Essays

Iran’s Election: Reality Versus the Dominant Narrative

The primary discourse on Iran’s politics obscures its nuanced reality through binary and inaccurate labels of “moderate” and “hardliner”; examining this framework reveals a deep Western insecurity about Iran’s and the Global South’s rising power

The World Fears Wider War After Hamas Leader’s Assassination

The international community races to reduce tension after a series of targeted killings carried out by Israel

Prioritizing Palestinian Self-Determination is Long Overdue

By Omar Auf

Summer 2024

The discussion about a one-state or two-state solution must be preceded by efforts to facilitate exercise of the right to self-determination by the Palestinian people. Only then can a realistic solution be genuinely pursued.

World Refugee Day Highlights Growing Challenges

By Abigail Flynn

The growing rate of refugees across the globe constitutes an international crisis. Supporting these displaced people requires acknowledging the consequences of conflict and building resilient frameworks to protect refugee rights

Climate Change, Conflict, and Gender Inequality in the MENA Region

By Zeina Moneer

Spring 2024

Climate change—in the absence of legal and social protections—works as a threat multiplier that perpetuates gender inequalities and worsens socio-economic injustices in the MENA region

Sticks and Stones: The Taliban’s War Against Women

By Tugela Pepin

Spring 2024

The world has bookmarked the Taliban as a problematic but mostly benign thorn in the side of global society. For women in Afghanistan, however, the threat is all-encompassing

In Targeting UNRWA, Israel Aims to Destroy the Right of Return

By Daoud Kuttab

Spring 2024

Hoping to capitalize on world sympathy after October 7, Israel tried to use its allies to defund and dismantle the UN relief agency.

Children’s “Right to Play” In Gaza

By Ana Davis

Spring 2024

Like children everywhere, Gaza’s boys and girls should be playing and enjoying their childhoods, but the actions of the Israeli government and military make that impossible

Time to Renew an Old Promise? A Brief History of Global South Solidarity with Palestine

By Bidisha Biswas

Spring 2024

Anti-colonial and post-colonial politics have shaped global understandings of the Israel-Palestine conflict for decades, beyond the narrow vision of many Western countries

The Gendering of Sudan’s Brutal War

By Nafisa Bedri and Tamsin Bradley

Spring 2024

Any analysis of the sexual violence and unfolding genocide must highlight the extent to which the media is still using an orientalist gaze to report on the war in Sudan

Death or Detention: Israel’s Attacks on Journalism Follow a Lethal Pattern

By Jodie Ginsberg

Spring 2024

Israel’s campaign of targeting and silencing the media has hidden its crimes under a dark shadow

Bridging Local and Global Assistance for Palestinian Refugees in Egypt

By Maysa Ayoub

Spring 2024

What happens to those who are beyond UNHCR and UNRWA’s scope of operation?

Navigating the Politics of Humanitarian Aid in Gaza

By Shatha Abdulsamad

Spring 2024

Despite Israeli efforts to destroy it, UNRWA remains an embodiment of international responsibility for the question of Palestinian refugees, and a reminder of their inalienable right of return.

UNRWA After October 7: Building a Comprehensive Response Framework for Palestinian Refugees

By Lex Takkenberg

Spring 2024

UNRWA’s future cannot be considered in isolation—a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approach, with displacement issues at its center, is now necessary.

Scrolling Social Media Sentiments on the Gaza War

By Ayusha Chalise

Despite efforts of platforms like Meta to curb political content generally, frustration and sympathy for both sides of Israel’s War on Gaza continues to run deep among users

UNRWA Funding is Burdened with Conditionality

By Anne Irfan

Spring 2024

The UN agency’s essential humanitarian role lies in the balance thanks to the political contingencies of its donors.

Hegemonic Reasoning Fueled the Russia-Ukraine War

By F. Andrew Wolf Jr.

With the Cold War at an end for over 30 years, how is it that the US still perceives Russia as a threat?

‘UNRWA is a Lifeline of Hope’—Foreword by Antonia De Meo

By Antonia De Meo

Spring 2024

UNRWA’s Deputy Commissioner-General for Operational Support, Antonia De Meo, provides a foreword to the Cairo Review’s Spring 2024 issue dedicated to the agency amid the unprecedented challenges it faces

A World that Ended Apartheid can do the Same for Israel’s Occupation

By Abderahman Salaheldin

Ending the Israeli occupation and forging a Palestinian state requires a unified effort that parallels the process which ended racial segregation in South Africa.

In Darkness All is Black: Exploring the Realities of Violence by the Israeli State and Hamas

By Erwin van Veen

Winter 2024

The events of October 7 and beyond raise a major ethical question: by what standard is the violence that Hamas uses against Israel different from the violence that the Israeli state uses against Hamas?