CURRENT SITUATION

In the beginning of October, Israel reimposed a full national lockdown due to the second wave of Covid-19. The restrictions, which should have ended at the beginning of the month, lasted until October 18th, when a reopening phase started (implying the possibility to declare some cities as red areas). Among the measures included in the way out strategy, the reopening of religious sites in Jerusalem was planned. Although, legally Israelis still need specific reasons to leave their homes. This norm was considered as limiting the freedom to demonstrate. So, on October 3rd, a series of large demonstrations against Netanyahu were held throughout Israel. The decision to start reopening the country came after a significant decline in the number of new daily Coronavirus cases since June.
No lockdown was imposed in Palestine, but some restrictions were implemented to limit the movements in those areas where high number of Coronavirus cases were reported. At the end of October about 6,000 cases of Covid-19 were reported for a total of about 60,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
On October 18th, during a meeting in Bahrain between an Israeli government delegation and the Bahraini Foreign Minister, 7 memoranda were signed besides the agreement reached the previous month between the two countries. In particular, these memoranda provide for a greater economic and political cooperation.
On October 23rd Sudan signed a normalization agreement with Israel as well, becoming the fifth Arab country to officially recognize the State of Israel (along with Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain). The agreement was signed in front of a delegation from the United States, which welcomed this détente with pleasure. Hamas viewed the agreement as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

CURRENT SITUATION

SYRIA-LEBANON

In Syria, the Syrian Government attacked Idlib, thus interrupting the ceasefire which had started with the pandemic. No casualty has been reported so far. Syria is experiencing a harsh economic crisis, with extremely high inflation rates, which has been worsened by the pandemic, with non-official sources reporting a high and worrying rate of cases. Poverty is another enemy killing almost as much as war.
In Lebanon, the situation has been quite tense on different grounds throughout the whole month of September. On September 10th a second huge fire broke out in the port in Beirut. Firefighters could bring it under control in a few hours, but panic spread among the citizens, who are still shocked after the explosion on August 4th. A third fire broke out on September 15th in downtown Beirut. Moreover, in mid-September the Lebanese Army had to fight against a terrorist group in Beddawi, near the city of Tripoli.
A pervasive sense of uncertainty is haunting the Lebanese as well as the Syrians. A clear sign of this uncertainty is the increasing number of people who are boarding smugglers’ boats to reach Cyprus. Some of these boats were detected by the Lebanese Navy and UNIFIL, so people, both Syrians and Lebanese, were forced to go back to Lebanon.

CURRENT SITUATION

The investigation into Mario Paciolla’s death, the UN Verification Mission’s collaborator in Colombia found dead on July 15th in San Vicente del Caguán in circumstances yet to be clarified, is going on. The Colombian newspaper El Espectador has recently reported the decision of the Prosecutor's Office in Rome to launch an inquiry for murder, thus dumping the suicide hypothesis and expressing the intention to shed light on Mario’s death. Also, the Vice-Minister of Cooperation and Foreign Affairs, Marina Sereni, has declared that “the United Nations must cooperate to uncover the truth” since what happened shows a series of “inexplicable facts” and “it is very hard to believe it was suicide.” A beautiful account of Mario’s vocation and life has been realized by Valerio Cataldi (Tg3 Rai) through an article narrating Mario's professionalism and passion in his work in Colombia.

CURRENT SITUATION

In Israel, the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been going on for about ten weeks now, accusing him of corruption, fraud and abuse of power.
On August 13th, Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed the “Abraham Accords Peace Agreement: Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel”. These two countries established bilateral agreements concerning all relevant sectors ranging from investments and tourism to telecommunication and security. In exchange, Netanyahu put on hold the annexation of some parts of the West Bank. As a consequence, the President of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen withdrew the diplomatic representative in Abu Dhabi.
This agreement between the two countries underlines how much the Palestinian issue is being set aside and loosing importance within international geopolitics: if previously the necessary condition was the creation of a Palestinian State, now the promise not to proceed with the annexation of West Bank’s parts is sufficient.

Numb:
Beirut seems enveloped in a gray torpor, and with it those who live it.
The first few days we struggle to recognize the city, which is usually very hectic and chaotic.
The streets are empty and full of glasses on the ground, even in areas very far from the explosion.
People try to smile, but the weariness they drag on is perceivable.
And it infects us.
We do not make any particular efforts during the day, but when we return home in the evening we always feel so tired and we do not understand the reason why.
“We go around and see the signs of death, we smell her. Let's pretend that this is all normal, but it is not”.