Palestine

This study intends to review Israel's efforts to increase political and economic relations with Arab countries. It is clear that most Arab countries did not have any ties with Israel since the 1980s, and only two Egyptian states had established political relations with Israel since the 1973 war. But over the past few years, and especially after the start of the third millennium, a new trend has been formed by the Israeli authorities, which is still ongoing. This exit-isolation process is aimed at establishing friendships with Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and other Arab league members. However, the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution and the initiation of a new ideology in the Middle East brought the new Israeli regional strategy closer to speed, and Iran gradually became the main enemy of the two sides’ in the third millen-nium. It seems that the Arab countries have forgotten their aspirations towards the Pal-estinian people and help Israel achieve its goals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of political instability in the context of the association between board of directors (BOD) and audit committee (AC) quality as indicators of corporate governance effectiveness and earnings management (EM). The non-financial listed companies on the Palestine Exchange (PEX) between the period from 2011 to 2018 were the samples of the study. Based on the OLS regression results by using a panel data of 232 observations, the findings show that the BOD quality is positively related to EM, while AC quality is negatively associated with EM. The results also reveal that political instability plays a moderating role by weakening the relationship between the AC quality and EM during the severe unstable political situation, while the BOD quality is negatively associated with EM under the same situation. This finding implies that the BODs might substitute ACs under severe political instabilities to protect the stockholders and stakeholders’ interests. Unlike most previous studies, this article addresses political instability as a moderating variable for the relationship between the BOD and AC quality as a composite measure of EM in the most emerging and smallest stock market in the region. The results of this work may assist the regulatory bodies, policymakers, and practitioners in revising the corporate governance code to promote the efficiency of the BOD and AC monitoring functions for the purpose to improve the faithfulness and reliability of financial reports and also to deter the management from engaging in critical levels of EM.

This article aims at examining Russia's relations with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Moscow's motives and goals for the establishment and enhancement of those ties. We explore Russia's worldview to position the Middle East and Hamas in a pre-established frame, subsequently examining the reasons behind the development of these relationships. This article sets out to answer a two-fold question: What has been Russia's aim of receiving Hamas leaders and establishing high-level relations with this movement since 2006, and what components have influenced these interactions at international and regional levels? The paper argues that Russia considers its relations with Muslim nations and movements not only a foreign policy principle but also a domestic issue. Hence, it seeks to take advantage of the U.S. retrenchment from the region to expand its influence, play a mediatory role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and elevate its reputation among Muslims inside and outside the country. Recognizing Hamas' position, Russia resolved to develop its ties with Hamas' leaders, started negotiating with all the parties in the Palestinian national reconciliation process, and provided political, economic, cultural, financial, and security support to eventually affect Hamas' stance vis-à-vis Israel.