October 7 and the First Days of the War

Bulldozer at the border in Gaza by Beesan Arafat, 2023 (courtesy The Art of Occupied Palestine).

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Robin Yassin-Kassab

Opinions published in The Markaz Review reflect the perspective of their authors and do not necessarily represent TMR.

 

Red lines, Western misapprehensions, racism and occupation.

 

Robin Yassin-Kassab

 

On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters broke through the fence which locks Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. In doing so they revealed Israel to be a paper tiger. This supposed regional superpower, so skilled at containing and killing dispossessed Palestinian civilians, was unable to stop its enemies from attacking military bases and killing and abducting soldiers.

If Hamas had ended the operation there, they would have won an undoubted political as well as military victory. No doubt Israel would have responded with force, as disproportionately as it always does, but it would have been somewhat restrained by its western allies and sponsors. The Israeli peace camp (such as it is) might even have been revived. Even now we see Israeli fury directed at Netanyahu’s government that focused on guarding illegal settlers in the West Bank rather than the Gaza border fence. Just by breaking through the fence, Hamas changed the regional equation, showing that normalization between Israel and Arab dictators wouldn’t bring Israel security, that only a settlement with the Palestinians would do that.

But Hamas did more than break through the fence and strike military targets. It killed hundreds of civilians, including children and the elderly. A group of elderly people waiting at a bus stop was gunned down. Children were tied to their parents and set on fire. Whole families were murdered.

Hamas perpetrated an appalling and enormous war crime.

This was immoral, illegal, and stupid. First, it pushed the already hyper-violent Israeli society into a blind rage for revenge. That may have been part of the calculation — to provoke a response so massive that it would upend the power structures in the region, in the hope that the new structure would turn out to be better for Palestinians. This is the kind of gamble that only a blind-faith pyromaniac could make.

Maybe the orders were, go in and cause as much damage and pain as you possibly can. Maybe they expected they would have only a few minutes to spend killing before the IDF killed them. In fact, incredibly, they had 48 hours. I have no idea how this happened. If Israel were an Arab dictatorship, I’d say it was because key officers had been bribed or threatened to look the other way. But Israel is not an Arab dictatorship. No doubt in the years to come, books will be written to attempt to explain.

In the end, Hamas achieved what has been called “catastrophic success.” It probably hoped to grab a few dozen hostages with which to bargain for Palestinian prisoners (or hostages) held in Israeli prisons. But by taking so many hostages, and by killing so many civilians, it decreased the hostages’ value. Sections of the Israeli establishment seem to have already sacrificed the hostages. Their priority is to destroy the Palestinians, not negotiate.

What Hamas fighters did was behave like savages. In so doing they gave Israelis and Westerners the perfect reflection of an image that already existed in their minds: the Muslim barbarian, the savage other, the irrational absolute enemy against whom all measures are justified. Because Hamas calls itself an “Islamic Resistance Movement,” the stain spreads to cover Muslims everywhere. (It’s worth repeating that Islamic rules of warfare very specifically forbid the harming of non-combatants.)

Irreconcilable Narratives

When I called relatives and friends living in Arab countries, I realized that the story they were hearing from Arab media was very different to the story here in the West. There the focus was on Hamas’s assault on the military; here it was on Hamas’s terrorism against women and children. From the very start, the narratives spun in east and west were irreconcilable.

It didn’t help that Joe Biden said he’d personally seen and confirmed evidence of beheaded babies, and then a few hours later that the White House retracted his claim. It didn’t help that unverified claims of rape were spread far and wide. Some or all of these atrocities may actually have happened, but a lack of concern for accuracy on all sides has made it difficult to convince anybody of anything they don’t already believe.

Personally, I don’t see any moral difference between shooting a baby in the head, or beheading a baby, or incinerating a baby with a bomb (and Israel has killed far more Palestinian children in the last few days than the total number of Israelis killed on Oct. 7). What the image of the baby-beheading rapist does, however, is to provide a justification for further genocidal violence.

The Context

Hamas’s attacks against civilians cannot be justified, but they can and must be contextualized. Israel and the West choose to believe that Hamas started the war on Oct. 7. They tell us that when Hamas kills civilians it does so simply because it’s evil, and that when Israel kills civilians in greater numbers, and besieges and occupies them, it also does so simply because Hamas is evil.

Most of the young men who committed atrocities in southern Israel were children when in 2008/9, 2012 and 2014, Israel committed atrocities against civilians in Gaza. It’s really no surprise that men who grew up seeing babies dismembered by Israeli bombs fail to distinguish between Israeli soldiers and civilians. And this conflict goes back much further than Hamas taking control in Gaza and Israel’s siege of the Strip. It goes back at least to 1948, when Palestinians were driven off 78% of their land and into refugee camps. (In 1967, the remaining 22% was occupied by Israel). Two thirds of people in Gaza descend from refugees driven from their farms and villages in what’s now southern Israel. It’s really no surprise when the people in refugee camps don’t accept the “right to security” of those living on their grandparents’ stolen land. This requires a solution.

For at least a decade and a half, Israel and the world’s powers have believed the status quo was sustainable. The status quo involves the steady settlement and theft of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the endless siege of Gaza, the constant murder of civilians in all these areas, and a regime of apartheid. This is the context, and it is not in the least sustainable.

When in 2018 Palestinians organized their Great March of Return, and unarmed men and women moved toward the fence between Gaza and Israel, Israel shot hundreds dead. When Palestinians and their supporters promote boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel — a non-violent means of protest — they are smeared as anti-semites. None of this excuses terrorism against civilians, but it makes it unsurprising.

The Western Response

In much of the west, liberal universal values immediately vanished on Oct. 7, showing very clearly the racism that lies below.

Even as top Israeli officials declared their focus in Gaza would be on “damage, not accuracy,” even as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Palestinians as “human animals”; even as they handed out more weapons to settlers on the West Bank, the US, the UK, Canada, France, and Germany stated and reiterated that Israel — an occupying and apartheid state committing crimes against humanity — had an absolute right to “defend itself.” Not only did Britain’s extreme right government throw international law out of the window, but the opposition Labour Party did too. Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry, and David Lammy stated that Israel “had the right” to cut off water and electricity to civilians in Gaza.

For those who remember Labour propagandizing for the Assad/Russian/Iranian genocide of Syrians, this level of racism is no surprise. Unfortunately, many British Muslims are discovering it only now.

In France and Germany, there have been efforts to criminalize expressions of support for Palestinian rights. Germany is a particularly bad case. Anti-genocide demonstrations have been violently suppressed, awards ceremonies for prize-winning Palestinian writers have been withdrawn, candles lit to remember the dead have been stamped on, intimidatory crowds of police have been deployed in areas with Arab populations, Chancellor Scholz has spoken of the need to deport refugees, and a woman was arrested for holding a sign which read, “As a Jew and an Israeli, I oppose genocide in Gaza.” Most German political parties and media as well as most of society appear to be affected by this hysteria. The most repulsive aspect is its presentation as anti-anti-semitism (my emphasis) — as if Germany could wipe away its guilt for the Holocaust by supporting the slaughter of Palestinians. Of course, the opposite is true. Germany’s Holocaust made the destruction of Palestine inevitable. Therefore, Germany owes enormous reparations to the Palestinian people.

In the US and the UK, sections of the media cast Palestinians as Nazis. This is another appalling decontextualization — the Jews of Europe didn’t keep the Germans in refugee camps for 75 years before the Holocaust. The Nazis were not dispossessed and oppressed by a “Jewish state.” The Nazis were not the powerless lashing out, they were the supremely powerful calmly and carefully channeling the powerless into death camps.

Next, these western states called to intensify sanctions on Iran for its indirect link to Hamas. In the current war, the US and the UK sent warships to the Mediterranean to deter Iran and its militias from escalation against Israel. As Iran and its militias poured into Syria after 2012 to save Assad from a popular revolution, and then destroyed Syrian cities, murdered tens of thousands of Syrians, and expelled millions more, the Obama administration negotiated a nuclear and sanctions relief deal with Iran. The EU, meanwhile, continued to lobby for better relations with Iran through the Trump years. We must presume that the discrepancy in responses to Iran is because Western leaders consider Israelis to be real actual people, while Syrians, like Palestinians, are not.

To say the west has double standards is to put it far too mildly. The west is so racist that it is unaware of it, and therefore it is unaware of how blatantly obvious its racism is to people in the Arab and Muslim worlds, and further afield. Westerners were surprised that half of the world didn’t join in the condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. They shouldn’t be. The world can see that the West appeased Russia while it was killing Syrians, then suddenly became concerned when Europeans became the target. And that the West is enraged when Israeli civilians are killed, but sends weapons and money to facilitate the slaughter of Palestinian civilians.

Russia and China — genocidal states both — are winning huge propaganda victories simply by not supporting genocide in Palestine.

Escalation

One of many reasons why the Arabs become more riled over this issue than others is the strange chronological duality of the slaughter. On the one hand, Palestinians have been oppressed and murdered continuously over 75 years. On the other hand, when a massacre is underway, huge numbers are killed in very short spaces of time. Well over 4,000 Palestinians have been murdered in the last two weeks. The intensity of the killing matches even Assad’s modus operandi.

The only realistic Israeli war aim seems to be to annihilate thousands of Palestinians, and to drive hundreds of thousands into Egypt. There may also be an attempt to drive Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan. Certainly dozens of Palestinians are currently being murdered in the West Bank, where Hamas has no military power. But a new mass expulsion of Palestinians will further undermine Israel’s security, and may also undermine Arab states which currently have peace deals with Israel. Israel can destroy and kill, but it can’t ultimately win — not this way.

Israelis and Palestinians are locked in a death spiral, unable to break out of it. In one important sense this isn’t their fault — both are victims of history stuck in this loop. This is why we need calm, grown-up leadership from the rest of the world to help sort it out. But there are no grown-ups. Those at a distance at no great risk of dying — the Americans, Germans and Iranians, for instance — are fanning the flames for their own cultural and political reasons. And so it spirals.

I don’t believe the Iranian regime wants to fight this war. Its priority is its own survival. I don’t believe Israel wants to fight a war on more than one front. And I don’t believe the US wants to escalate against Iran. Nevertheless, a new Nakba, or the complete destruction of Hamas, could be a red line for Iran’s militia system in the Arab world, which stretches from Lebanon to Yemen via Syria and Iraq. Standing by while thousands of Palestinians are killed will reveal the emptiness of Iran’s warlike propaganda. Stepping in, on the other hand, could improve Iran’s standing among Arabs deeply suspicious of its regional reach, not least for its role in the expulsion of millions of Sunni Arabs from Syria. So this could escalate much further at any moment, and with global ramifications. The US is already taking ammunition designated for those resisting occupation in Ukraine and giving it to those enforcing occupation in Palestine. If Iran becomes involved, Russia and China will use the opportunity.

The war is also escalating in communities globally. Instances of antisemitism and Islamophobia are spiking. A Palestinian child has been murdered in Chicago. Jewish schoolchildren have been spat on and insulted. And we’re just at the start of it. As the war develops, we are all responsible for ensuring that innocent Jews and Muslims in our communities are protected and respected. And we are all responsible for doing what we can to oppose and stop the killing.

Finally, I’d like to point to the only positive thing that’s happened in the last two weeks. Last Friday there were enormous demonstrations throughout the Arab world. Many millions of Arabs who’d forgotten Palestine, or who’d stopped caring much, have returned to the cause with passion. Some of them are chanting tired old nationalist or anti-Jewish slogans (and a mob burnt a synagogue in Tunisia, unforgivably). But as well as that, many are seeing the link between national liberation and political liberation. For the first time in a decade, the Sisi dictatorship granted Egyptians the opportunity to protest, but not in Tahrir Square. Egyptians broke into Tahrir Square nevertheless, and as they did so they chanted “Bread, Freedom, Social Justice.”

This is what the regimes fear most. And this is what we should hope for. If the Arabs had representative governments, they would be taken much more seriously. It would be much more difficult for genocidal states to slaughter them. Terrorist groups would have less appeal because there would be other ways to express strength. Arab weakness is caused by political underdevelopment, and it’s killing us as surely as the bombs.

 

Robin Yassin-Kassab

Robin Yassin-Kassab Robin Yassin-Kassab is the co-editor of the Critical Muslim and author of the acclaimed novel, The Road from Damascus. He is co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, with Leila Al-Shami. Yassin-Kassab blogs at http://www.qunfuz.com.

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Nothing is Normal, Nothing Is What it Seems (Underground Theatre in Iran After the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement)
Essays

What Is Home?—Gazans Redefine Place Amid Displacement

31 MAY 2024 • By Nadine Aranki
What Is Home?—Gazans Redefine Place Amid Displacement
Essays

Postscript: Disrupting the Colonial Gaze—Gaza and Israel after October 7th

17 MAY 2024 • By Sara Roy, Ivar Ekeland
Postscript: Disrupting the Colonial Gaze—Gaza and Israel after October 7th
Essays

The Elephant in the Box

3 MAY 2024 • By Asmaa Elgamal
The Elephant in the Box
Opinion

Equating Critique of Israel with Antisemitism, US Academics are Being Silenced

12 APRIL 2024 • By Maura Finkelstein
Equating Critique of Israel with Antisemitism, US Academics are Being Silenced
Art & Photography

Bani Khoshnoudi: Featured Artist for PARIS

1 APRIL 2024 • By TMR
Bani Khoshnoudi: Featured Artist for PARIS
Art & Photography

Will Artists Against Genocide Boycott the Venice Biennale?

18 MARCH 2024 • By Hadani Ditmars
Will Artists Against Genocide Boycott the Venice Biennale?
Essays

Israeli & Palestinian Filmmakers Accused of Anti-semitism at Berlinale

11 MARCH 2024 • By Viola Shafik
Israeli & Palestinian Filmmakers Accused of Anti-semitism at Berlinale
Editorial

Why “Burn It all Down”?

3 MARCH 2024 • By Lina Mounzer
Why “Burn It all Down”?
Essays

Israel’s Environmental and Economic Warfare on Lebanon

3 MARCH 2024 • By Michelle Eid
Israel’s Environmental and Economic Warfare on Lebanon
Columns

Genocide: “That bell can’t be unrung. That thought can’t be unthunk.”

3 MARCH 2024 • By Amal Ghandour
Genocide: “That bell can’t be unrung. That thought can’t be unthunk.”
Book Reviews

Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Hankir—A Review

19 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Nazli Tarzi
<em>Eyeliner: A Cultural History</em> by Zahra Hankir—A Review
Art

Issam Kourbaj’s Love Letter to Syria in Cambridge

12 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Sophie Kazan Makhlouf
Issam Kourbaj’s Love Letter to Syria in Cambridge
Poetry

“WE” and “4978 and One Nights” by Ghayath Almadhoun

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Ghayath Al Madhoun
“WE” and “4978 and One Nights” by Ghayath Almadhoun
Editorial

Shoot That Poison Arrow to My Heart: The LSD Editorial

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Malu Halasa
Shoot That Poison Arrow to My Heart: The LSD Editorial
short story

“Water”—a short story by Salar Abdoh

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Salar Abdoh
“Water”—a short story by Salar Abdoh
Essays

A Treatise on Love

4 FEBRUARY 2024 • By Maryam Haidari, Salar Abdoh
A Treatise on Love
Featured article

Israel-Palestine: Peace Under Occupation?

29 JANUARY 2024 • By Laëtitia Soula
Israel-Palestine: Peace Under Occupation?
Essays

Nothing out of the Ordinary: A Journalist’s West Bank Memories

22 JANUARY 2024 • By Chloé Benoist
Nothing out of the Ordinary: A Journalist’s West Bank Memories
Books

Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles

22 JANUARY 2024 • By TMR
Illuminated Reading for 2024: Our Anticipated Titles
Book Reviews

An Iranian Novelist Seeks the Truth About a Plane Crash

15 JANUARY 2024 • By Sepideh Farkhondeh
An Iranian Novelist Seeks the Truth About a Plane Crash
Poetry

Brian Turner: 3 Poems From Three New Books

14 JANUARY 2024 • By Brian Turner
Brian Turner: 3 Poems From Three New Books
Art

Palestinian Artists

12 JANUARY 2024 • By TMR
Palestinian Artists
Art & Photography

Cyprus: Return to Petrofani with Ali Cherri & Vicky Pericleous

8 JANUARY 2024 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Cyprus: Return to Petrofani with Ali Cherri & Vicky Pericleous
Essays

Gaza Sunbirds: the Palestinian Para-Cyclists Who Won’t Quit

25 DECEMBER 2023 • By Malu Halasa
Gaza Sunbirds: the Palestinian Para-Cyclists Who Won’t Quit
Books

Inside Hamas: From Resistance to Regime

25 DECEMBER 2023 • By Paola Caridi
Inside <em>Hamas: From Resistance to Regime</em>
Columns

Messages From Gaza Now

11 DECEMBER 2023 • By Hossam Madhoun
Messages From Gaza Now
Film

Religious Misogyny Personified in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider

11 DECEMBER 2023 • By Bavand Karim
Religious Misogyny Personified in Ali Abbasi’s <em>Holy Spider</em>
Featured excerpt

The Palestine Laboratory and Gaza: An Excerpt

4 DECEMBER 2023 • By Antony Loewenstein
<em>The Palestine Laboratory</em> and Gaza: An Excerpt
Editorial

Why Endings & Beginnings?

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Jordan Elgrably
Why Endings & Beginnings?
Beirut

“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By MK Harb
“The Summer They Heard Music”—a short story by MK Harb
Fiction

“The Waiting Bones”—an essay by Maryam Haidari

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Maryam Haidari, Salar Abdoh
“The Waiting Bones”—an essay by Maryam Haidari
Fiction

“I, Hanan”—a Gazan tale of survival by Joumana Haddad

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Joumana Haddad
“I, Hanan”—a Gazan tale of survival by Joumana Haddad
Art

Hanan Eshaq

3 DECEMBER 2023 • By Hanan Eshaq
Hanan Eshaq
Book Reviews

First Kurdish Sci-Fi Collection is Rooted in the Past

28 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Matt Broomfield
First Kurdish Sci-Fi Collection is Rooted in the Past
Opinion

Gaza vs. Mosul from a Medical and Humanitarian Standpoint

27 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Ahmed Twaij
Gaza vs. Mosul from a Medical and Humanitarian Standpoint
Art & Photography

Palestinian Artists & Anti-War Supporters of Gaza Cancelled

27 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Nada Ghosn
Palestinian Artists & Anti-War Supporters of Gaza Cancelled
Fiction

Bahar: 22 years in the Life of a Compulsory Hijabi in Teheran

20 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Joumana Haddad
Bahar: 22 years in the Life of a Compulsory Hijabi in Teheran
Art & Photography

Iranian Women Photographers: Life, Freedom, Music, Art & Hair

20 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Malu Halasa
Iranian Women Photographers: Life, Freedom, Music, Art & Hair
Opinion

What’s in a Ceasefire?

20 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Adrian Kreutz, Enzo Rossi, Lillian Robb
What’s in a Ceasefire?
Book Reviews

The Fiction of Palestine’s Ghassan Zaqtan

13 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Cory Oldweiler
The Fiction of Palestine’s Ghassan Zaqtan
Opinion

Beautiful October 7th Art Belies the Horrors of War

13 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Mark LeVine
Beautiful October 7th Art Belies the Horrors of War
Opinion

Palestine’s Pen against Israel’s Swords of Injustice

6 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Mai Al-Nakib
Palestine’s Pen against Israel’s Swords of Injustice
Books

Domicide—War on the City

5 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Ammar Azzouz
<em>Domicide</em>—War on the City
Essays

On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 

30 OCTOBER 2023 • By Deema K Shehabi
On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 
Islam

October 7 and the First Days of the War

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Robin Yassin-Kassab
October 7 and the First Days of the War
Editorial

Palestine and the Unspeakable

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Lina Mounzer
Palestine and the Unspeakable
Art

The Ongoing Nakba—Rasha Al-Jundi’s Embroidery Series

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Rasha Al Jundi
The Ongoing Nakba—Rasha Al-Jundi’s Embroidery Series
Essays

Forging Peace for Artsakh—The Debacle of Nagorno Karabagh

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Seta Kabranian-Melkonian
Forging Peace for Artsakh—The Debacle of Nagorno Karabagh
Book Reviews

Reza Aslan’s An American Martyr in Persia Argues for US-Iranian Friendship

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dalia Sofer
Reza Aslan’s <em>An American Martyr in Persia</em> Argues for US-Iranian Friendship
Art & Photography

Adel Abidin, October 2023

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By TMR
Adel Abidin, October 2023
Book Reviews

Saqi’s Revenant: Sahar Khalifeh’s Classic Nablus Novel Wild Thorns

25 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Noshin Bokth
Saqi’s Revenant: Sahar Khalifeh’s Classic Nablus Novel <em>Wild Thorns</em>
Art

Special World Picks Sept 15-26 on TMR’s Third Anniversary

14 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By TMR
Special World Picks Sept 15-26 on TMR’s Third Anniversary
Essays

A Day in the Life with Forugh Farrokhzad (and a Tortoise)

3 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Fargol Malekpoosh
A Day in the Life with Forugh Farrokhzad (and a Tortoise)
Book Reviews

What’s the Solution for Jews and Palestine in the Face of Apartheid Zionism?

21 AUGUST 2023 • By Jonathan Ofir
What’s the Solution for Jews and Palestine in the Face of Apartheid Zionism?
Opinion

The Middle East is Once Again West Asia

14 AUGUST 2023 • By Chas Freeman, Jr.
The Middle East is Once Again West Asia
Poetry

Three Poems from Pantea Amin Tofangchi’s Glazed With War

3 AUGUST 2023 • By Pantea Amin Tofangchi
Three Poems from Pantea Amin Tofangchi’s <em>Glazed With War</em>
Art

What Palestine Brings to the World—a Major Paris Exhibition

31 JULY 2023 • By Sasha Moujaes
<em>What Palestine Brings to the World</em>—a Major Paris Exhibition
Book Reviews

Can the Kurdish Women’s Movement Transform the Middle East?

31 JULY 2023 • By Matt Broomfield
Can the Kurdish Women’s Movement Transform the Middle East?
Book Reviews

Why Isn’t Ghaith Abdul-Ahad a Household Name?

10 JULY 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Why Isn’t Ghaith Abdul-Ahad a Household Name?
Opinion

The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning

10 JULY 2023 • By Yousef M. Aljamal
The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning
Fiction

Arrival in the Dark—fiction from Alireza Iranmehr

2 JULY 2023 • By Alireza Iranmehr, Salar Abdoh
Arrival in the Dark—fiction from Alireza Iranmehr
Fiction

“Here, Freedom”—fiction from Danial Haghighi

2 JULY 2023 • By Danial Haghighi, Salar Abdoh
“Here, Freedom”—fiction from Danial Haghighi
Essays

Zahhāk: An Etiology of Evil

2 JULY 2023 • By Omid Arabian
Zahhāk: An Etiology of Evil
Fiction

“The Long Walk of the Martyr”—fiction from Salar Abdoh

2 JULY 2023 • By Salar Abdoh
“The Long Walk of the Martyr”—fiction from Salar Abdoh
Columns

The Rite of Flooding: When the Land Speaks

19 JUNE 2023 • By Bint Mbareh
The Rite of Flooding: When the Land Speaks
Editorial

EARTH: Our Only Home

4 JUNE 2023 • By Jordan Elgrably
EARTH: Our Only Home
Arabic

Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love

4 JUNE 2023 • By Hassan Abdulrazzak
Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love
Essays

Alien Entities in the Desert

4 JUNE 2023 • By Dror Shohet
Alien Entities in the Desert
Featured Artist

Nasrin Abu Baker: The Markaz Review Featured Artist, June 2023

4 JUNE 2023 • By TMR
Nasrin Abu Baker: The Markaz Review Featured Artist, June 2023
Islam

From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back

29 MAY 2023 • By Chas Freeman, Jr.
From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back
Book Reviews

How Bethlehem Evolved From Jerusalem’s Sleepy Backwater to a Global Town

15 MAY 2023 • By Karim Kattan
How Bethlehem Evolved From Jerusalem’s Sleepy Backwater to a Global Town
TMR Conversations

TMR CONVERSATIONS: Amal Ghandour Interviews Raja Shehadeh

11 MAY 2023 • By Amal Ghandour, Raja Shehadeh
TMR CONVERSATIONS: Amal Ghandour Interviews Raja Shehadeh
Photography

Iran on the Move—Photos by Peyman Hooshmandzadeh

1 MAY 2023 • By Peyman Hooshmandzadeh, Malu Halasa
Iran on the Move—Photos by Peyman Hooshmandzadeh
Book Reviews

Hard Work: Kurdish Kolbars or Porters Risk Everything

1 MAY 2023 • By Clive Bell
Hard Work: Kurdish <em>Kolbars</em> or Porters Risk Everything
Opinion

Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition

24 APRIL 2023 • By Nora Lester Murad
Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition
Essays

When a Country is not a Country—the Chimera of Borders

17 APRIL 2023 • By Ara Oshagan
When a Country is not a Country—the Chimera of Borders
Essays

Artsakh and the Truth About the Legend of Monte Melkonian

17 APRIL 2023 • By Seta Kabranian-Melkonian
Artsakh and the Truth About the Legend of Monte Melkonian
Film Reviews

Yallah Gaza! Presents the Case for Gazan Humanity

10 APRIL 2023 • By Karim Goury
<em>Yallah Gaza!</em> Presents the Case for Gazan Humanity
Beirut

Tel Aviv-Beirut, a Film on War, Love & Borders

20 MARCH 2023 • By Karim Goury
<em>Tel Aviv-Beirut</em>, a Film on War, Love & Borders
Beirut

Interview with Michale Boganim, Director of Tel Aviv-Beirut

20 MARCH 2023 • By Karim Goury
Interview with Michale Boganim, Director of <em>Tel Aviv-Beirut</em>
Book Reviews

In Search of Fathers: Raja Shehadeh’s Palestinian Memoir

13 MARCH 2023 • By Amal Ghandour
In Search of Fathers: Raja Shehadeh’s Palestinian Memoir
Cities

The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian

5 MARCH 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian
Essays

Home Under Siege: a Palestine Photo Essay

5 MARCH 2023 • By Anam Raheem
Home Under Siege: a Palestine Photo Essay
Fiction

“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki

27 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Asim Rizki
“Holy Land”—short fiction from Asim Rizki
Art & Photography

Becoming Palestine Imagines a Liberated Future

27 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Katie Logan
<em>Becoming Palestine</em> Imagines a Liberated Future
Book Reviews

Yemen War Survivors Speak in What Have You Left Behind?

20 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Saliha Haddad
Yemen War Survivors Speak in <em>What Have You Left Behind?</em>
Book Reviews

White Torture Prison Interviews Condemn Solitary Confinement

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Kamin Mohammadi
<em>White Torture</em> Prison Interviews Condemn Solitary Confinement
Beirut

Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Evelyne Accad
Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon
TV Review

Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of Fauda Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead

6 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Brett Kline
Palestinian Territories Under Siege But Season 4 of <em>Fauda</em> Goes to Brussels and Beirut Instead
Columns

Letters From Tehran: Braving Tehran’s Roundabout, Maidan Valiasr

30 JANUARY 2023 • By TMR
Letters From Tehran: Braving Tehran’s Roundabout, Maidan Valiasr
Book Reviews

Editor’s Picks: Magical Realism in Iranian Lit

30 JANUARY 2023 • By Rana Asfour
Editor’s Picks: Magical Realism in Iranian Lit
Art

The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art

26 DECEMBER 2022 • By Malu Halasa
The Creative Resistance in Palestinian Art
Book Reviews

Mohamed Makhzangi Despairs at Man’s Cruelty to Animals

26 DECEMBER 2022 • By Saliha Haddad
Mohamed Makhzangi Despairs at Man’s Cruelty to Animals
Featured article

Don’t Be a Stooge for the Regime—Iranians Reject State-Controlled Media!

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Malu Halasa
Don’t Be a Stooge for the Regime—Iranians Reject State-Controlled Media!
Columns

Siri Hustvedt & Ahdaf Souief Write Letters to Imprisoned Writer Narges Mohammadi

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By TMR
Siri Hustvedt & Ahdaf Souief Write Letters to Imprisoned Writer Narges Mohammadi
Music

Revolutionary Hit Parade: 12+1 Protest Songs from Iran

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Malu Halasa
Revolutionary Hit Parade: 12+1 Protest Songs from Iran
Essays

Conflict and Freedom in Palestine, a Trip Down Memory Lane

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Eman Quotah
Film

Imprisoned Director Jafar Panahi’s No Bears

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Clive Bell
Imprisoned Director Jafar Panahi’s <em>No Bears</em>
Art

Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3

5 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 3
Book Reviews

Fida Jiryis on Palestine in Stranger in My Own Land

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Diana Buttu
Fida Jiryis on Palestine in <em>Stranger in My Own Land</em>
Opinion

Historic Game on the Horizon: US Faces Iran Once More

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Mireille Rebeiz
Opinion

Fragile Freedom, Fragile States in the Muslim World

24 OCTOBER 2022 • By I. Rida Mahmood
Fragile Freedom, Fragile States in the Muslim World
Opinion

Letter From Tehran: On the Pain of Others, Once Again

24 OCTOBER 2022 • By Sara Mokhavat
Letter From Tehran: On the Pain of Others, Once Again
Poetry

The Heroine Forugh Farrokhzad—”Only Voice Remains”

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Sholeh Wolpé
The Heroine Forugh Farrokhzad—”Only Voice Remains”
Editorial

You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By TMR
You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine
Art

#MahsaAmini—Art by Rachid Bouhamidi, Los Angeles

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Rachid Bouhamidi
#MahsaAmini—Art by Rachid Bouhamidi, Los Angeles
Art & Photography

Homage to Mahsa Jhina Amini & the Women-Led Call for Freedom

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By TMR
Homage to Mahsa Jhina Amini & the Women-Led Call for Freedom
Art

Defiance—an essay from Sara Mokhavat

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Sara Mokhavat, Salar Abdoh
Defiance—an essay from Sara Mokhavat
Interviews

Interview with Ahed Tamimi, an Icon of the Palestinian Resistance

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Interview with Ahed Tamimi, an Icon of the Palestinian Resistance
Columns

Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1

26 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: Israel’s Intimate Separations—Part 1
Film

Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Columns

Phoneless in Filthy Berlin

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Maisan Hamdan, Rana Asfour
Phoneless in Filthy Berlin
Columns

Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Abir Kopty
Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans
Art & Photography

Photographer Mohamed Badarne (Palestine) and his U48 Project

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Photographer Mohamed Badarne (Palestine) and his U48 Project
Art & Photography

Shirin Mohammad: Portrait of an Artist Between Berlin & Tehran

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Noushin Afzali
Shirin Mohammad: Portrait of an Artist Between Berlin & Tehran
Columns

Salman Rushdie, Aziz Nesin and our Lingering Fatwas

22 AUGUST 2022 • By Sahand Sahebdivani
Salman Rushdie, Aziz Nesin and our Lingering Fatwas
Opinion

Attack on Salman Rushdie is Shocking Tip of the Iceberg

15 AUGUST 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Attack on Salman Rushdie is Shocking Tip of the Iceberg
Art

Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest

18 JULY 2022 • By Nada Ghosn
Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest
Editorial

Editorial: Is the World Driving Us Mad?

15 JULY 2022 • By TMR
Editorial: Is the World Driving Us Mad?
Centerpiece

Big Laleh, Little Laleh—memoir by Shokouh Moghimi

15 JULY 2022 • By Shokouh Moghimi, Salar Abdoh
Big Laleh, Little Laleh—memoir by Shokouh Moghimi
Film Reviews

War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”

15 JULY 2022 • By Farah Abdessamad
War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”
Book Reviews

A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza

20 JUNE 2022 • By Eman Quotah
A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza
Columns

World Refugee Day — What We Owe Each Other

20 JUNE 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
World Refugee Day — What We Owe Each Other
Art & Photography

Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine

15 JUNE 2022 • By TMR
Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine
Art & Photography

Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Steve Sabella
Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”
Opinion

Israel and Palestine: Focus on the Problem, Not the Solution

30 MAY 2022 • By Mark Habeeb
Israel and Palestine: Focus on the Problem, Not the Solution
Book Reviews

Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”

16 MAY 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”
Essays

We, Palestinian Israelis

15 MAY 2022 • By Jenine Abboushi
We, Palestinian Israelis
Book Reviews

In East Jerusalem, Palestinian Youth Struggle for Freedom

15 MAY 2022 • By Mischa Geracoulis
Featured excerpt

Palestinian and Israeli: Excerpt from “Haifa Fragments”

15 MAY 2022 • By khulud khamis
Palestinian and Israeli: Excerpt from “Haifa Fragments”
Latest Reviews

Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport

15 MAY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestinian Filmmaker, Israeli Passport
Film

Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh

2 MAY 2022 • By Taline Voskeritchian
Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh
Opinion

Palestinians and Israelis Will Commemorate the Nakba Together

25 APRIL 2022 • By Rana Salman, Yonatan Gher
Palestinians and Israelis Will Commemorate the Nakba Together
Interviews

Conversations on Food and Race with Andy Shallal

15 APRIL 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Conversations on Food and Race with Andy Shallal
Book Reviews

Abū Ḥamza’s Bread

15 APRIL 2022 • By Philip Grant
Abū Ḥamza’s Bread
Columns

Not Just Any Rice: Persian Kateh over Chelo

15 APRIL 2022 • By Maryam Mortaz, A.J. Naddaff
Not Just Any Rice: Persian Kateh over Chelo
Latest Reviews

Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta

15 APRIL 2022 • By Nasser Atta
Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta
Film

“Breaking Bread, Building Bridges”: a Film Review

15 APRIL 2022 • By Mischa Geracoulis
“Breaking Bread, Building Bridges”: a Film Review
Film Reviews

Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon

21 MARCH 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Palestine in Pieces: Hany Abu-Assad’s <em>Huda’s Salon</em>
Opinion

U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine

21 MARCH 2022 • By Yossi Khen, Jeff Warner
U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine
Columns

Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day

21 MARCH 2022 • By Maha Tourbah
Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day
Essays

Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing

17 MARCH 2022 • By Neve Gordon, Nicola Perugini
Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing
Art

Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes

15 MARCH 2022 • By Khalil Younes
Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes
Latest Reviews

Three Love Poems by Rumi, Translated by Haleh Liza Gafori

15 MARCH 2022 • By Haleh Liza Gafori
Three Love Poems by Rumi, Translated by Haleh Liza Gafori
Columns

“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”

24 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”
Latest Reviews

Two Poems by Sophia Armen

15 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Sophia Armen
Two Poems by Sophia Armen
Fiction

Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Abeer Esber, Nouha Homad
Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered
Columns

Getting to the Other Side: a Kurdish Migrant Story

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Getting to the Other Side: a Kurdish Migrant Story
Art & Photography

Refugees of Afghanistan in Iran: a Photo Essay by Peyman Hooshmandzadeh

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Peyman Hooshmandzadeh, Salar Abdoh
Refugees of Afghanistan in Iran: a Photo Essay by Peyman Hooshmandzadeh
Book Reviews

Meditations on The Ungrateful Refugee

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Meditations on <em>The Ungrateful Refugee</em>
Book Reviews

Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

10 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Interviews

The Fabulous Omid Djalili on Good Times and the World

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
The Fabulous Omid Djalili on Good Times and the World
Essays

Syria Through British Eyes

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Rana Haddad
Syria Through British Eyes
Featured article

Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Basil Al-Adraa
Killing Olive Trees Fails to Push Palestinians Out
Book Reviews

The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?
Film Reviews

Victims of Discrimination Never Forget in The Forgotten Ones

1 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Victims of Discrimination Never Forget in <em>The Forgotten Ones</em>
Featured excerpt

Memoirs of a Militant, My Years in the Khiam Women’s Prison

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Nawal Qasim Baidoun
Memoirs of a Militant, My Years in the Khiam Women’s Prison
Film Reviews

Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?

11 OCTOBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?
Art & Photography

Hasteem, We Are Here: The Collective for Black Iranians

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Maryam Sophia Jahanbin
Hasteem, We Are Here: The Collective for Black Iranians
Essays

Why Resistance Is Foundational to Kurdish Literature

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Ava Homa
Why Resistance Is Foundational to Kurdish Literature
Featured excerpt

The Harrowing Life of Kurdish Freedom Activist Kobra Banehi

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Kobra Banehi, Jordan Elgrably
The Harrowing Life of Kurdish Freedom Activist Kobra Banehi
Latest Reviews

Women Comic Artists, from Afghanistan to Morocco

15 AUGUST 2021 • By Sherine Hamdy
Women Comic Artists, from Afghanistan to Morocco
Columns

In Flawed Democracies, White Supremacy and Ethnocentrism Flourish

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat
In Flawed Democracies, White Supremacy and Ethnocentrism Flourish
Weekly

Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Shereen Malherbe
Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories
Memoir

“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Heba Hayek
“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book
Weekly

Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah

25 JULY 2021 • By Wafa Shami
Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah
Weekly

Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية

25 JULY 2021 • By Fadi Kattan
Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية
Columns

When War is Just Another Name for Murder

15 JULY 2021 • By Norman G. Finkelstein
When War is Just Another Name for Murder
Fiction

Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”

14 JULY 2021 • By Selma Dabbagh
Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”
Art

Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor

14 JULY 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor
Essays

The Gaza Mythologies

14 JULY 2021 • By Ilan Pappé
The Gaza Mythologies
Columns

The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth

14 JULY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth
Latest Reviews

No Exit

14 JULY 2021 • By Allam Zedan
No Exit
Essays

Gaza, You and Me

14 JULY 2021 • By Abdallah Salha
Gaza, You and Me
Columns

Gaza’s Catch-22s

14 JULY 2021 • By Khaled Diab
Gaza’s Catch-22s
Essays

Making a Film in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Elana Golden
Making a Film in Gaza
Essays

Gaza IS Palestine

14 JULY 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Gaza IS Palestine
Latest Reviews

A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15

14 JULY 2021 • By Tony Litwinko
A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15
Centerpiece

“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick

14 JULY 2021 • By Sagi Refael
“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick
Essays

Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege

14 JULY 2021 • By Greta Berlin
Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege
Essays

In Retrospect: An American Educator in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Diane Shammas
In Retrospect: An American Educator in Gaza
Latest Reviews

Review: Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope

14 JULY 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
Review: <em>Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope</em>
Weekly

The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter

4 JULY 2021 • By Maryam Zar
The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter
Book Reviews

ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter

4 JULY 2021 • By Jessica Proett
ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter
Weekly

A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”

28 JUNE 2021 • By Mark LeVine
A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”
Columns

The Diplomats’ Quarter: Wasta of the Palestinian Authority

14 JUNE 2021 • By Raja Shehadeh
The Diplomats’ Quarter: Wasta of the Palestinian Authority
Weekly

Palestine in the World: “Palestine: A Socialist Introduction”

6 JUNE 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Palestine in the World: “Palestine: A Socialist Introduction”
Book Reviews

The Triumph of Love and the Palestinian Revolution

16 MAY 2021 • By Fouad Mami
Art

The Murals of “Education is Not a Crime”

14 MAY 2021 • By Saleem Vaillancourt
The Murals of “Education is Not a Crime”
Essays

The Wall We Can’t Tell You About

14 MAY 2021 • By Jean Lamore
The Wall We Can’t Tell You About
Art

The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay

14 MAY 2021 • By Farah Abdessamad
The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay
Essays

Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in

14 MAY 2021 • By Francisco Letelier
Between Thorns and Thistles in Bil’in
Poetry

A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza

14 MARCH 2021 • By TMR
A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza
TMR 7 • Truth?

The Crash, Covid-19 and Other Iranian Stories

14 MARCH 2021 • By Malu Halasa
The Crash, Covid-19 and Other Iranian Stories
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Ten Years of Hope and Blood

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Robert Solé
Ten Years of Hope and Blood
TMR 6 • Revolutions

The Revolution Sees its Shadow 10 Years Later

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Revolution Sees its Shadow 10 Years Later

1 thought on “October 7 and the First Days of the War”

  1. Wallachian Scholar

    This is a masterpiece, not an editorial. It is the most balanced and briliant text I ever read on the matter since 7th October. My deepest respect, sir. I have both Jewish and Muslim friends and all our hearts (I am a Christian) are broken. We hope and trust in the Almighty One to open minds.

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