MUST-READS

• A ceasefire deal is here. For Gaza, the Middle East and the world, the future remains unknown

  Security for Israel, he argued, had to include a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, or else Hamas “or something equally abhorrent” will “grow back”. He said the country “must abandon the myth they can carry out de facto annexation, without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing, to its security”. Yet, he complained, “Israel’s government has systematically undermined the capacity and legitimacy of the only viable alternative to Hamas: the Palestinian Authority”. Indeed, the weakening of Iran is probably the biggest regional impact of the war in Gaza. Biden had a point this week in claiming that, all told, Iran “is weaker than it has been for decades”. He elaborated: “Iran’s air defences are in shambles. Their main proxy, Hezbollah, is badly wounded, and as we tested Iran’s willingness to revive the nuclear deal, we kept the pressure with sanctions. Now Iran’s economy is in desperate straits.” A 35-year tack to build a defence strategy around a proxy army had been eviscerated in a matter of months.

• Gaza ceasefire deal: What you need to know

  It stated that the first phase of the ceasefire would involve the exchange of captives and prisoners and a return to "sustainable calm", with the aim of achieving a permanent ceasefire. According to the agreement, 33 Israeli captives held in Gaza will be released as part of the first phase, including nine who are ill or wounded. Israel will release 1,000 Palestinians who were detained from 8 October 2023 onwards. Among the 33 captives will be several men over the age of 50. They will be released in exchange for Palestinians serving life sentences at a ratio of 1:3 and Palestinians serving other sentences at a ratio of 1:27. Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu, who have been held in Gaza since before Israel's war on Gaza, will be released in exchange for 60 Palestinian prisoners and 47 Palestinians who were re-arrested after being freed in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal.

• Blinken’s audacious final message for the Middle East

  “What we’ve done over the past four years,” Blinken said, “building on the Abraham Accords, was to try to get to their ultimate realization, which is normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. . . . And as we sit here, it’s ready to go. That could move forward tomorrow. But it requires two things. It requires an end of the conflict in Gaza, and it requires a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.” Yet in a discussion with me on stage following his speech, Blinken said: “One of the things I believe strongly, Fred, from my own experience over the last thirty years and looking at the sweep of history, is that there’s no such thing as a hereditary enemy; that we are not fated to conflict or animosity; and even what seemed to be the most virulent and violent hatreds can go away, can change.”

• UAE launches $6bn ‘world’s first’ around-the-clock renewable energy facility

  The UAE on Tuesday launched what it called the “world’s first” facility that can provide renewable energy at scale around the clock. Abu Dhabi clean energy company Masdar will combine 5 gigawatts of solar capacity with 19 gigawatt hours of battery storage to produce 1 gigawatt of “uninterrupted clean power”, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and chairman of Masdar, said at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. The project is being carried out in partnership with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (Ewec).

• The future of grain supply and food security in Saudi Arabia

  Anis Alam, a key player in Saudi Arabia’s grain supply sector, gives an exclusive interview to Miller Magazine, outlining the country’s changing food security strategies. In this in-depth conversation, he discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the grain industry, how Saudi Arabia is adapting to global trends, and the critical steps being taken to ensure sustainable supply chains for the future. Saudi Arabia plays a pivotal role in the grain markets of the Middle East due to its strategic position as a key importer and distributor of essential agricultural commodities. With its growing population and limited arable land and water resources, the country is heavily reliant on grain imports to meet its food and feed needs. As a result, grain trade has become a central element of Saudi Arabia’s food security strategy.

• The United States and Saudi Arabia Strengthen Musical Ties with Milestone Visit of Music Icon Herbie Hancock

  The Saudi Music Commission, one of 11 sector specific commissions under the Ministry of Culture, and the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh announce the very first visit to Saudi Arabia of jazz legend, Herbie Hancock, the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and acclaimed jazz vocalist Janis Siegel.  Their tour celebrates U.S.-Saudi cultural ties, arts education, and the universal power of music. It is sponsored by the Arts Envoy Program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  The group’s agenda includes a performance at the King Fahad Cultural Center, with the participation of Saudi jazz vocalist Nourah Alammary; a masterclass for Saudi music students at the Saudi Music Hub, Riyadh; a roundtable on women in the arts with Saudi women artists and musicians; and an event with Saudi traditional musicians at the studio of Saudi visual artist Ahmed Mater.  U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney welcomed the visit, saying “Saudi Arabia’s cultural scene is evolving at an incredible pace, and hosting a legend like Herbie Hancock is a huge milestone. His music has inspired generations and having him here is a testament to the Kingdom’s remarkable cultural scene.” 

• eL Seed: Arabic Calligraffiti

  Before I picked the name “eL Seed”—my real name is Faouzi, “F-A-O-U-Z-I," and the “I,” instead of putting a dot, I used to put a hamza. I found that if you tag like that people are always like, "Wow. That's fun." I wanted to learn calligraphy. I discovered calligraphy when I was taking a class of Arabic, classical Arabic, about how to read and write in early 2000. I started at 18, but the first time I saw somebody doing calligraphy, it was in 2004, and I was mesmerized, I thought, "This is amazing. I would love to know how to do this." And so, I asked the guy, "Do you give any classes?" He said, "I wanted to, but nobody's interested." I was like, "Oh." I'd love to find a way to find this guy again. It was about 20 years ago, and he was an Algerian guy. And then, I was looking at calligraphy, the traditional one, without knowing there were rules and stuff.

• Blinken says Israel and Saudi ties are ‘ready to go,’ urges Trump to accept Biden plan for Gaza

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is ready to go, but requires following through on ending the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a commitment to a pathway to a Palestinian state. Blinken, speaking at the Atlantic Council, said negotiations to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could happen in the next few hours or next few days, a first, critical step in the plan the Biden administration has laid out to capitalize on major power balances shifting in the Middle East.

• Saudi flyadeal set to order Airbus A330neo jets, sources say
  Saudi budget airline flyadeal is putting the finishing touches to a deal to order 10 Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab A330neo jets in its first full-blown expansion into wide-body planes, as the kingdom pursues a surge of spending on aviation, industry sources said on Tuesday.
  The low-cost subsidiary of state carrier Saudia is likely to unveil the order for the upgraded A330-900 variant in the coming weeks after comparing it with Boeing's smaller 787-9, and the first jets are expected to arrive in 2027, the sources said.

• KAUST’s lithium-extraction breakthrough could propel Saudi Arabia’s battery industry

  Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a groundbreaking technology that could place Saudi Arabia at the forefront of global lithium production. The new method, detailed in the journal Science, enables the direct extraction of lithium from oilfield brine and seawater – a game-changer for an industry reliant on costly and resource-intensive mining. Lithium is essential for the batteries used in electric vehicles, laptops, and smartphones, but extracting it from low-concentration sources like brine has been economically unfeasible until now. The KAUST method was tested on a pilot scale 100,000 times larger than typical lab experiments and proved cost-competitive with traditional mining techniques. The implications for global supply are vast. Brine and seawater contain over 10,000 times more lithium than conventional reserves. By tapping into these sources, global lithium resources could surge from 22 million tons to more than 230 billion tons.

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