Hazem Saghieh

Hazem Saghieh

The Binary of Enmity and Deliverance Framing Relations with Israel 

Is there a Palestinian, or Arab, conception of Israel that we can look to for guidance in the future? Could such a notion keep pace with the diplomatic efforts currently underway? Two theories currently seem to dominate the discourse, especially in Lebanon: the first revolves around Israel as …

Questions of the Post-Gaza War Levant

While the next phases of the Gaza agreement and its implementation are shrouded in ambiguity, the broad trajectory of the Levant, as we can gather from this agreement and others, is not obscure. The un-regrettable demise of an entire ecosystem of forces and ideas, after it had tasked itself with…

On Gaza, Palestine, and October 7!

Only a few dispersed and reluctant voices were raised in opposition to the “Trump Plan” for ending the Gaza war. It is not that the voices believe in the plan, nor that its flawlessness exonerates it from rebuke. If the plan is indeed susceptible to being challenged, and it is, then far less…

On Believing And Not Believing One’s Words, And One’s Intelligence And Stupidity

We should hope that the leaders of Hezbollah, its spokesmen, and those who promote its discourse do not believe in their discourse. Indeed, soundness of mind and common sense demand as much. True, proponents are not absolved of other flaws in the event that they are not convinced of the case…

Intra-Sectarian Shifts Regarding the Country’s Fundamental Question

This is not an op-ed about “the shifts of sects” but the shifts ‘’within’’ sects that emerged in recent days or that had previously been latent, already present beneath the surface before they recently rose to the fore. Of course, every discussion of “the sects” and their positions necessarily…

Before and After Lighting Up the Raouche Rock

If we set UN Resolution 1701 aside, its various interpretations, and all the texts around it, we could discuss a divergence in conceptions around the outcome of the “Support War” and the Israeli counter war. In the Lebanese state’s reading, there are “mutual obligations” and “reciprocal steps.” If…

1947 and 1947 in Reverse...

Since the baleful October 7 operation and the war it summoned, Israel and the Iranianophile militias have been waging another war on politics in tandem- the politics of today and the future. All of these parties are broadly pursuing an extreme form of what has, in some civil wars, been referred to…

Don’t Boycott Anti-Netanyahu Israeli Cultural Works

On September 15, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an op-ed by Neta Riskin and Magi Otsri “on behalf of many Israeli filmmakers, writers, poets, musicians, actors and intellectuals.” I will quote their words at length, and ask the reader’s patience as I explain my reasons in the final…

On an International Conference That Is Urgent and … Impossible 

Between 1618 and 1648, Europe, especially its central regions, lived through the Thirty Years’ War: a combination of religious conflicts, dynastic ambitions, and territorial disputes. This war, which splintered into several wars that resulted in the deaths of millions, either in conflict or because…

The Rejectionists and their Lethal Humor

At the turn of the twentieth century, the French philosopher Henri Bergson published three essays that were later compiled into a book, "Le Rire" (Laughter). This small book is perhaps his most significant legacy; indeed, some consider it a philosophical treatise on comedy that parallels Aristotle…