The Gateway to the East

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.

The Lebanese government has outlawed the armed activities of the pro-Iranian party. A rift has emerged in the relationship between Hezbollah and the Shia Amal movement, which endorses the government's resolution. The Jewish state is hitting Lebanese territory hard again, putting pressure on the “buffer zone”. US mediation has "saved" the airport, which remains open. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people crowd the streets.

After years of diplomatic isolation and restrictions on movement, 395,000 Jordanian citizens visited Syria in 2025. Families, young people and independent travellers cross the border for short stays, cultural visits or family reunions. The project to reactivate the historic Hegiaz railway within the year. A recovery that contrasts with the crisis in tourism in Amman, victim of regional crises.

The Israeli association that fights against the political use of urban planning in the West Bank to seize land from Palestinians explains the bad faith of the rule that requires proof of ownership in Area C. At stake is 58% of the land in a context where there was no land registry before 1967. Activists and NGOs speak of an ‘unprecedented measure’ since the Six-Day War. Michal Braier: “discriminatory” legal system, ‘systematic’ expropriation to favour settlements.

On the feast of the great Maronite saint, Patriarch al-Rahi said that the use of force is the prerogative of the state. A musical event was cancelled in solidarity with the 14 victims of the collapse of a building in the north. A three-year-old child was also killed in the latest attack by the Jewish state.