AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Critical juncture

05 Jun 2025

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam last week declared his government’s intentions on the host of difficult problems facing the country. He began with the issue of security. He said...

‘Fresh ideas’ mooted to close gap in US-Iran N-deal talks

01 Jun 2025

Donald Trump has said he warned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against attacking Iran because Washington and Tehran are close to reaching a deal on limiting that country's nuclear...

Ivy fight

29 May 2025

Why is Donald Trump waging war on Harvard, the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in the United States and is ranked among the top five around the...

Gaza, from prosperity to below the poverty line

25 May 2025

For millennia Gaza served as a commercial hub and bridge between Egypt and the Eastern Arab World. Palestinian writer and activist Edward Said wrote about travelling from Cairo, where...

Route to recovery

22 May 2025

In the good old days, it used to take three hours to travel in a service taxi from Beirut to Damascus. We swooped up Mount Lebanon along the wide...

Lifting Syria sanctions a complex, time-taking task

19 May 2025

On the regional political front, Donald Trump's Gulf tour yielded positive results for Syrians and negative consequences for Palestinians. Following a meeting with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Trump...

Making history

15 May 2025

Poet and essayist Mosab Abu Toha has many firsts in his short life. He is the first Arab and first Palestinian to win one of the prestigious 23 Pulitzer...

VE Day, Trump distances US from Europe alliance

12 May 2025

The 8th anniversary last Thursday of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany (VE Day) was celebrated royally in Britain with marching bands and colour-coded regiments, a service in Westminster...

Stopped by sea

08 May 2025

As the International Court of Justice wound up hearings on Israel’s two-month blockade of Gaza, a small ship carrying aid for the strip was struck and disabled by two...

Making food a political issue throttles Gaza lives

04 May 2025

In a world where 757 million people face chronic hunger, and 45 million children suffer from wasting due to acute malnutrition, Gaza stands out as unique. War, drought, earthquakes,...

Michael Jansen

The author, a well-respected observer of Middle East affairs, has three books on the Arab-Israeli conflict.