Beyond the Headlines

In August 1990 the Iraqi military invaded neighbouring Kuwait, bombing its capital city and sparking a war that would last six months and result in thousands of deaths. Not long after the invasion, late president George H W Bush spearheaded a US-led intervention against the Iraqi forces and the country’s dictator Saddam Hussein. The death of the 41st US President on November 30th served to remind of Kuwait’s close relationship with the late president and the United States, as they paid tribute to the man who intervened against Iraq on their behalf. But across the border, for Iraqi civilians scarred by the coalition’s violent bombing of their country, the image they paint of Bush is very different. On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, we discuss the lasting legacies of the Republican president in the region.

Palestinian Adeeb Joudeh is a member of one of two families safeguarding the keys to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and is a respected figure among all factions of the city. But recently, he has come under fire. Mr Joudeh allegedly sold his home to Jewish buyers – a mark of shame among Palestinians forced to contend with Israel’s occupying forces. Real estate transactions are just one way Israelis are claiming even more land from Palestinians, but recently the Palestinian Authority has taken issue, as Wilson Fache reports from Jerusalem. He speaks to The National's Sofia Barbarani in this week's Beyond the Headlines podcast.  The collective fear of losing land to settlers dates back to at least 1948, when more than 700,000 Arabs were forcefully displaced, leading the way to the formation of Israel. Today, penalties and ostracization await Palestinians who sell land to Jewish buyers. We discuss the use of real estate as a weapon of expansion in Israel and the Palestinian citizens who choose to — or are forced — to sell land and homes to Jewish settlers.

Children in the Middle East face more challenges than almost anywhere else in the world. One in four children in the region are affected by poverty, and in 2017, more than 1,823 children were killed, up from 1,563 in 2016. Armed conflict, instability and the failure of governments to provide education are all factors that have driven 5.7 million children to be out of primary school and another 3.9 million out of secondary.  However, organisations like Unicef have maintained that they can help solve the problem through simple solutions. We discuss some of those solutions in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines. This year, the UN organization spent more than half of its global humanitarian budget in this Middle East and North Africa. The situation is dire, but a lot can still be done. Geert Cappalaere, Unicef's regional director, tells The National's Naser Al Wasmi what can be done to give the region's 29 million children brighter futures.

US President Donald Trump’s Republican party can no longer claim complete control of a two-branch Congress, after his rival Democratic party last week won control of the House of Representatives. The Senate, however, is still controlled by the Republicans. Newly empowered Democrats are expected to take Trump to task on many issues domestically, but to what extent will Trump's foreign policy be affected? Specifically, how might Trump's agenda in the Middle East change? We ask an expert on US-Middle Eastern affairs that question and more in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines. Danielle Pletka, the senior vice-president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, spoke with The National's Naser Al Wasmi, and explained the influence of a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on Trump's Middle Eastern agenda. Will his tough stance on Iran strengthen or wane? Will new checks to his Republican party hinder the administration's goals for the region?

There's been political trouble in Sri Lanka over the past two weeks after President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. It is not clear that the president had the authority to make such a decision though, and Mr Wickremesinghe has refused to vacate the prime minister's residence. Which has left Sri Lanka in the unusual position of having two men claiming to be prime minister.

More than 10 per cent of the world’s migrant population live in the GCC, making it the highest citizen-to-migrant region in the world. A look at the demographics of the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman shows that at least half of the population is non-citizen residents. In 2015, the Arab World as a whole hosted 32 million migrants, who sent home more than 100 billion dollars in remittances. However, despite their heavy presence not only in the Arab countries but around the world, international agreements on migration are practically non-existent. Louise Arbour, the UN special representative for international migration, joins host Naser Al Wasmi to discuss the upcoming International Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Morrocco this December and how the compact will change migration in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines.

For the first time in ten years, Afghans took to the polling stations to elect candidates to National Assembly and take part in the future of their country. But a series of violent attacks have put a damper on the democratic turnout. Afghan security forces claimed more than 100 attacks took place in the week leading up to the elections and on the day, killing 23 and wounding hundreds. The Taliban claimed most of the attacks, including bombing the office of one of the candidates in the south of the country. The events represent a political reality in strife. The Taliban, who along with other insurgent groups control vast swathes of the country, attempted to curtail the elections. The attacks, which included suicide bombings, could be responsible for the low turnout. Of the 9 million registered to vote in the country, around 4 million showed up. Nonetheless, after years of delays and months of negotiations, the country has voted for the first time in a decade. On this episode, we're joined by Ruchi Kumar to answer two questions: what does this mean for the future of the country? And how will this affect the ongoing US negotiations with the Taliban over a potential peace deal?

This week, Jordan and Syria opened their border for the first time in three years. The move promises to restore the possibility for movement of both goods and people between the two countries. Jordan plays host to a large number of Syrian refugees and migrants, many of whom fled the carnage when the war broke out 7 years ago. Others have worked for decades between the two borders, trading produce, medicine and other goods. What does the border opening mean for both Syria and Jordan politically? How will this change the fate of the 1.4 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, and is this the first step towards the international Syrian diaspora returning home?  We discuss these questions and more with Jordan-based journalist Taylor Luck in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines.

The world’s leading climate change scientists warned governments to act on climate change today or face a catastrophic future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is seen as the final warning. It says that if governments fail to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees by 2050, the world will witness significantly more violent drought, floods and extreme heat. And the Middle East is especially at risk. So are the UAE and other regional leaders doing their part? Tanzeed Alam, Managing Director of Earth Matters Consultancy,  joins host Naser Al Wasmi to break down the report and assess what needs to be done in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines. Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say that governments must act now, and that time is running out. We look to find out how the Middle East will change under global warming, and what steps we can take now.

Hundreds of men, women and children are being held in detention centres in Libya, just a stone’s throw away from clashes between rival militias, as journalist Sally Hayden has written for The National. Campbell MacDiarmid spoke with Hayden, who has direct contact with some of the men and women trapped in these jails, in this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines.  Also this week, we look at the ongoing parliamentary elections in Iraqi Kurdistan. A year on from a failed attempt at independence, voters express a sense of disillusion in the region’s political elite. What will the results from this election portend for the region and its relationship with Baghdad? Mina Al Droubi joins host Sofia Barbarani to discuss.