Books and publications
Index / Activities / Books and publications / The Arabian Peninsula and Iran face the Palestinian question
The Arabian Peninsula and Iran face the Palestinian question
October 20, 20257:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish.
Along with its authors, Casa Árabe is presenting a book which analyzes the relationship between the Arab countries on the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, with regard to the Palestinian question. Ignacio Alvarez-Osorio and Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal will be discussing the many factors involved within these relationships from 1948 to the modern day. The event will be taking place in Madrid on Monday, October 20.
The countries on the Arabian Peninsula have long had an ambiguous response to the Palestinian question. Following the creation of Israel in 1948 and the resulting Nakba, some opened their doors to thousands of Palestinian workers, who then contributed to the development of their State structures. It was precisely in Kuwait, which brought in the largest Palestinian community, that Fatah, the main group formed by the Palestine Liberation Organization, was created. After gaining independence, these countries experienced swift economic development as a result of the exploitation of oil. The Six-Day War marked a turning point by accelerating the decline of Arab nationalism and the rise of Saudi Arabia, which chose to negotiate by way of the Fahd Plan, or Beirut Initiative. After the Oslo Accords’ collapse, support for the Palestinian cause began to undergo questioning by several world leaders, who considered it to be a heavy burden which limited their room for maneuvering. Within this context, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain opted to normalize their relations with Israel through the “Abraham Accords.” Iran is a separate case entirely, because it exploited the Palestinian issue to extend its regional influence through the so-called “Axis of Resistance.”
The authors will discuss all of these factors, which are highly relevant if one hopes to understand the current geopolitical situation on the basis of the constant changes in international relations in the Middle East and on the Arabian Peninsula. The event will be moderated by María Isabel Cabrera, director of the University of Granada Press. The event will be introduced by Miguel Moro, the General Director of Casa Árabe.
Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he is co-director of the Complutense Research Group on the Maghreb and the Middle East (GICMOM). Prior to this, he was a professor at the University of Alicante (1999-2019), where he directed the Inter-University Institute for Social Development and Peace (IUDESP). He is a contributor to various media, including El País, El Periódico, RTVE and La Sexta. He has written and edited many different books on the contemporary Arab-Islamic world, including Qatar. La perla del Golfo (Qatar: Pearl of the Gulf, 2022), Siria. La década negra (Syria: The Black Decade, 2022), Geopolítica de las Primaveras Árabes (Geopolitics of the Arab Springs, 2022), Movilizaciones populares tras las Primaveras Árabes (Popular Uprisings After the Arab Springs, 2021), Entre España y Palestina. Revisión crítica de unas relaciones (Between Spain and Palestine: A critical review of relations, 2018), Siria. Revolución, sectarismo y yihad (Syria: Revolution, sectarianism and jihad, 2016), La Primavera Árabe revisitada (The Arab Spring Revisited, 2015), Sociedad civil y contestación en Oriente Medio y el Magreb (Civil Society and Protest in the Middle East and the Maghreb, 2013), and Informe sobre las revueltas árabes (Report on the Arab Uprisings, 2011).
Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal is a policy specialist at the digital rights organization European Digital Rights. She is an associate professor of International Studies at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and at Sciences Po in Paris. She has been the coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa Panel at Fundación Alternativas and a researcher at the London office of The U.S./Middle East Project, as well as at the European Parliament and the European Union Delegation in Egypt. She has also been a contributor to 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Media, a Palestinian digital rights organization. She contributes to various media outlets, such as Público and El Periódico, as well. She holds a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is a researcher at the Workshop on Mediterranean International Studies (TEIM) at the same university. Her main areas of expertise are past and present power relations in historical Palestine, political and social dynamics in the Persian Gulf, and domestic and transnational transition and transformation processes in the Middle East and North Africa.
The authors will discuss all of these factors, which are highly relevant if one hopes to understand the current geopolitical situation on the basis of the constant changes in international relations in the Middle East and on the Arabian Peninsula. The event will be moderated by María Isabel Cabrera, director of the University of Granada Press. The event will be introduced by Miguel Moro, the General Director of Casa Árabe.
Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he is co-director of the Complutense Research Group on the Maghreb and the Middle East (GICMOM). Prior to this, he was a professor at the University of Alicante (1999-2019), where he directed the Inter-University Institute for Social Development and Peace (IUDESP). He is a contributor to various media, including El País, El Periódico, RTVE and La Sexta. He has written and edited many different books on the contemporary Arab-Islamic world, including Qatar. La perla del Golfo (Qatar: Pearl of the Gulf, 2022), Siria. La década negra (Syria: The Black Decade, 2022), Geopolítica de las Primaveras Árabes (Geopolitics of the Arab Springs, 2022), Movilizaciones populares tras las Primaveras Árabes (Popular Uprisings After the Arab Springs, 2021), Entre España y Palestina. Revisión crítica de unas relaciones (Between Spain and Palestine: A critical review of relations, 2018), Siria. Revolución, sectarismo y yihad (Syria: Revolution, sectarianism and jihad, 2016), La Primavera Árabe revisitada (The Arab Spring Revisited, 2015), Sociedad civil y contestación en Oriente Medio y el Magreb (Civil Society and Protest in the Middle East and the Maghreb, 2013), and Informe sobre las revueltas árabes (Report on the Arab Uprisings, 2011).
Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal is a policy specialist at the digital rights organization European Digital Rights. She is an associate professor of International Studies at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and at Sciences Po in Paris. She has been the coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa Panel at Fundación Alternativas and a researcher at the London office of The U.S./Middle East Project, as well as at the European Parliament and the European Union Delegation in Egypt. She has also been a contributor to 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Media, a Palestinian digital rights organization. She contributes to various media outlets, such as Público and El Periódico, as well. She holds a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is a researcher at the Workshop on Mediterranean International Studies (TEIM) at the same university. Her main areas of expertise are past and present power relations in historical Palestine, political and social dynamics in the Persian Gulf, and domestic and transnational transition and transformation processes in the Middle East and North Africa.
