Millions of people across the Middle East celebrate Eid al-Adha, which coincides with the end of the Hajj pilgrimage. There is growing alarm about Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians. And Tunisia’s economic and political crises are spiraling. Here’s the Middle East this week:
Eid during a record-breaking Hajj?
Freshly pressed clothes in all styles and hues, the careful precision of women painting henna designs on hands, streets teeming with people distributing meat and those receiving it, the aroma of specialty foods being prepared and rows of the faithful bowing in prayer.
These were some universal sights as Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha. But each country has its own traditions, and in the Middle East, they range from trademark sweets prepared from Yemen to Syria, to clothes worn such as jalabia in Bahrain to thobes and turbans in Libya. Here’s how you can impress everyone by saying the Eid greeting in multiple languages.
There was little to celebrate during Eid in Sudan, where a war has raged for more than 70 days. Witnesses reported violations of a 24-hour Eid ceasefire, which many called meaningless.
The festive mood typical of the holiday was largely absent, replaced by sadness from those reflecting on the loss and displacement of family and friends due to the conflict.
Eid celebrations came on the heels of the final rites of the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage. This year’s event is being touted as record-breaking because it is expected to surpass 2.5 million attendees, according to a Saudi official. Pilgrims from around the world gathered in and around Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as the Hajj returned to its maximum capacity for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Growing alarm over Israeli settler violence
“Either arm us or protect us,” an elderly man told Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in the village of Turmus Ayya in the occupied West Bank hours after hundreds of Israeli settlers carried out an attack there last week. Settler attacks against Palestinians and their property have been of growing concern as Palestinians call on the Palestinian Authority to protect them.
Israeli and Palestinian officials met this week to discuss the violence as the United States expressed concern and the United Nations Security Council called for the de-escalation of tensions. In a rare acknowledgement, Israeli security chiefs deemed the string of settler attacks as “nationalist terrorism” while promising to step up countermeasures. That upset some members of Israel’s far-right cabinet who called the planned countermeasures “collective punishment” against settlers.
Tunisia’s stagnation
In Tunisia and across much of North Africa, economies remain stifled by giant bureaucracies bequeathed by their former colonial rulers. The cost of this bureaucracy risks pushing Tunisia towards bankruptcy.
The economic situation in Tunisia is not helped by its leader’s continuing crackdown against the opposition. President Kais Saied was elected in 2019 amid hope that he would take action to boost employment. But his authoritarian turn since 2021 has led critics to warn that Tunisia has lost many of its democratic gains experienced after the 2011 revolution. Just this week, Tunisia’s public prosecutor appealed a judge’s decision to release Chaima Issa, a well-known opponent of Saied.
Amid the crackdown, families of jailed Tunisian opposition politicians have dismissed a proposed European Union aid package for Tunis, saying it would only serve to prop up Saied’s government.
A little something different: People being amazing
While the planet heats up, countries in the Global South like Morocco are stepping up. The North African nation is leading a solar revolution that could serve not just the region’s energy needs but also that of Europe’s at a time when Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted oil and gas supplies.
And while performing the Hajj may primarily be a spiritual experience, the pilgrimage site also boasts impressive public health measures, according to Abdirahman Mahamud, a director of the World Health Organization’s Alert and Response Coordination Department.
Briefly
- Anger as violent crime soars in Israel’s Palestinian communities
- Stuck in limbo: Despair and frustration at the Sudan-Egypt border
- Qatar emir talks to Putin after Wagner mutiny in Russia
- At least nine killed in Russian air strikes in Syria’s Idlib
- Egypt and India bolster ties as Modi makes first trip to Cairo
Quote of the week
“Your country is writing history. Open the whitest of pages and write to Sudan. A nation like no other, it holds different people. It has goodness and good men with chivalry and dignity. If you ask about their pain and healing their wounds in peace and dignity, this is the answer. It is Sudan we love and always will.” – Maad Shaykhun, reciting his poem about the frustration and despair of fleeing Sudan due to conflict
