Omar H. Rahman

Fellow

Bio

Omar H. Rahman is a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, where he focuses on Palestine, Middle East geopolitics, and American foreign policy in the region. He is the Editor of Afkār, the Council’s online publication providing insights and analysis on current events in the region.

Rahman is also a non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. He was previously a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, where he researched and wrote about Palestine-Israel, the Arab Gulf, and the intersection between the two. Prior to this, Rahman was a research analyst at the Arab Gulf States Institute, where he focused on the political economy of the Gulf states.

Rahman established his career as a journalist based in the U.S. and the Middle East, including three years in Palestine where he was a columnist for +972 Magazine. Rahman was also an associate editor at World Politics Review in New York, as well as an editor and senior Middle East correspondent at Argus Media. His writing has been published in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The National Interest, Lawfare, VICE, PBS NewsHour, Quartz, Al-Jazeera English, and The National, among other outlets.

Rahman’s other work includes peer-reviewed policy papers. academic articles, and book chapters including in the recently-published volume: What is Israel/Palestine? (Routledge, 2022). He is currently working on a book about Palestinian de-fragmentation in the post-Oslo era. Rahman is also a frequent speaker on panels, at conferences, and in the media.

Research Areas

  • Israel-Palestine
  • GCC foreign policy
  • Middle East geopolitics
  • US foreign policy in MENA

Countries of Focus

  • Palestine
  • Israel
  • GCC
  • Egypt

Other Areas of Interest

  • Regional energy
  • Eastern Mediterranean

Education

  • M.A., Political Journalism, Columbia University, 2013
  • B.A., Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia, 2006

Articles

Like many people in the region, Palestinians have been impacted by the past decade of regional rivalry and competition. So how does the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran affect them?
Omar H. Rahman
Twenty years have passed since the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, leaving the country and the wider region forever changed. In this Council Views, Middle East Council experts reflect on this seminal moment in the region’s modern history and what has ensued in the two decades since. 
Galip Dalay, Omar H. Rahman, Ranj Alaaldin, Faozi Al-Goidi, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Robert P. Beschel Jr., Tarik M. Yousef, Larbi Sadiki
Israel’s new far-right government has already taken several measures to pressure the PA that do not differ much from the past. But the way it views the PA is different and could spell its end.
Omar H. Rahman
The elections held in the United States on November 8 were billed as the most crucial midterms in a generation. In a country deeply divided along ideological and party lines, the implications of such polls go well beyond domestic affairs. Polarization at home is seeping into Washington’s policy abroad, meaning that even congressional polls, once… Continue reading For Nations Abroad, U.S. Midterm Elections Are of Increasing Importance
Omar H. Rahman
In the northern West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus, Israeli military raids have become a near-nightly occurrence. So far this year, Israeli soldiers have killed more than 80 Palestinians in the West Bank—the most since 2015—and arrested hundreds of others, in what amounts to a far-reaching campaign to crush Palestinian resistance groups that have… Continue reading As PA Loses Grip Over West Bank, Israel Scrambles to Save It
Omar H. Rahman