Bangladesh, Dec. 23 -- History is rarely kind to years marked by unrestrained violence, political cynicism, and international hypocrisy. In the Middle East, 2025 is already shaping up as one such year – one that many will wish could be erased from memory. For millions across the region, particularly Palestinians, the year did not represent a turning point toward peace or justice, but rather the continuation, and in some cases the intensification, of long-running catastrophes.

For Palestinians, 2025 will be remembered as yet another year of genocide and apartheid, thinly disguised beneath the language of “security” and “self-defense.” Two ceasefires came and went, neither delivering anything close to meaningf...