Policy Analysis

Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak’s surprise resignation Saturday night has plunged the country’s already battered political system into further turmoil, and so far, his gambit seems to have failed. Barak’s move was clearly designed, at least in part, to utilize a provision in Israeli law that would sideline his once

Public opinion in the West has been deeply influenced by television news pictures for several decadesin the 1960s, Vietnam was the first "television war." But in the Arab world, the violence between Palestinians and Israelis that erupted at the end of September has been the first cycle of Arab-Israeli fighting

Recently, public opinion in both Israel and the Palestinian territories has shifted in ways that argue for separation or disengagement. Israelis no longer accept the notion that negotiations will eventually lead to peace, but they are far more willing to make concessions to the Palestinians. Palestinians no longer expect a

An exchange between Ahmad Samih Khalidi, Palestinian writer and peace negotiator, and David Makovsky, senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former editor of the Jerusalem Post. AHMAD SAMIH KHALIDI 6th November 2000 Dear David, Surveying the wreckage of the Oslo agreement, I am struck

Israeli prime minister Ehud Baraks decision yesterday to preempt his opponents and announce his willingness to hold early elections must be seen in the context of his interest in reviving the peace process. The vote for early balloting was driven by both animus toward the failed Camp David summit and

What changed, and what didn't, in Egypt's parliamentary elections?

The Lockerbie trial’s adjournment for much of the past two months did not curtail speculation on new evidence and sources. During the period of adjournment both the prosecution and defense carried out investigations throughout European capitals and unidentified third countries. After all this intrigue, it does appear that Lockerbie trial

Iran faces serious drug problems. It has 1.3 to 2 million addicts, and it is a principal transit point for drug smuggling from Afghanistan to the West. President Mohammed Khatami has criticized the West for its "meager help in the anti-drug campaign." However, before the United States decides whether or

In recent weeks, Arab parties from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to the Arab League summit have called for the dispatch of a United Nations force to the West Bank and Gaza in order to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli military force. Rather than reject this idea because of its contribution

A Combustible Middle East Recently, four factors have combined to make the situation in the Middle East far more combustible than it is has been for a long time. These elements are: Iraq has managed to break out of the boundaries imposed by the UN sanctions regime and to evade

Palestinian children are dying under Israeli gunfire. No doubt they are martyrs but to what, Israeli brutality or Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's cynicism? Increasingly, Western observers, and now, for the first time, Arab ones too, are concluding that the Palestinian Authority is pursuing a policy that intentionally places children

The trial of prominent Egyptian democracy activist Dr. Saad ed-Din Ibrahim and twenty-seven of his associates is scheduled to open on November 18 in Cairo. The charges include illegally accepting foreign funds and harming Egypt’s reputation abroad. This trial will be closely watched as a litmus test of the Egyptian

As Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak prepares for his upcoming trip to Washington, the United States is not the only strategic partner whose ties with Israel may be tested by violence in the West Bank and Gaza. In an era when Turkeys defeat of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and

Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, accusations that Israel has used "excessive force" in dealing with Palestinians have led to calls for Israel to employ "non-lethal" weapons as a way to reduce Palestinian casualties and stem the cycle of violence between the two sides. In fact, however, Israel is

When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meets with President Clinton tomorrow, his message will be, "The Oslo accords are dead long live the Arab-Israeli peace process!" For Clinton, the priority should be to reject a new form of "peace process" that could make a bad situation even worse. That Oslo is

On Saturday, November 4, Jordanian prime minister Ali Abu Raghib returned from a three-day visit to Baghdad. Coming just one week after the signing of the U.S.-Jordanian Free Trade Agreement (FTA) — the first of its kind with an Arab state — the trip highlights Jordan’s policy of pursuing close

A New Intifada? The events of the past five weeks are not a repeat of the Palestinian Intifada of 1987–1990, a spontaneous uprising that caught both Chairman Yasir Arafat and Israel equally by surprise. Rather, the current uprising is a confrontation imposed by Arafat on the Palestinian street. Three major

"It is clear that whoever wins the race to the White House is going to put even less pressure on Israel than Bill Clinton [has done]. Al Gore, because with Joseph Lieberman as his vice-president, there will be an emotional commitment to it. George Bush Jr., because there will be

"The Arab leaders affirm that just, comprehensive peace will not be achieved except with . . . the restoration of all the occupied Arab territories, including full Israeli withdrawal from . . . southern Lebanon to the internationally recognized borders, including Shebaa farms, the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli

Bombing and Truce The truce reached today should be interpreted very cautiously, given both today’s terror bombing in Jerusalem, which killed two Israeli civilians, and the two previous failed ceasefires recently brokered by the United States in Paris and Sharm el-Sheikh, respectively. Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Yasir Arafat was due