Ahmed Aboudouh

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de septiembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

Palestinian women walk near a fallen minaret in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 7, 2025. (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo

Egypt has finally presented its ‘day after’ plan to rebuild Gaza. It is deeper, more detailed, and far more realistic than President Donald Trump’s damaging proposal for a US takeover of the strip and the removal of its people.

While Hamas has expressed support for the Egyptian plan, the proposal is unlikely to succeed without substantial modifications.

Initially, Israel dismissed the plan, arguing that it fails to address the realities on the ground. The US also appeared sceptical. However, the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, later downplayed the Trump administration’s concerns, describing the plan as ‘ a good faith first step from the Egyptians’.…  Seguir leyendo »

A view of the tent city in Al-Kuteiba Square, west of Gaza City, Gaza on February 05, 2025. The tent city was set up on a 15-acre piece of land to accommodate more than 300 displaced families. (Photo by Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo

President Donald Trump has started a new reality in the Middle East, regardless of what comes next. Did he also torpedo the hostage deal in Gaza? Possibly. What other outcome should people expect if proposed US policy on the territory has led to warnings against ethnic cleansing by the UN Secretary General and would effectively end the US commitment to the two-state solution?

Israel’s military has already been ordered to prepare plans to allow Palestinians to exit Gaza. That follows the US president saying the US would take over the Gaza Strip and ‘do a job with it too’.

‘ We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,’ he said, explaining that America would take ‘a long-term ownership position’ to turn it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’.…  Seguir leyendo »

Morocco Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch (2nd-L) arrives at the Beijing Capital International airport in Beijing on 4 September 2024, for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Photo by ADEK BERRYADEK BERRY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.

MundoÁfrica, ,

Chinese President Xi Jinping stopped off in Morocco on his return from the G20 summit in Brazil in November.

The flying visit is a sign of the importance China attaches to safeguarding its domination of the electric-vehicle industry as it prepares for the return to office of US President Donald Trump. It could also signal the emergence of the North African country as a battleground in a forthcoming great-power trade war.

China’s EV exports face increasing protectionist policies in Europe and the US. The EU’s Green Deal and its Open Strategic Autonomy policies are designed to protect industrial supply chains and reduce their reliance on China.…  Seguir leyendo »

Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon fighter aircraft of China's Ba Yi Aerobatics Team perform manoeuvres during the first Egypt International Airshow in Alamein, Egypt on 4 September 2024. Photo by Khaled Desouki / AFP via Getty Images.

MundoOriente Próximo,

The reported agreement for Egypt to buy the Chinese Chengdu J-10C 4.5 generation fighter jets is part of a broader shift from focusing on modernizing ground troops to bolstering the air force. The details of the deal have not yet been published. Nonetheless, it reveals Egypt has two motivations beyond backing its arsenal with another fighter jet.

Elusive Western technology

The most important motivation for Egypt’s military diversification strategy (and the biggest source of frustration) is the perceived Western technology starvation.

A quick examination of the map around Egypt shows that the most significant perceived threats to its national security are located in remote places where Egypt doesn’t traditionally enjoy ground troops’ presence.…  Seguir leyendo »

Mahmoud al-Aloul of Fatah, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Mussa Abu Marzuk of Hamas at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 23, 2024. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoAsiaMundoOriente Próximo,

The national unity agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah in Beijing on 23 July will not put China on a par with the United States in the Middle East or establish it as an alternative mediator.

Washington has no role in this game, as it can’t speak directly to Hamas. Similar conditions facilitated the China-brokered Saudi-Iranian normalization of March 2023. China’s aims in brokering the declaration are more strategic and long-term.

In this case, negotiations have only achieved broad principles, not a comprehensive agreement. True Palestinian unity requires a structural change in the Palestinians’ political and ideological heritage; deep reform and inclusion of all factions in their institutions; democratic elections; and, above all, an end to the war in Gaza.…  Seguir leyendo »

Journalists protest in support of Palestinians in front of the Egypt Journalists Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt, on December 13, 2023. (Photo by Mahmoud Elkhwas/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo,

So far, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah remains ‘ limited’, meaning it is still under the threshold of a major military incursion like the previous bloody assaults on Jabaliya, Gaza City, and Khan Younis.

This should be good news for Egypt’s security. However, the reality is far from it. The operation, launched on 7 May, creates two major threats for Egypt.

Refugees

The first is a potential mass exodus of Palestinian refugees into Sinai. For Egypt, this has been a ‘ red line’ since the start of the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government seems to take Cairo’s concerns seriously.…  Seguir leyendo »

A man in Tehran holds a local newspaper reporting on its front page the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing on 11 March 2023. Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

MundoOriente Próximo,

The drone and missile attacks launched by Iran against Israel on 13 April, and the subsequent Israeli response, have thrown into doubt the stability of the Saudi–Iran reconciliation facilitated by China last year.

The attacks have dramatically altered the strategic landscape, casting uncertainty over regional security and testing China’s recently earned reputation as a credible mediator.

After the Iranian drone attack, Beijing promptly initiated emergency phone diplomacy to prevent the Saudi–Iran agreement from being undermined by the volatile situation. Following calls with his Saudi and Iranian counterparts, Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, applauded ’ Iran’s stress on not targeting regional and neighbouring countries’ – a tacit reference to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.…  Seguir leyendo »

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (L) being welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) in Beijing, China on February 14, 2023. (Photo by Presidency of Iran / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

MundoAsiaMundoOriente Próximo, ,

A Reuters report on 26 January claimed that China recently attempted to nudge Iran into reining in Houthi attacks against civilian ships in the Red Sea.

However, the report created confusion about precisely what Beijing’s demands were.
The prevailing narrative has been that China asked Iran to refrain from impeding international shipping, and to abandon its strategy of linking such attacks to the war in Gaza. However, this is misleading.

Chinese interests only

China may indeed have pressed Iran in the past weeks. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters, ‘China has been making active efforts to ease tensions in the Red Sea from the very beginning.’…  Seguir leyendo »

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 14, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao - Pool/Getty Images)

MundoAsiaMundoOriente Próximo,

China’s position on the war in Gaza is controversial and ambiguous to many observers. Beijing has criticized Israel’s blanket bombardment of civilians and condemned violations of international law.

President Xi Jinping waited until after the Third Belt and Road Forum to comment on the crisis, reiterating China’s long-held position that a two-state solution should be implemented and calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi went further, describing Israel’s bombardment of civilians in Gaza as actions that ‘ have gone beyond the scope of self-defence’. At the same time, Beijing avoided condemning Hamas’s atrocities against civilians.…  Seguir leyendo »

An Israeli delegation attend a UNESCO meeting in Riyadh. (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

InternacionalEconomía

At the G20 summit President Joe Biden announced that India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), together with Israel, France, Germany, Italy and the US, want to create an ‘India– Middle East–Europe Corridor’ (IMEC).

This rail and shipping route would include advanced fibre optics, clean hydrogen pipelines and economic zones stretching from India, through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, to Piraeus Port in Greece.

A working group will lay out timetables, financing plans and projects in the next two months. If it materializes, the grandiose project could create a new dimension of economic integration between the Middle East, South Asia and Europe.…  Seguir leyendo »