AboutArticles by Michael Jansen

Freedom denied

16 Oct 2025

Fatah’s Marwan Barghouti is the most high-profile of the Palestinian prisoners Israel flatly refused to release in exchange for 48 captive Israelis held by Hamas. He led street protests...

Trump’s claims for ending some wars ring hollow

12 Oct 2025

The award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela's chief opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has added insult to injury as far as US President Donald Trump is...

Keys of hope

09 Oct 2025

Gaza’s 2.2 million occupied, deprived, bombarded and shelled Palestinians are among the most steadfast people in the world. Seventy-one per cent are not native Gazans but refugees from nearby...

Israel could return to war if captives are freed

06 Oct 2025

Once Hamas had accepted the key elements of Donald Trump’s peace plan, he ordered Israel to stop bombing. Instead, Israel carried out dozens or air strikes and artillery shelling,...

Force for stability

02 Oct 2025

At a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the organisation’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres and envoys from Jordan, Spain and Brazil were once again obliged...

US and Israel only hurdles to recognising Palestine

29 Sep 2025

The past week has seen significant developments on the regional scene which could have long-lasting and transformational impacts. Key Western nations were among 10 new countries to recognise a...

History forgotten

25 Sep 2025

Contemporary US politicians have harmed and compromised the country’s enduring interests by flagrantly ignoring the wise advice of two past presidents, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower, both celebrated army...

Spate of Western recognitions of Palestinian state

22 Sep 2025

Britain’s belated recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to statehood in their own country has come 77 years too late. In the 1917 Balfour declaration, Britain pledged...

Militarised society

18 Sep 2025

Dozens of Israeli army reserve soldiers have publicly rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s call up of 60,000 and announced they are prepared to go to jail rather than serve...

Trump abandons Mediterranean ‘Riviera’ plan in Gaza

15 Sep 2025

The Arabs have won a key political battle in Israel’s unending war on Gaza. Under Arab pressure US President Donald Trump has abandoned his regionally and globally rejected proposal...

Michael Jansen

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