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Webcast: Is There a Pathway for Lebanon-Israel Peace?

Watch keynote remarks by Lebanese MP Fouad Makhzoumi and a following panel of international experts.

Learn more about this event.

Read the new study, A Roadmap for Israel-Lebanon Peace.

In Memoriam: Vice President Richard B. Cheney

Vice President Richard B. Cheney addresses the 2007 Weinberg Founders Conference - source: The Washington Institute

Vice President Cheney:

Address to The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference

On October 21, 2007, Vice President Richard Cheney delivered a special address to The Washington Institute's 2007 Weinberg Founders Conference.

Oct 22, 2007

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Richard B. Cheney

Recent Institute Analysis

Iran’s Self-Confidence Returns?

Leaders in Tehran are saying they won the June war and can stand up to Israel, leaving U.S. policymakers with the tricky task of how to stand up to Iran.

Nov 4, 2025

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Patrick Clawson

Removing Syria’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism: Retaining Leverage and Ensuring Accountability

As the Trump administration considers removing Syria from the state sponsors list, it must maximize the chances of success while preparing for the possibility of failure.

Nov 5, 2025

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Michael Jacobson

Yitzhak Rabin Knew What Netanyahu Doesn’t

Thirty years after Rabin’s assassination, Israel is ignoring the crucial Palestinian lessons handed down by its most intellectually honest statesman.

Nov 4, 2025

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Dennis Ross

Newspapers at a shop in Tehran display headlines about the China-brokered Iran-Saudi deal in March 2023 - source: Reuters

China’s Global Initiatives Are Worth Taking Seriously

Beijing’s latest policy initiative is vague, but this same quality could yield diplomatic clout and unite countries whose interests may otherwise diverge from China’s.

Oct 30, 2025

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Henry Tugendhat

An Iraqi voter dips their finger in ink after casting a ballot in regional elections in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2024 - source: Reuters

Video

Iraq's Pivotal Parliamentary Election

Two regional political experts join a former U.S. ambassador to discuss how the final campaign push is shaping up and what the outcome could hold for U.S. interests.

Nov 5, 2025

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Mina al-Oraibi
Munqith Dagher
James Jeffrey

Webcast Friday: Sharaa Goes to Washington

Join us for an expert conversation examining critical bilateral issues as Syria's post-Assad president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, prepares for a White House visit next week. Watch live starting at 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) on Friday, November 7, 2025.

Learn more about this event.

Building Peace Between Israel and Lebanon

Flags of Israel and Lebanon painted on hands outstretched to each other, overlaying map of Israel-Lebanon border and beyond.

Maps & Graphics

A Roadmap for Israel-Lebanon Peace

Pursuing even incremental steps will be difficult in a country long dominated by Iran’s chief regional proxy, but the two countries’ leaders have cracked the door open for future diplomacy.

Oct 28, 2025

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Hanin Ghaddar
Robert Satloff
Ehud Yaari

Gaza After the Ceasefire

The seal of the Palestinian Authority on a gate at PA headquarters in Ramallah - source: Reuters

For Progress in Gaza, Empower the Palestinian Authority

As phase two of the ceasefire nears, the PA remains the only viable organization that can replace Hamas in governing Gaza.

Oct 30, 2025

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David Makovsky
Shira Efron

Gaza’s Future Hinges on a Clear UN Security Council Resolution

With Hamas already regrouping, U.S. officials must help craft targeted language that empowers the Board of Peace to oversee a technocratic administration and stabilization force, with the goal of quickly filling the territory’s governance and security vacuum.

Oct 31, 2025

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Dennis Ross
Assaf Orion

Protesters wave Palestinian flags in Gaza City - source: Reuters

The Ceasefire in Gaza: Views on Security, Palestinian Governance, and Regional Dynamics

A compilation of Washington Institute insights on the profoundly complex tasks ahead—from preventing a Hamas resurgence to promoting Palestinian political reform—and the states and mechanisms likely to carry them out.

Oct 14, 2025

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Neomi Neumann
Ghaith al-Omari
Ehud Yaari
Dana Stroul
Soner Cagaptay
James Jeffrey

Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Egyptian president Sisi at the 2025 Sharm El Sheikh conference on the Gaza conflict - source: Reuters

Washington Needs to Intervene in Choosing Gaza’s “Technocratic, Apolitical” Governing Committee

Urgent U.S. action is needed to ensure that Hamas and its adherents do not find a backdoor into the various bodies that will govern the Strip, while simultaneously addressing the genuine dilemmas confronting leaders in Cairo and other Arab capitals.

Oct 30, 2025

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Ghaith al-Omari

“Deradicalization” in Gaza: The Problem, the Solution, and the Measures of Success

To ensure the U.S. peace plan meets the long-term goal of a Gaza that is not ruled by Hamas and does not pose a threat to its neighbors, authorities need to combine realistic and measurable achievements with efforts toward disarmament, civilian reconstruction, and changing the public agenda.

Oct 17, 2025

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Neomi Neumann
Devorah Margolin

Institute Expertise on Arab-Israeli Relations

Dennis Ross

A diplomat with decades of experience in U.S. Middle East policy in the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, Ambassador Dennis Ross is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Dana Stroul

A policy practitioner with extensive experience within the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, Dana Stroul is Director of Research and Kassen Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.

Ghaith al-Omari

The former director of the American Task Force on Palestine, Ghaith al-Omari served as advisor to the negotiating team during the 1999–2001 permanent-status talks in addition to holding various other positions within the Palestinian Authority.

David Makovsky

A veteran journalist, author, academic, and diplomat, David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations.

In Focus: How Hezbollah Exploits Financial Corruption in Lebanon

Banque du Liban, BDL commissioner Riyad Salameh, Hezbollah symbol, ATM machine

Maps & Graphics

Cash Cabal:

How Hezbollah Profits from Lebanon's Financial Crisis

The Lebanese economy requires an urgent overhaul, and the international community must press for deep reforms.

Jun 22, 2023

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Samara Azzi
Hanin Ghaddar

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Recent Webcasts: Expert Policy Conversations

Video

Iraq's Pivotal Parliamentary Election

Two regional political experts join a former U.S. ambassador to discuss how the final campaign push is shaping up and what the outcome could hold for U.S. interests.

Nov 5, 2025

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Mina al-Oraibi
Munqith Dagher
James Jeffrey

Palestinians celebrate news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025 - source: Reuters

Video

The Gaza "First Phase" Agreement: Assessments and Implications

Five experts and former high-level officials discuss the gamut of opportunities and risks created by the Trump administration’s diplomatic achievement.

Oct 10, 2025

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Michael Herzog
David Makovsky
Nickolay Mladenov
Neomi Neumann
Ghaith al-Omari

A memorial in Tel Aviv to the victims of the OCtober 7 Hamas terror attacks - source: Reuters

Video

October 7, Two Years On: Repercussions for Israel, the Middle East, and U.S. Policy

An Emirati official and an Israeli expert join two former U.S. officials to discuss the ongoing aftershocks of the Hamas attack, including the revised prospects for peace amid the Trump administration's new diplomatic push.

Oct 7, 2025

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Yossi Klein Halevi
Ali al-Nuaimi
Dana Stroul
Dennis Ross

Interactive Map: ISIS Global Activity

Under the leadership of jihadism scholar Aaron Zelin, a team of researchers at The Washington Institute has built the Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity Map, an interactive tool that provides a more accessible way to search, track, and understand the organization’s global reach. It represents the most comprehensive public archive of the group’s attack data, media output, government designations, and legal cases — information that is becoming invaluable as IS affiliates disperse into a wider range of jurisdictions and the U.S. government continues shifting resources away from the global counterterrorism fight.

Access the interactive map.

Iranian External Operations Map and Timeline

Access this powerful interactive tool, which maps over forty-five years of Iranian clandestine operations around the globe.

Recently in Fikra Forum

New Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani attends the first regular session of the Council of Ministers in Baghdad in November 2022 - source: Reuters

Fikra Forum

The Roadmap to a Second Term for Sudani: Between Hope and Hardship

While Sudani leverages his position as prime minister to pursue another term, Iran and its militia proxies increasingly favor a weaker leader who won’t challenge their influence.

Nov 4, 2025

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Nawzad Shukri

Moroccan youth protest in Rabat in 2025 - source: Reuters

Fikra Forum

The Arab Spring’s Digital Heirs in Morocco

While the “GenZ 212” movement emerged from protests over maternal deaths and government neglect, it has evolved into a decentralized, quickly mobilizable digital network that continues to highlight Morocco’s governance problems.

Nov 3, 2025

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Virginia MacArthur

Men stand next to exhibits at the International Defence Exhibition in Abu Dhabi - source: Reuters

South Korea and the Middle East’s Defense Localization Drive: A New Strategic Fit

Given South Korea’s willingness to offer technology transfer, local production arrangements, and politically flexible partnerships, it has become an attractive

Oct 30, 2025

Coal, Oil, Gas, and Nuclear: Risks in Turkey’s Growing Energy Demands

Without further diversification of suppliers, expanded renewable capacity, strategic investments in LNG, and nuclear partnerships beyond Russia, Turkey risks exchanging

Oct 22, 2025

Arab Public Opinion 2014 to Today

Fikra Interactive Public Polling Platform Thumbnail

Maps & Graphics

TWI Interactive Polling Platform

Interactive datasets, from 2014 to today

Jun 30, 2022

In Focus: Great Power Competition and the Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir meets with U.S. President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at the White House in 1973. Source: Library of Congress

A Tormented Search for Balance

A powerful new documentary on Henry Kissinger would have benefited much from a deeper assessment of how his overarching foreign policy strategy affected generation-spanning conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere.

November 2025

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James Jeffrey

China’s Global Initiatives Are Worth Taking Seriously

Beijing’s latest policy initiative is vague, but this same quality could yield diplomatic clout and unite countries whose interests may otherwise diverge from China’s.

Oct 30, 2025

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Henry Tugendhat

The Window to Counter Russia in Syria Is Closing

By enticing Damascus with “no strings attached” deals, Moscow is once again trying to use Syria as a long-term strategic

Oct 20, 2025

China’s Push for Satellite Cooperation in the Middle East

By investing in relationships with scientists in the region, Beijing is seeking to fortify its own BeiDou system and drive

Oct 20, 2025

Regions & Countries

Issues

Webcast: Is There a Pathway for Lebanon-Israel Peace?

In Memoriam: Vice President Richard B. Cheney

Recent Institute Analysis

Webcast Friday: Sharaa Goes to Washington

Building Peace Between Israel and Lebanon

Gaza After the Ceasefire

Institute Expertise on Arab-Israeli Relations

In Focus: How Hezbollah Exploits Financial Corruption in Lebanon

Recent Webcasts: Expert Policy Conversations

Interactive Map: ISIS Global Activity

Iranian External Operations Map and Timeline

Recently in Fikra Forum

Arab Public Opinion 2014 to Today

In Focus: Great Power Competition and the Middle East