Alain Gresh

Publication director of Orient XXI. A specialist in the Near East, he is the author of several books, including De quoi la Palestine est-elle le nom ?, Les Liens qui libèrent, 2010 and et Un chant d’amour. Israël-Palestine, une histoire française, with Hélène Aldeguer, éditions La Découverte, 2017.

Editorial Gaza: The Media Accompaniment to a Genocide Alain Gresh, Sarra Grira · 9 January ‘For 90 days now, I’ve failed to understand. Thousands of people are killed or mutilated, overwhelmed by a storm of violence that can scarcely be called a war, except for a lazy mind.’ In his letter of resignation after twelve years of good and faithful service, in protest against the way his (...)
Editorial Anti-Semitism: the Far Right Whitewashed by its Support for Israel Alain Gresh, Sarra Grira · 4 January The episode would have been unthinkable not so long ago: MPs and fans of the far right, some of them fellow travellers of the Groupe Union Défense (GUD) demonstrating side by side with Jewish extremist groups like the Jewish Defence League (JDL) or the Betar in the “march against (...)
Editorial Gaza-Palestine: The Right to Resist Oppression Alain Gresh · October 2023 It was also in the month of October, exactly 50 years ago, in 1973. The Egyptian and Syrian armies crossed the cease-fire lines ad inflicted heavy losses on the Israeli army. What a dreadful commotion in Tel Aviv! While their intelligence services had information that an attack was imminent, (...)
“Nefertiti wants to go home” Alain Gresh · August 2023 The bust of Queen Nefertiti is without doubt one of the most fascinating artefacts from Egypt’s Pharaonic period. Discovered with many other objects by German archaeologists in 1912, its display in Berlin just as Europe’s biggest exhibition of modern art was under way provoked a storm. The (...)
Editorial One Year Later, Impunity for the Murder of Shireen Abu Akleh Alain Gresh · May 2023 On 11 May 2002, Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while covering an assault on Jenin. The case could have been buried, she was neither the first nor the last Palestinian journalist to be killed by Israeli forces without any soldier ever being prosecuted . Israel initially (...)
Israel-Palestine: From Colonisation Straight to Apartheid Alain Gresh · May 2023 The debate scheduled to be held on 4 May in the French National Assembly on a resolution condemning the ‘institutionalisation by the State of Israel of an apartheid regime consequent upon its colonial policies’ has aroused outraged protests, roars of indignation and predictable accusations of (...)
Books The Passionate Life of an Egyptian – Communist and Jew Alain Gresh · April 2023 A journey of almost a century through the history of Egypt, from monarchy to republic, from British occupation to national independence and the nationalisation of the Suez Canal Company. And how to be an Egyptian, a Jew and a communist at the same time.
‘Does your homeland stick to the sole (...)
Focus Political Crisis, Democracy, Colonisation Alain Gresh · March 2023 With this “focus Israel”, Orient XXI is republishing a series of articles dealing with the consequences of Benyamin Netanyahu’s government’s justice reform project, provisionally suspended on 26 March 2023. Despite the actual vote on the reform in July, the anti-reform movement remains (...)
Sanctions: “Protect Syrians and seek a political solution” Brigitte Curmi , Alain Gresh · March 2023 The earthquake that has ravaged Turkey and Syria has put the sanctions against Bashar Al-Assad’s regime back on the agenda. Are they still justified? Are they effective? Do they hurt the regime or the population? Brigitte Curmi, French Ambassador for Syria, answers our questions.
Alain (...)
Editorial Palestine: Emmanuel Macron Is Covering the Fascists in Israel Alain Gresh · March 2023 What more does it need? The governing coalition now established in Israel includes ministers who in any other country would be labelled fascists. Some of them have been defined as neo-Nazis by Daniel Blatman, professor at the Institute of Contemporary Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University (...)
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates: A Risky Balancing Act Alain Gresh · March 2022 Faced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two important allies of the USA and France in the Gulf region have opted for a cautious attitude. Their wait-and-see approach reflects the increased Russian influence in the reason over the past few years and a distrust of the West which abandons its (...)
Alain Gresh :“The rise of the extreme right in France is linked to our colonial history” Bassam Haddad, Alain Gresh · January 2022 On 14 December 2021, our colleague Bassam Haddad from Jadaliyya sat down with Alain Gresh, publication director of Orient XXI at his home in Paris to discuss a number of topics, including Europe/France-Mideast relations in a changing global environment, internal French policies regarding (...)
Editorial War on Terrorism, the History of an Illusion Alain Gresh · September 2021 “Enduring freedom!” This was the slogan, as pompous as it was pathetic, which President George W. Bush used to launch his"war on terrorism” in October 2001.
As he had just explained to the US Congress:
They hate what they see right here in this chamber—a democratically elected government. (...)
Editorial Afghanistan, One Defeat Breeds Another Alain Gresh · August 2021 August 15, 2021 Kabul has fallen, and it took the Taliban only a few weeks to sweep away the Afghan army, which had been financed and trained by the United States for twenty years. As a reminder, the communist regime had survived the withdrawal of the Red Army for three years. But the Afghan (...)
French Law on Separation of Church and State. Diverting Secularism to War against Islam Alain Gresh · December 2020 On December 9, the anniversary of the 1905 law separating Church and State, the French Council of Ministers will propose a text “reinforcing republican principles.” Under the pretext of defending secularism, it goes against the letter and the spirit of the 1905 law, marked by a liberalism (...)
Islam: A One-Sided Debate Alain Gresh · November 2020 Emmanuel Macron took advantage of the columns of The Financial Times on Thursday 5 November to reply to an article which that newspaper published on Franco-Algerian relationships. What could be more normal? But what is less so is that the article, written by one of its regular journalists, (...)
The Arab Revolutions in Historical Perspective Alain Gresh, Jean-Pierre Sereni · November 2019 Once again, from Algeria to Iraq, the peoples of the Arab world are in open rebellion. What are the stumbling blocks that stand in the way of their aspirations? How does history shed light on the present situation?
We are witnessing the second wave of protest and rebellion in the Arab word. (...)
Interview Justice for Jamal Khashoggi Alain Gresh, Agnès Callamard · October 2019 On the occasion of Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Saudi Arabia, we republish an interview with Agnès Callamard, then UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions (now Secretary General of Amnesty International), conducted in October 2019. The French president will meet with Saudi Crown Prince (...)
Interview “Mohammad Bin Salman Should Be the Object of an International Criminal Investigation” Alain Gresh, Agnès Callamard · June 2019 Interview with Agnès Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She investigated the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi for six months.
On 2 October 2018, the journalist Jamal Khashoggi went into the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to (...)
Down with the Muslim Brotherhood ! Alain Gresh · May 2019 Pure coincidence? Almost at the same moment, the French and American presidents have come out strongly against political Islam. While Donald Trump and his administration are examining the possibility of branding the Muslim Brotherbood as a “terrorist organisation”, Emmanuel Macron has (...)
Barack Obama, “lackey” of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Alain Gresh · September 2018 As a correspondent for the New York Times in Cairo since 2010, David Kirkpatrick covered the Egyptian Spring and Winter and the account in his new book of the different episodes, the various twists and turns, displays considerable talent. If only for this reason, his book is well worth (...)
How Israel Spies on US Citizens Alain Gresh · August 2018 A never-shown Al Jazeera documentary on the pro-Israel lobby in the US reveals possibly illegal Israeli spying on US citizens, and the lobby’s fear of a changing political mood. (This article has been published in French in Le Monde diplomatique, and translated by Le Monde diplomatique, (...)
Interview Is Islamism the Muslim Form of Liberation Theology? Alain Gresh, Asef Bayat · June 2018 There is no doubt that Islamism, in its various forms, plays a major role in the evolution of Muslim societies, in the struggles that are developing there. What explains this centrality? Can we draw a parallel between Islamism and Christian liberation theology? Interview.
Alain Gresh. — Why (...)
Books Understanding the Arab Spring Alain Gresh · May 2018 What really happened? How did it come to that? Seven years later, what is left of the Arab revolutions? These are some of the questions raised by sociologist Asef Bayet and to which he provides original answers in a book which, though sometimes a bit disjointed, is certainly one of the most (...)
Editorial Electoral Farce in Egypt Alain Gresh · March 2018 Seven years after the revolution that brought down President Hosni Mubarak, a lead weight fell on Egypt. And the elections are nothing more than a farce.
On March 26 and 28 Egyptians will be called to the polls to choose the President of the Republic. If we had to describe in one word a (...)
Who is Losing the Nile? Alain Gresh · February 2018 The construction by Ethiopia of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile has exacerbated tensions between the riverside countries. Egypt is worried for fear its share of the river waters may be seriously diminished but seems incapable of standing in the way of Addis-Abeba’s project which has (...)
De Gaulle : “The Jews, a People Sure of Itself and Domineering” Alain Gresh · September 2017 From the very start of the June 1967 war, French President General Charles de Gaulle condemned Israel for having started it. This position, in contradiction with that of most political leaders, the media and public opinion earned de Gaulle many criticisms, including that of antisemitism.
A (...)
[Reporting Moscow Capital of the Middle East Alain Gresh · March 2017 Russia now occupies a pivotal position in the Middle Eastern political chessboard. Its military presence in Syria, the axis created with Iran and Turkey have made the Russians a required partner for all sides in the ongoing war. But Russia is also caught up in the conflicts between its allies (...)
Saudi Arabia mired in the quicksand of the Middle East Alain Gresh · January 2017 Two years after his accession to the throne, King Salman faces many challenges. The intervention in Yemen is bogged down and Saudi Arabia suffers setbacks in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. While the economic reforms initiated are much criticized, the questions on his succession remain unanswered. (...)
[Reporting A Turbulent Time in Saudi-Egyptian Relations Alain Gresh · December 2016 The failed attempts to mediate between Egypt and Saudi Arabia by several Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, have confirmed the extent to which the two countries distrust one another. And yet only a few months ago they appeared bound by a strategic alliance. What has happened? (...)