Hazem Saghieh

Hazem Saghieh

Two Zionisms And Two Israels!?

The conclusion Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli religious and nationalist Right drew from the October 7th operation is that “strength is the only thing Arabs understand," and that Hamas’s operation had provided them with an opportunity to act on this principle. This conclusion was not an epiphany…

The Lebanese Baath Party: Importance of the Unimportant

Some events may seem insignificant, yet it is precisely their insignificance that gives them importance. I am referring here to the “Arab Socialist Baath Party” in Lebanon changing its name to the “Hezb Al-Raya Al-Watani” (National Banner Party). As for the first reason for its importance, it is…

On Lampooning Lebanon’s ‘Sectarian System’

Every now and then, we find, despite everything that has happened and continues to happen, someone getting up to deride Lebanon’s “sectarian system” and hold it responsible for the condition of the devastated country. The “sectarian system” is not something one can defend, nor can it be absolved…

Migrating to History in the Era of Defeats 

Why were the forces of the “Axis of Resistance” defeated in the war triggered by the October 7, 2023, operation? Why have the regimes of the Arab Levant, along with their societies, been dragged, as a result of this defeat, into a second defeat that could prove even more bitter and cruel? Why has…

Transitional Dualism and the Role Required of America

Iraq’s designation of Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) as terrorist organizations, whose assets must therefore be confiscated, was a warm-up for ending the era of Iranophilic militias. Swiftly walking this step back, under the flimsy pretext that the designation had been made …

‘Either Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu’

Most of all in the Gaza Strip, but also in Lebanon and Syria, the options have been narrowed down to two, both of which could be named after the two men behind them, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. It is either the American “applying pressure” or the Israeli “being pressured,” per the…

Palestine: A Future Without a Past and a Past Without a Future

“New Gaza” and “Green Rafah” are the two catchwords of a rubric coming at us with promises of a prosperous future for Gaza. They join the other catchwords for rubrics that mirror real-estate projects and profitable ventures, after the French Riviera was proposed as the model to emulate. One…

The Parties of Falling to the Abyss and the Parties of Rising to … Hell 

One cannot fail to notice the perpetual re-emergence of a sharp contrast between two spectacles. On the one hand, we have the scenes from festivities organized by parties that are labeled ideological or secular, in commemoration of an anniversary or in honor of a founder or leader. On the other…

… On Wars of the Moon, the Stars, and Outer Space

A few days ago, French President Emmanuel Macron said that today’s conflicts are being waged in outer space and that wars of the future will begin there. After going over the threats posed by Russia, he announced that France will allocate billions of euros for military spending in outer space. …

How Can Beirut’s Hamra Street Be Revived?

The administration of the Beirut theater “Masrah Al-Madina” has announced that it will hold a gathering under the title “Reviving Hamra Street: Memory and Life.” The fact is that there is a need and demand for such an effort, especially since Hamra Street is unlike any other street in Beirut, nor…