsideMENA. Now it's time to get some rest and enjoy the holidays and come back in January refreshed and re-energised, with lots of exciting updates, news and insights to share!