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May Darwich

@maydarwich.bsky.social
1.1K followers 186 following 21 posts

Associate Professor, IR of the Middle East, University of Birmingham Author of Threats and Alliances in the Middle East (CUP).

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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Pleased to have contributed to the APSA MENA Newsletter Thanks to the editors @dbgreenwald.bsky.social @sebnemgumuscu.bsky.social @samershehata.bsky.social for putting together such an amazing collection! My piece: zenodo.org/records/1533... The Issue: zenodo.org/records/1538...
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António Ferraz de Oliveira @antoniofdo.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Job alert! Fully-funded PhD @facultyofartsug.bsky.social, with myself, @karimeltaki.bsky.social and @bherborth.bsky.social on post-imperial geopolitical imaginations in/of the Arab world. Please help spread the word among interested candidates! Full details here: karimeltaki.com/phd-position...
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
It was great to talk to @adamjamesquinn.bsky.social in the Political Worldview podcast. In the episode, we discussed the ongoing Gaza war and its impact across the region
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Adam Quinn @adamjamesquinn.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Great new episode of my @politicalworldview.bsky.social podcast out now! 🎙️ This time I’m talking with the awesome @maydarwich.bsky.social about the war in Gaza and the fallout in the wider Middle East.
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Trump's proposal of forcibly displacing Palestinians of Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula puts Egypt on edge. I offer my reflections on what's at stake for Egypt in The Conversation theconversation.com/egypt-on-edg...
theconversation.com
Egypt on edge: finding a delicate balance between Gaza and Trump
Since 1979, Egypt has been a central pillar of US policies in the Middle East.
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Happy to share my recently published article in Cities. Port infrastructures and the making of historical time in the Horn of Africa: Narratives of urban modernity in Djibouti and Somaliland Co-authored with Jutta Bakonyi doi.org/10.1016/j.ci...
doi.org
Redirecting
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Pleased to share our article co-authored with Prof. Jutta Bakonyi published in International Studies Review on Infrastructures and International Relations: A Critical Reflection on Materials and Mobilities academic.oup.com/isr/article/...
academic.oup.com
Infrastructures and International Relations: A Critical Reflection on Materials and Mobilities
Abstract. In a world of accelerated movements, this article examines how infrastructures matter in international relations. We first show that the Internat
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BSonblast @bsonblast.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
An essential read/watch: Inside Sudan’s Forgotten War: 150,000 killed, 11 million displaced t.co/d9ZYudZ26q #KeepEyesOnSudan #Sudan
t.co
https://www.thetimes.com/article/ac1bcf2f-d59d-456c-b7bc-18096255bca6?shareToken=709dea9f0c99993834a6ab2af22970bd
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 26/12/2024
Year in a word: War in the Middle East www.ft.com/content/40d3ecd8-1335-48…
ft.com
Year in a word: War in the Middle East
From Gaza and Lebanon to Syria, the region has experienced a year of multiple devastating conflicts
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 21/12/2024
"This is a disturbing new development. I’ve been teaching at NYU for more than 30 years. I was at Princeton for eight years before. I’ve been around the block and have never seen anything remotely like this crackdown over the last year. It’s completely unprecedented and it’s solely about Palestine"
theguardian.com
NYU professors barred from buildings say school is caving to pressure on Gaza
After joining pro-Palestinian sit-in, Andrew Ross and Sonya Posmentier were declared ‘personae non gratae’
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Dr Vera Kubenz she/they @verakub.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
My friend and former colleague from Gaza Prof Nazmi Al-Masri has asked me to share this funding raising link for the Islamic University of Gaza, who are continuing to teach students despite the ongoing genocide. Please share widely #GazaGenocide iugaza.ensany.com/campaign/7102
iugaza.ensany.com
معًا من أجل مرونة التعليم العالي
لقد أدى التأثير المدمر للحرب المستمرة إلى عدم قدرة جميع الطلاب على تغطية نفقات الدراسة بعد أن فقدوا جميع ممتلكاتهم أثناء النزوح، ومع ذلك لا يزال لديهم الأمل الذي نشهده من خلال تسجيلهم للدراسة حتى أثنا...
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Water war heats up: Israel seizes Syria’s Al-Wahda dam in strategic military push IDF expands operations in southern Syria, taking control of critical water sources near the Yarmouk River. www.jfeed.com/news-israel/...
jfeed.com
Water war heats up: Israel seizes Syria’s Al-Wahda dam in strategic military push
IDF expands operations in southern Syria, taking control of critical water sources near the Yarmouk River.
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Middle East Policy Council @mideastpolicy.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Middle East Policy covers an article by @maydarwich.bsky.social, Morten Valbjørn, and André Bank that explores the war in Gaza as "a critical juncture whose ramifications for both regional and domestic politics...will reverberate for years to come." Read for free! mepc.org/commentaries...
mepc.org
A New Historical Juncture: Analyzing the Impact of the War in Gaza - Middle East Policy Council
An article in Middle East Policy’s Fall 2024 issue analyzes the impact of the Gaza war on regional dynamics, contrasting them with the pre-Arab Spring status quo. On October 7, 2023, Hamas carried out...
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 16/12/2024
Since the fall of the al-Assad regime, Israel has attacked Syria to deepen the occupation of the Golan Heights. So what is Israel trying to do there? 🔗: aje.io/hctk4o
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Israel has just killed Khalid Nabhan (“soul of my soul”), one year after they killed his granddaughter Reem
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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Muawiyah Syasneh was 16 when his anti-Assad graffiti on a school wall led to his arrest, sparking protests that ended in civil war Now, in the very same spot, he tells Bell True about the years-long war – and his role in bringing it to an end www.independent.co.uk/news/world/m...
independent.co.uk
I sparked Syria’s revolution as a teenage boy – now I’m here to finish it
Muawiyah Syasneh was 16 when his anti-Assad graffiti on a school wall led to his arrest, sparking protests that ended in civil war. Now, in the very same spot, he tells chief international corresponde...
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 09/12/2024
The movement, which extended into and beyond a previously demilitarised buffer zone, was condemned 'in the strongest possible terms' by Egypt, which said it amounted to the 'occupation of Syrian land' and a 'severe breach' of a 1974 armistice deal. ft.com/content/5690c07a-9841-4339-b6ca-b3e98b241f1c
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Hafsa Halawa @hafsahalawa.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
We’ve only just begun to uncover and discover how truly depraved, brutal, dark and barbaric the Assad regime was. Stories & evidence of brutality that go beyond the worst nightmares, not known even through testimonies of the living. This is going to be a long, deeply painful and disturbing process.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 06/12/2024
Syrian rebel forces in just over a week have seized much of the country’s northwest from the government in a fast-moving attack, upending the once-stagnant civil war. They drove government troops from the western city of Hama, which had never before fallen into rebel hands. nyti.ms/3ZD3QUS
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Mat Nashed @matnashed.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
As the Rapid Support Forces step up attacks to capture North Darfur, inhabitants, researchers and relief workers warn that the group could carry out mass atrocities if the state falls. My latest on #Sudan with Sudanese journalist Zakaria Mohamed. www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
aljazeera.com
Threat of RSF invasion looms over el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur
Displaced people are taking up arms to defend themselves against the paramilitary and the atrocities it is known for.
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Tagreed Abdin @taggysudan.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
"Biden’s legacy in Africa will be inextricably linked to “the failure to leverage U.S. relationships with the UAE who are violating a U.N. arms embargo and arming the RSF in Sudan who have committed unspeakable atrocity crimes over 18 months.”" #KeepEyesOnSudan www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
Biden’s Sudan blind spot
The United Arab Emirates has allegedly helped arm and fund the Rapid Support Forces militia in Sudan that has been accused of widespread atrocities including ethnic cleansing, mass rape and torture.
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 04/12/2024
Israeli forces severely beat an elderly Palestinian man on his land in Aqraba, occupied West Bank, according to Mayor Salah Jaber. 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/01rafa
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
From @mosababutoha.bsky.social on X: "Beit Lahia is forced to leave today, is ethnically cleansed, last city in north Gaza. Keep in mind that these people tried to remain and hoped the world would stop the horror. But no more."
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Middle East Policy Council @mideastpolicy.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Check out Middle East Policy's Fall 2024 issue, featuring analyses on the Gaza war, protest and populism in Turkey, Iran's "Axis of Resistance" network, and more from regional experts like @maydarwich.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14754967...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Middle East Policy: Vol 31, No 3
Click on the title to browse this issue
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Jasmine K Gani @jasminekgani.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Our book on Syria (2022) 👇 for those interested in the background of recent events. Most importantly it contains multiple chapters by Syrian scholars & chapters on the oft-neglected human impact of the conflict. TOC: www.routledge.com/Actors-and-D...
Book on Syria by Gani & Hinnebusch "Actors & Dynamics in the Syrian conflict". Image of a boy on a bicycle in front of a building destroyed by the war.
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Hafsa Halawa @hafsahalawa.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
However tonight ends, we have entered a new phase of the Syria War - a war that never ended, was never resolved. The only thing we are sure of is that civilians will continue to endlessly suffer without a meaningful political process that gives agency to the Syrian people to map their own future.
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Heart shattering to learn an Israeli drone has targeted and assassinated Mahmoud Almadhoun, one of the founders and chefs behind the Gaza Soup Kitchen. What started as four pots and essential ingredients in Bait Lahia had grown into a remarkable effort to feed 3,000 people daily.
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The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy @timep.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
As news breaks that Israel's cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, we're re-upping a series of critical readings on the political context of Israel's war on Lebanon, the psychological warfare targeting civilians, the war's impact on the economy, and US policy in Lebanon.
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The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy @timep.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
NEW: Egypt has chosen refugees as its scapegoat to cover up governmental failings, leading to a dangerous and widespread disinformation campaign against them, as former fellow @mostafaalasar.bsky.social writes in his piece published in collaboration with Arabi Facts Hub. timep.org/2024/11/27/h...
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Lawrence Freedman @ldfreedman.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Can the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah lead to a virtuous cycle of peace-making - a ceasefire in Gaza, normalisation of Israel-Saudi relations, and even a nuclear deal between the US and Iran? All assessed in my latest post. samf.substack.com/p/can-trump-...
samf.substack.com
Can Trump do a deal with Iran?
The aftermath of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
"Our apparent value comes from being conceptually intelligible to others. We are understood – and culturally seen – if we invest our identity into massaging the liberal ego." - Mariya bint Rehan Read 🔗 www.newarab.com/opinion/brea...
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Mat Nashed @matnashed.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
People are returning in the thousands to their villages in Lebanon. Land is not just property: It envelopes memory, community and identity. In this unstable region, the concept of home transcends space and time. It is existential. Personal. Political.
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Mat Nashed @matnashed.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Moments after Biden announces a ceasefire, three Israeli air strikes could be heard across Beirut. That contradiction perfectly epitomizes the disconnect between Washington's rhetoric, Israel's behavior and the frightening reality for civilians on the ground.
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Nesrine Malik @nesrinemalik.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
'The readiness to repudiate identity politics & group them under “bad woke” is less about policy and more about the fact that social justice never really found a home amongst liberals, who were happy to capture its energy but not its demands.' The week's column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
‘Woke’ didn’t lose the US election: the patrician class who hijacked identity politics did | Nesrine Malik
Why is this simple explanation being so widely embraced? Because it does not require a commitment to real, structural change, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
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Mat Nashed @matnashed.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Lebanon are trapped between two wars. Their ordeal points to a clear gap in international protection, whereby asylum seekers are left to fend for themselves once their country of asylum degenerates into conflict. My latest www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
aljazeera.com
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Lydia Polgreen @polgreen.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
This is an exceedingly depressing if unsurprising development. Free speech for me but not for thee... www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/u...
nytimes.com
How Universities Cracked Down on Pro-Palestinian Activism
Stricter rules and punishments over campus protests seem to be working. Universities have seen just under 950 protest events this semester, compared to 3,000 in the spring.
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 27/07/2024
The Gaza war marks the end of the long decade after the Arab uprisings. Its regional repercussions bear similarities to pre-2011 dynamics. Is it a mere 'Forward to the Past'? @mortenvalbjorn.bsky.social Andre Bank and I discuss this in Middle East Policy onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Forward to the Past? Regional Repercussions of the Gaza War
The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas marks the end of the long decade after the Arab uprisings. In this paper, we explore how the conflict has altered the regional political landscape in the Middle ....
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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Israel strikes central Beirut in predawn attack, killing 15 - www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-s…
middleeasteye.net
Israel strikes central Beirut in predawn attack, killing 15
The Israeli military used cluster bombs to destroy a residential building in Basta al-Fawqa neighbourhood
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Adam Quinn @adamjamesquinn.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
🚨Latest episode of the Political Worldview podcast from University of Birmingham is out now! This time I talk to @KamraLipika about politics in #India. 🇮🇳 The rise of Hindu nationalism via Narendra #Modi and the #BJP, and the general health of Indian democracy. 🎙️ 👇Audio links in the thread below👇
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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Any reference to the current Prime Minister of Israel must now follow the format "fugitive from justice Benjamin Netanyahu" sorry that's the AP style
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Middle East Policy Council @mideastpolicy.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
An article by @maydarwich.bsky.social, Morten Valbjorn, and André Bank explores the effects of the war in Gaza, "a critical juncture whose ramifications for both regional and domestic politics...will reverberate for years to come." Read for free! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Forward to the Past? Regional Repercussions of the Gaza War
The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas marks the end of the long decade after the Arab uprisings. In this paper, we explore how the conflict has altered the regional political landscape in the Middle ...
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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Tormented and defenceless: The Palestinian victims of Israel’s north Gaza onslaught  - www.middleeasteye.net/news/tormente…
middleeasteye.net
Tormented and defenceless: The Palestinian victims of Israel’s north Gaza onslaught 
The latest attack, described as the most vicious yet, leaves Palestinians with no hospitals, rescue services, food, safety or shelters
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Jasmine K Gani @jasminekgani.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Edward Said wrote about the racist function of the label "terrorist" back in 1986 in this book review: www.thenation.com/article/arch... The book he was critiquing was "Terrorism: How the West Can Win", by Benjamin Netanyahu.
thenation.com
The Essential Terrorist
With the "war on terror" now official nomenclature, the problematic conflating of ethnic, religious and "terrorist" identities is now a matter of policy as well as media distortion. In a 1986 book rev...
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Okay so so far we have starter packs for Lebanon bsky.app/starter-pack... Palestine bsky.app/starter-pack... via @danaelkurd.bsky.social Egypt bsky.app/starter-pack... via @maitelsadany.bsky.social
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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 26/09/2024
"The package includes $3.5 billion for essential wartime procurement, which has already been received and earmarked for critical military purchases, and $5.2 billion designated for air defense systems including the Iron Dome anti-missile system, David's Sling and an advanced laser system."
reuters.com
Israel says it has secured $8.7 billion U.S. aid package
Israel said on Thursday it had secured an $8.7 billion aid package from the United States to support its ongoing military efforts and to maintain a qualitative military edge in the region.
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 23/09/2024
🔴BREAKING: The death toll in latest Israeli attacks across Lebanon has risen to 356, the Health Ministry announced, including 24 children. At least 1,246 people have been wounded.
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 13/09/2024
Sudan is on the brink of a catstrophic humanitarian crisis and no one is paying attention. I wrote this piece for the conversation @us.theconversation.com on the role of foreign powers, especially the UAE. theconversation.com/sudan-is-bur...
theconversation.com
Sudan is burning and foreign powers are benefiting – what’s in it for the UAE
The United Arab Emirates is emerging as the foreign player most invested in Sudan’s conflict.
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May Darwich @maydarwich.bsky.social · 27/07/2024
The Gaza war marks the end of the long decade after the Arab uprisings. Its regional repercussions bear similarities to pre-2011 dynamics. Is it a mere 'Forward to the Past'? @mortenvalbjorn.bsky.social Andre Bank and I discuss this in Middle East Policy onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Forward to the Past? Regional Repercussions of the Gaza War
The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas marks the end of the long decade after the Arab uprisings. In this paper, we explore how the conflict has altered the regional political landscape in the Middle ....
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Jasmine K Gani @jasminekgani.bsky.social · 10/01/2024
Statement in support of South Africa's ICJ submission by international lawyers. Scholars of international law, international studies and genocide studies can sign here 👇
twailr.com
Public Statement: Scholars support South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice...
Text and signature link for this public statement.
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