In this report from Paris and the south-west French city of Toulouse, two families of Palestinian refugees, who arrived in France following the escalation of the civil war in Syria, recount their long paths of exile during which they were regularly uprooted, just like their ancestors who were forced to flee their homes in 1948, when the state of Israel was proclaimed. They tell of the sadness that hangs over lives permanently eyeing a homeland of the past, even for the generations who have never known it. “We never knew Palestine, we were born in a different country, we live in another, and in every situation we’re treated as foreigners,” said Omar, 20, born and raised in a Damascus refugee camp. “But if we have children, we’ll have a lot to tell them.” Sophie Boutboul hears their stories, alongside photographer Ameer Alhalbi.
Mediapart co-founder Edwy Plenel, until now its president and publishing editor, has passed the reins to Carine Fouteau. As this new page opens in the history of Mediapart, she sets out here how this online journal will pursue with its founding mission of reporting for the public good, alongside the ambition of broadening its readership. Mediapart will, she writes, continue to disturb some and unite many through the force and quality of its journalism.
Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu have the same objective in war, namely the end of international law and the advent of a world where no other law exists except that of force, writes Mediapart co-founder Edwy Plenel in this op-ed article. From that perspective, he argues, to support Israel’s war in Gaza is to offer the Kremlin its victory in Europe.
After playing an active role in the Mediapart adventure since its creation 16 years ago, Carine Fouteau, who was joint editor from 2018 to 2023, has been elected, on my proposal, as its new president and publishing editor, writes Edwy Plenel.
In an interview published on March 10th, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that parliament would debate, before the summer recess, long-awaited draft legislation to legalize what he called “assistance for dying” – in effect, assisted suicide – for patients suffering the terminal stages of debilitating illness. Caroline Coq-Chodorge reports on the substance of the bill, and the heated debate between its opponents and supporters.
The Calais area of northern France has been badly hit by flooding since December 2023. But despite the seriousness and frequency of these events, plans for yet more housing developments continue in what is already the second most built-up region in the country. Meanwhile, prime minister Gabriel Attal visited the area this Monday to review the regional resilience plan aimed at helping the area withstand weather-related disasters. Manuel Magrez reports.
The court case over the alleged Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign is due to begin in January 2025 and is expected to last at least four months. Prosecutors suspect that it was a senior figure in the Libyan regime, Abdullah al-Senussi, who illegally financed the Sarkozy clan. Senussi had been convicted in France over the bombing of a DC10 plane belonging to French airline UTA, in which 170 people lost their lives, including 54 French nationals. The prosecution's case is that in return for the money, Sarkozy's team sought to get an international arrest warrant for Senussi quashed. Lawyers acting for families of victims of that state-sponsored terror attack are now seeking to get them added to next year's trial as civil litigants. Fabrice Arfi reports.
The coach at an amateur club in south-west France, who had been accused of having prayed in a changing room before and after a key cup match, was effectively dismissed from his position last year without any normal disciplinary proceedings being taken against him. According to Mediapart's information, state grants to the club were suspended until the club agreed not to renew his membership registration. David Perrotin reports.
The vote by the French Parliament to enshrine the right to abortion in the French Constitution is a world first, and carries with it considerable symbolic importance. But this historic decision cannot hide the difficulties faced by women today in actually getting an abortion, nor can it disguise Emmanuel Macron's political exploitation of the issue for his own purposes, argues Mediapart's joint editor-in-chief Lénaïg Bredoux in this op-ed article.
French president Emmanuel Macron provoked a controversy last week when he said he did not rule out Western 'troops on the ground' in Ukraine. The remarks were quickly and widely rejected, both by allies in Washington, London and Berlin and by domestic political opponents too. But the president's comments did not just spark an outcry, they have also caused confusion. Did the French head of state's remarks refer to a few spies, who are already there, 50 or so demining experts - something that has been discussed - or was he instead talking about 2,000 infantry combat ready troops? As Justine Brabant reports, it seems no one really knows what the president was talking about.
