The Gateway to the East

While the parties work towards a ceasefire, the pro-Iranian party remains opposed to "direct negotiations" with the Jewish state. Lebanon’s capital is experiencing hours of relative calm, but tensions remain in the south. The Druze House hosts a summit of religious leaders. Among the population, a growing consensus calls for peace with the Israelis and normalisation of relations.

The religious parties want to move up the vote to 15 September before Yom Kippur (and distance themselves from Netanyahu). The Bennett-Lapid alliance is failing in the polls, giving former General Eisenkot a chance to emerge as the top opposition leader. But no one seems to have the numbers to form a majority without the support Arab parties that Jewish parties reportedly want to keep at bay.

The war with Iran has triggered a shift in Riyadh that is not merely geographical. Neom, Yanbu, and Jeddah are no longer just scenic elements of Vision 2030, but strategic infrastructures for survival. Hence, Mohammed bin Salman is trying to avoid all-out war with Iran (which would also jeopardise the Red Sea) in a context where the US is no longer a guarantor of stability.

The Gaza Strip remains in limbo. While the war is not truly over, timid attempts to restore political normalcy have been made amid unresolved contradictions. Fatah held local elections in Deir el-Balah on 25 April, but Hamas maintains local networks. The Board's only funding came thus far from the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, invested on the future local police force. Meanwhile, 80 per cent of families still depend on water distributed by tankers.

The Israeli government is turning an ad hoc process into a structured policy, approving in November 2025 a plan to relocate nearly 6,000 people with public funding. The first 240 arrived recently as part of Operation Kanfei Shahar. Faith alone is not driving many to leave their Indian villages in the Indian state of Manipur, interethnic violence is.

After weeks of deadlock, Nizar Mohammed Saeed Amidi has been appointed President of the Republic. Political scientist Saad Salloum tells AsiaNews: this choice is a sign of “Kurdish fragmentation” and greater centralisation of power. For the Iraqi scholar, “pragmatism, institutional continuity and conflict management” will be the guiding principles of his four-year term.

From Beirut, Oumayma Farah describes a country at risk of being overwhelmed by the conflict. The displacement crisis is a priority, with only a small fraction of people being accommodated in shelters. Schools are being used as makeshift shelters, putting the education of thousands of students at risk. The Order’s mission: “To serve all without distinction of race, colour or religion, but focusing on needs and suffering”.

Bishop Martinelli talks about the festivities in the conflict-stricken Gulf, starting with the testimony of the Missionaries of Charity. As a result of fear, some migrants have left the Emirates temporarily, while marriage and baptism courses are on hold. School and catechism classes have been "online for over a month." Church closures generated “significant media coverage”. A "people of peoples" from over a hundred countries bear witness to the faith.

On the eve of Passover, the Rossing Centre expert speaks with concern of a country that today seems to have lost faith in coexistence. “For us Jews, this is a Passover dominated by a sense of exhaustion.” The war fronts, from Gaza to Iran, fuel hatred and divisions. Blockades, discrimination against Muslims and even Christians. The work of those who nevertheless try to listen to the other’s reasons, keeping hope alive, is fundamental.

In AsiaNews, Fr Ielpo describes the run-up to Easter amidst the war in the Gulf and the closure of the holy sites. He condemns the violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank: “Serious acts against people who want to live in peace”. His account of southern Lebanon, which he has just visited. Prayer as an ‘essential’ path to a peace ‘that comes from above’. An appeal to Christians worldwide to ‘carry this yet another cross together’.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Bishop Nahra describes the closure of sacred places as “a form of death that people are experiencing.” From COVID-19 to Gaza and the Iran war, a picture of a perpetual “pandemic” emerges. This is impacting children while critical issues remain within Israeli society, especially in the Arab community, torn by violence and murders. In parishes people want to come to church and pray, many of them young. In Israel, there has been “widespread damage,” but “it’s not widely discussed.” Some 80 Jewish and Arab groups sign an open letter for peace.

According to the most recent estimates, the conflict with Hamas in Gaza alone has cost the equivalent of one-fifth of Israel's economy. And today, billions of dollars are being burned every week in attacks on Tehran. The paradox is that hundreds of billions are being spent on war, while little more than crumbs remain for reconstruction and development.