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Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and political commentator based in Amman who specializes in Middle East issues. He can be reached at alsharif.osama@gmail.com. On Twitter: @plato010
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![Participants pose for family photo at the Middle East conference at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, February 13, 2019. Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND. - RC1299354D40](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2019/02/RTX6MLOM.jpg/RTX6MLOM.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=OQ8-Ec1-)
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![Jordan's King Abdullah shakes hands with Iraq's President Barham Saleh, during his visit in Baghdad, Iraq January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily - RC1266A21620](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2019/01/RTS2AJKM.jpg/RTS2AJKM.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=3uxsJZE2)
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![Palestinian refugees walk on January 18, 2018 at the al-Baqa'a refugee camp, some 20 kilometres north of Amman, which was built as an emergency camp in 1968 to house Palestinians who left the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the IsraeliArab war in 1967.
The US government has frozen tens of millions of dollars in contributions to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. / AFP PHOTO / Khalil MAZRAAWI (Photo credit should read KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2018/12/GettyImages-906480318.jpg/GettyImages-906480318.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=NBMy3CU0)
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![A general view shows the location of the accident where rain storms unleashed flash floods, near the Dead Sea, Jordan October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RC12C7E52190](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2018/10/RTX6GLBO.jpg/RTX6GLBO.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Z9xSrGYF)
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Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist and political commentator based in Amman who specializes in Middle East issues. He can be reached at alsharif.osama@gmail.com. On Twitter: @plato010