Habib Siddiqui

 Dear friends and family,   As we close this difficult year, we ask you to consider supporting the work of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS, Bethlehem University) through a year-end donation or by volunteering your time and expertise. Your contribution (tax deductible in many countries) will directly support the opening of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and our ongoing conservation programs that protect the biodiversity and the human diversity that defines our beautiful Palestine.   This year has brought profound pain to our communities. It was a most difficult year not just in Palestine but globally. Everyday, our hearts are heavy with the weight of the genocide in the Gaza Strip, watching the systematic destruction of life, the environment (ecocide), and the very future of our people. Here in the West Bank, we have faced our own immense challenges. Unemployment reaching 50%, movement restricted with 1,250 gates and check...

  AI_CH_AI464_UV_YS_Podcast_What All Do You Cover_16*9

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have presented a united front and heaped praise on each other as they held   another meeting   to discuss the tensions in the Middle East. On Monday, Netanyahu paid his fifth visit to the United States since Trump’s inauguration in January, meeting the president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Netanyahu pushes for more strikes on Iran, clashing with Trump’s priorities list 2 of 3 2025: Trump’s year of ’emergency’, ‘invasion’ and ‘narcoterrorism’ list 3 of 3 US-Israel ties: What Netanyahu and Trump will discuss in Florida end of list Their mutual flattery turned into geopolitical alignment as the two leaders addressed the most pressing issues in the Middle East: Gaza and Iran. Trump claimed that Israel is helping the people of Gaza and dismissed the near-daily Israeli ceasefire violations. Here are the key takeaways from Monday’s meeting. Trump str...

  Most United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members have slammed Israel’s recognition of Somaliland at a meeting convened in response to the move, which several countries said may also have serious implications for Palestinians in Gaza. The United States was the only member of the 15-member body not to condemn  Israel’s formal recognition  of the breakaway region of Somalia at the emergency meeting in New York City on Monday, although it said its own position on Somaliland had not changed. Recommended Stories list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Somalia condemns Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as ‘naked invasion’ list 2 of 4 Any Israeli presence in Somaliland will be a ‘target’: Houthi leader list 3 of 4 How will Israel’s recognition of Somaliland impact the Middle East? list 4 of 4 At UN, Somalia slams Israel’s Somaliland recognition as ‘threat’ to peace end of list Addressing the UNSC, Somalia’s UN ambassador, Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, implored members to firmly reject Israel’s...

  Political and military signals have intensified in Yemen’s already complex theatre. In an unusually short period of time, three successive statements were issued within a single context, beginning with an official Yemeni request from President Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, the governing body of the internationally recognised government. This was followed by an operational response from the Saudi-led coalition, and then a political message by the   Saudi minister of defence   that defines the moves on the ground and the directions they take. What happened cannot be interpreted as an isolated move, nor as part of a routine truce. The sequence suggests an arrangement that uses Yemeni legitimacy as the political framework for a Saudi move aimed at restraining the expansion of an ally advancing eastward, while at the same time reducing the Houthis’ chances of exploiting any rift within the opposing camp. This is why the weight of the t...