Why does Egypt keep the border with Gaza closed?
Why are there more Palestinian refugees in Jordan than in Palestine?
Why doesn't Lebanon grant citizenship to Palestinian refugees?
Do Arab countries really support Palestine?
It's not as it seems:
The official Arab support for Palestine is strong.
Up till very recently, most Arab countries only recognized Palestine (yellow on the map). This is from 2019:
It reflects a popular opinion: Most Arabs think the plight of Palestinians is theirs too
We see it in Arab streets, in the frequent outpours of support for Palestinians, like this one in support of Hamas after their attack to Israel
Once again, the popular opinion is reflected in official words by Arab states, most of which either only supported Hamas's actions, or called for de-escalation, and none condemned Hamas
But pay attention to what they say, not what they do, and you'll see something completely different
In the 1947 war with Israel, Egypt & Jordan could have created a Palestinian state with Gaza & the West Bank, which they held for 20 years
They kept them for themselves
It would have seemed reasonable: They were claiming for a Palestinian state, and Palestine had been managed separately under British rule
But this misses the thinking at the time
Nationalism is a very recent innovation
AFAIK there were no Arab nation-states before the 20th C
What's an independent Egypt? Jordan? Syria?
These ?s had no answer then
During WWI, King Hussein had a vision of an Arab state across the entire Arabian peninsula
This was reasonable: There were no precedents!
There was no Egyptian nationalism, or Jordanian... or Palestinian
Arab divisions had been more bureaucratic than ethnic
Earlier, there was Greater Syria
Then Lebanon & Israel were split
Syria & Jordan were split
by a French-British agreement in WWI
The resulting Sykes-Picot line can be seen in current borders
Another example of bureaucratic splits: The name "Jordan" comes from "Trans-Jordan", as in "The region beyond the Jordan River"
Who defines a country by one of its borders?
Ppl splitting regions on a map in their faraway office
These countries did not reflect local sentiment
At the time, the region was figuring out what land should go where. They weren't sure. They were sure of one thing though: In the middle of an Arab Muslim world, they did not want a Jewish state
It made sense for Egypt to keep Gaza & Jordan to keep the West Bank
When they lose these regions in the 6-day war in 1967, 20 years have passed. National identity has been forming. It's not clear that Gaza belongs to Egypt or the West Bank to Jordan
So Egypt signs peace w/ Israel to get the Sinai back
Jordan relinquishes the West Bank, too hard to control from across the Jordan
Jordan has other thoughts in mind: Even without the West Bank, it has more Palestinian refugees than the West Bank & Gaza!
Here's the 2nd pbm Arab countries have w/ Palestine: political beliefs
Jordan is a monarchy from the Hashemite family, which doesn't come from Jordan
60% of Jordan's population is Palestinian
The Palestinian leadership is socialist
They tried to topple the monarchy
Palestinians killed a Jordanian king
They blew up civilian planes in Jordan
They had an army operating inside Jordan
They had manifested the desire to topple the monarchy
So Jordan kicked the fighters out
Jordanians don't want to regularize Palestinian ppl for 3 reasons:
• They would be a majority
• Keeping them as refugees puts pressure on a Palestinian state
• They are a bargaining chip
So Palestinians are stateless in Jordan
Jordanians even take away their citizenship
Something similar happens in Lebanon:
• Palestinians are Sunni. Lebanon is majority Shiah. Palestinians would tilt the balance
• Granting citizenship to Palestinians would also release pressure on a Palestinian state & lose a bargainin chip
So Palestinians live as non-citizens in Lebanon, many in refugee camps. They are deprived of access to social services, prohibited from working in dozens of professions, and they can’t buy or bequeath property.
Their plight is the same in Syria, for similar reasons (pressure against Israel, bargaining chips)
With one big difference: Syria thinks Israel & Palestine belongs to them
Remember Sykes-Picot split Greater Syria in 2 pieces?
Syria thinks they should be reunited
So Syria keeps Palestinians stateless & undermines Israel, but it's not forthcoming about a Palestinian state
What about Egypt? Why does it keep the Rafah border closed with Gaza? Why sign peace with Israel?
For the same reasons, and then more: religion
Egypt was pan-Arabist. It wanted a huge Arab country. In fact, the United Arab Republic united Egypt, Syria, and Yemen for years! There were many more attempts.
Here's what Egypt was *not*: pan-Islamist
The Muslim Brotherhood is pan-Islamist though. It has been banned in Egypt since the 1950s. When it was legalized in 2011, it won elections... Before the military threw them out and banned them again
You know who is pan-Islamist? Hamas in Gaza
Hamas is Egypt's enemy
➡️Arab countries used to support the Palestinian struggle, but not Palestinians or their state for many reasons:
• Keep them as refugees to pressure Israel
• And bargaining chips
• Preserve monarchy
• Support pan-Arabism vs pan-Islamism
• Take over for themselves
Over time, things have changed for Arab neighbors:
• Nationalism has grown. Absorbing Palestinian lands is impossible
• Alliance with Israel = alliance with the US = money & weapons
• Economic benefits from Israeli friendship higher than w/ Palestine
➡️Arab countries are normalizing their relationships with Israel, and support Palestinians more with words than actions:
• Economics > idealism
• Peace > Palestinian state
• Suffering Palestinians are more useful
• Neighbors don't believe they can win a war
I hope this was useful! If you did, follow me for more. I’ll be writing about different aspects of the conflict in the coming days
This Sunday are Germany's elections
These are the best maps to understand the country:
Why is it so rich?
What makes it special?
What lies in its future?
1. We can still tell the East/West divide, 35 years after the reunification. These are Germany's phantom borders
2. Before WW2, East Germany had more:
• Working class ppl
• Vote left
• Women working
• Births out of wedlock
• Protestantism
3. The main reason is because this region industrialized early. One of the reasons of that industrialization is because of the Bohemian Mountains and their coal and iron
UNPRECEDENTED
The singularity is near. We're 1-6 years away from AGI according to: 1. Prediction markets 2. Insider insights 3. Benchmarks 4. Lack of barriers to growth 5. Current progress
This breakneck speed of AI progress is illustrated by OpenAI's o3 and DeepSeek🧵
1. Prediction Markets:
Average bet on AGI: November 2030
Mode: June 2027
Two other bets in Metaculus match this:
• Two years to weak AGI, so by the end of 2026
• Three years later, Superintelligence, so by the end of 2029
This remote corner of the US has something unique that might soon make it one of the most important cities in the world—the city of the future. It is officially Boca Chica today, but it might soon become Starbase 🧵
This point at the south of Texas is the southernmost point in the continental US
That is extremely useful for rockets
The biggest share of weight in rockets is fuel. Most of it is burnt just to carry the rest to orbit! Rocket makers do anything they can to reduce fuel consumption
We should transform Guantanamo Bay into a 21st Century Hong Kong 🧵
Hong Kong was a deep water port surrounded by a Communist country—China
By building up the port, urbanizing the surrounding area, making business easy, and taxing little, Hong Kong showed China what capitalism could do by becoming a global port and financial center
Seeing this success, Deng Xiaoping made the neighboring Shenzhen into a special economic zone (SEZ). The area exploded and is not the epicenter of global manufacturing, along with the broader Guangzhou, on the Pearl River delta