Politics & Cooperation

Presentation of afkar / ideas 62 | Debate on Palestine, normalization with Israel and the effects of the pandemic

7 July 2021. From 19:00 To 20:30 | Presentation | Spanish | Casa Árabe

Portada afkar/ideas Nº 62

After a year of pause marked by the pandemic, afkar / ideas is once again analysing the highlights of a very complex 2020, with consequences that will continue to have an impact in the near future. What impact has the pandemic had on the region’s political systems?

As Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio warns in his article, according to Freedom House there is a relationship between a pandemic and a regression in 2020. However, the MENA region has witnessed mobilizations in Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria and Tunisia, which demonstrate the pulse held by governments and citizens on the street. It has also been a year of normalization of relations with Israel with some Arab countries, as Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal exposes.

To discuss the issues mentioned, their impact in 2021 and the possible scenarios for the future in the region, there is a debate between: Josep Piqué, director of afkar / ideas and CEO of Foreign Policy Studies; Senén Florensa, director of afkar / ideas and chairman of the IEMed Delegate Committee; Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal, coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa panel of the Fundación Alternativas; and Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The session is moderated by Lurdes Vidal Bertran, editor-in-chief of afkar / ideas, director of the Arab and Mediterranean department of the IEMed, scientific coordinator of the CONNEKT project.

Presented by Pedro Martínez-Avial, General Manager of Casa Árabe.