The leader of al-Mokhtara has endured tumults over the decades. I recalled the day when Walid Jumblatt recounted to me the developments that happened on that long and painful day in March 1977. He was still in his twenties - a time when youths dream of freedom and living their life to the…
The ruptures and interventions have squandered more than a decade of the life of the Arabs. The stage was rough, costly, and scary. It cracked maps and pushed countries towards erosion. Feelings of conflict, separation and oppression were unleashed. It spilled a river of blood and destroyed…
I received several messages of complaint and inquiries after the publication of my interview with Salem al-Jomaili, head of the US branch in the Iraqi intelligence agency that operated under the former regime.
The most significant messages were those that said the facts the interview laid bare…
Some developments witnessed over the two decades are more consequential and dangerous than the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union’s transformation into a museum relic. Indeed, the world has witnessed an explosion of knowledge, and successive revolutionary breakthroughs in science and…
That was years ago. I returned from Baghdad and published an interview with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Iraq was mired in a difficult battle, and the man’s name was a provocation to his opponents. The phone rang, and the caller asked me: “How can Ghassan Charbel have the right to tour…
From Ukraine to Sudan, the world is ill and in need of a doctor who cannot be found. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighs his option and reaches the same conclusion. Fate has tasked him with a semi-suicidal mission. He never thought that he would turn into a general in a war that is…
Some cities have a way of delivering messages. They prompt the visiting journalist to wait before believing everything that they hear from decision-makers and their opponents - if they exist. It is as if it is announcing that its real date is always being postponed - its date with a normal state,…
During a recent flight, my neighboring passenger informed me that he had a layover on his way from Singapore to the United States. He told me he was a doctor and researcher who will be speaking at a conference on advances in fighting cancer.
He said he believes that his participation in the…
The Israeli government is adopting a very dangerous policy. The raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque are pouring fuel on already blazing fires.
The insistence on settlement expansion offers the owners of the land no choice but to defend it relentlessly. The insistence on dismissing the moderate and…
The current century has come to be painful for the Middle East. Terrorism struck the symbols of the prestige of New York and Washington, and the wounded empire embarked on a punishment journey, the most important of which was the Iraqi adventure.
Lebanon soon joined the list of the sufferers, as…