Alain Gresh (born 1948 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

) is a

French communist party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

leader and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He is the former editor of '' Le Monde Diplomatique''. He writes articles mainly on the

Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

and the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. Alongside his career, he is a

Palestinian nationalist Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

activist.

Biography

Alain Gresh was raised in Cairo, Egypt. At the age of 14, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to study

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. As soon as he arrived in France, he joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

youth. After graduating from high school, he became the leader of the French communist youth. In 1978, he became secretary general of the

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held occasionally since 1947, mainl ...

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

department. He continued studying the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

in college, and wrote his PhD dissertation on the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

). In 2007, he admitted he had regular meeting with leaders of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Gresh claims he created the first pro-Palestinian Organization in France after Moscow decided to change its foreign policy. He was editor of '' Le Monde diplomatique'', and retired at end of 2015. He then cofounded the website ''Orient XXI''.

Personal life

His biological father was Henri Curiel, an Italian Jew and communist

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

who later became an Egyptian citizen. After being

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

d from Egypt in 1950 because of his communist activities, Curiel settled in France.

Selected articles

*"Shadow of the army over Egypt's revolution", ''Le Monde Diplomatique'' (August 2013) *"The Middle East: How the Peace was Lost", '' Le Monde Diplomatique'' (September 2001)

Books

In English: *''The

: The Struggle Within: Towards an Independent Palestinian State'' (1988). *''The Middle East: War Without End?'' (1988). With Dominique Vidal. *''An A to Z of the Middle East'' (1990). With Dominique Vidal. *''Ordinary Days in Dheisheh: Is the World Watching?'' (2000). With Munā Hamzeh. *''The New AZ of the Middle East'' (2004). With Dominique Vidal. *''Israel, Palestine: Truths of a Conflict'' (2007). In French: *''Palestine 47, un partage avorté'' (1994). *''Les 100 portes du Proche-Orient, Éditions de l'Atelier'' (1996/2006). With Dominique Vidal. *''L'islam en questions'' (2000). With Tariq Ramadan. *''Palestine: Vérités sur un conflit'' (2001/2010). *''L'Islam, la République et le Monde'' (2004). *''1905-2005: les enjeux de la laïcité'' (2005). *''De quoi la Palestine est-elle le nom?'' (2010). * ''Un chant d’amour. Israël-Palestine, une histoire française,'' with Hélène Aldeguer, éditions La Découverte, (2017)

References

External links

Profile and column archive
at '' Le Monde Diplomatique''
Alain Gresh page
at

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

.
Alain Gresh
on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...