Hidden Cities

Dilek Çelebi on the life and work of Hamid Khalafallah, a young Sudanese scholar who never stopped demanding attention for his people. hidden-cities.com/p/hamid-khalaf…

“Some conflicts arrive prepackaged with a clear villain and recognizable frame. They require nothing from us except the willingness to be angry. Others have fragmented perpetrators, unfamiliar histories, no readymade alliance of condemnation. They ask more. So they receive less.”

"He kept speaking even when it felt like no one was listening—not because it was effective in the way he deserved, but because silence was not something he was willing to offer his people." Dilek Çelebi's tribute to Sudanese scholar Hamid Khalafallah, in @hiddencitiesmag

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa may be putting investment over the dire needs of the many Syrians who lost their homes in the war, writes Frederick Deknatel. foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/30/syr…

"When the time comes to assign blame, most of those to blame will be long gone. There will always be feigned shock at how bad things really were, how we couldn’t have possibly known." Omar El Akkad (@omarelakkad) in @hiddencitiesmag: hidden-cities.com/p/omar-el-akka…

"There will be those who say it was all the work of a few bad actors... who misled the rest of us well-meaning folks. Anything to avoid contending with the possibility all this... wasn’t the result of a system abused, but a system functioning exactly as intended." @omarelakkad

“At its core, whether it’s ballistic missiles, exoatmospheric interceptors, or rockets that launch satellites—or astronauts—into space, the technology is the same. But it’s a world away,” @HagaiElAd writes. hidden-cities.com/p/looking-to-s…

"The first launch I ever got to see was not for peaceful purposes; it was part of a war." @HagaiElAd in @hiddencitiesmag on looking to space for optimism amid so much war, and why the Artemis II mission was an antidote to Trumpism. hidden-cities.com/p/looking-to-s…

“It was therefore inevitable that what applied in Palestine would also apply in the Levant and beyond.” Amal Ghandour (@ghandour_ag) on Israel’s latest war on Lebanon and the destruction wrought across the region: hidden-cities.com/p/a-ledger-of-…

“Nobody knows how close Iran was to collapsing. But try to imagine not the cease-fire into which the Iranians succeeded in maneuvering Trump, but rather Netanyahu’s scenario of ‘total victory.’” @HagaiElAd on the cost of Israeli victory over Iran: hidden-cities.com/p/the-catastro…

“In mystified disbelief, we find ourselves listening to Israeli and American leaders invoking Armageddon, end-of-time combat, the Crusades, bombing the ‘bastards’ into the Stone Age.” Amal Ghandour (@ghandour_ag) on Israel’s "extraordinary tally of destruction." @hiddencitiesmag

Thrilled to have @HagaiElAd @hiddencitiesmag, writing from Jerusalem on Netanyahu’s fantasy of “total victory” over Iran: hidden-cities.com/p/the-catastro…

New in @hiddencitiesmag: @HagaiElAd on the cost of an Israeli victory over Iran that Netanyahu hoped for. “Imagine Israel after a total victory over Iran: a dangerous recipe for further military adventures, territorial expansion and you name it.” hidden-cities.com/p/the-catastro…

“It was the hub of anti-colonial resistance that became a symbol of national identity, central to the collective memory of Algerians. But today, the historic heart of Algiers is a museum in ruins.” Abd-el-Kader Cheref on the fate of the Casbah:

New in @hiddencitiesmag: Despite years of neglect and marginalization, the crumbling Casbah is still the beating heart of Algiers. Abd-el-Kader Cheref on the Casbah's history, heritage, and place in Algerian culture and identity: hidden-cities.com/p/the-casbah-o…

“From the elevated highway, the city looked like a palimpsest of failed promises and stubborn resilience.” @yasser09 in @hiddencitiesmag on Cairo and how its “chaotic inclusiveness, imperfect but vital, is being replaced by curated order.” hidden-cities.com/p/an-elegy-for…