Policy Analysis

On May 19, 2000, Patrick Seale, biographer of Hafiz al-Asad; Daniel Pipes, editor of Middle East Quarterly; Uri Lubrani, Israel's coordinator of activities in southern Lebanon; and Raghida Dergham, senior diplomatic correspondent for al-Hayat, jointly addressed The Washington Institute's Fifteenth Annual Soref Symposium. The discussion took place just days before

In the wake of the hasty withdrawal from southern Lebanon by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the collapse of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), the role of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in trying to restore peace to the border area is far from certain. The

On May 19, 2000, Leon Fuerth, national security adviser to Vice President Al Gore, and Robert Zoellick, a foreign policy adviser to Texas governor George W. Bush, jointly addressed The Washington Institute's annual Soref Symposium. Following are excerpts from their discussion. Read an edited transcript. LEON FUERTH "If you ask

While Hizballah still mulls over its options in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon–terrorism, political activism, or both–there remains in Lebanon one other sizable community that could be the source of renewed tension and violence: the 350,000 Palestinian refugees. This group has a long and tortured history in Lebanon

On May 19, 2000, Leon Fuerth, national security adviser to Vice President Al Gore, and Robert Zoellick, a foreign policy adviser to Texas governor George W. Bush, jointly addressed The Washington Institute's annual Soref Symposium. The following is an edited transcript of their discussion. Read the full, unedited transcript or

*Mr. Lubrani's remarks represent his own views and not those of the government of Israel ROBERT SATLOFF: Let me simply open by putting the cards on the table. Mr. Seale, you wrote an obituary for the Syria-Israel peace. Is, indeed, this track dead? If so, why? And if not, why

On May 19, 2000, Leon Fuerth, national security adviser to Vice President Al Gore, and Robert Zoellick, a foreign policy adviser to Texas governor George W. Bush, jointly addressed The Washington Institute's annual Soref Symposium. The following is a full transcript of their discussion. Read an edited transcript or a

Keynote discussion between Dan Meridor and Ziyad Abu Zayyad; and roundtable discussions with Patrick Seale, Uri Lubrani, Raghida Dergham, and Daniel Pipes; and between Leon Fuerth and Robert Zoellick.

*Mr. Lubrani's remarks represent his own views and not those of the government of Israel. Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute: Mr. Seale, you wrote an obituary for the Syria-Israel peace track. Is this track indeed dead? If so, why? And if not, why not? Patrick Seale: First, I would like

Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute: We have asked our two guests this evening to engage in a conversation rather than to deliver extended formal remarks. Dan, Ziyad, please begin by giving us a sense of where you think the peace process is today, where it is going over the next

As violence rocked the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak was scoring a significant parliamentary victory Monday. By a 56-48 margin, the Knesset approved transfer of three Palestinian villages on the outskirts of Jerusalem, including Abu Dis, from partial to full control by the Palestinian Authority (PA)

The May 15 clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian civilians and policemen on the occasion of the Nakbah ("catastrophe"), a Palestinian memorial day protesting the establishment of Israel, were the most violent since the September 1996 opening of the tunnel entrance in Jerusalem's Old City. Five Palestinians were killed and

YORAM HAZONY The Abandonment of the Zionism of Ben Gurion and Herzl by Mainstream Zionist Intellectuals The movement away from the concept of Israel as a Jewish state is spreading across the ideological spectrum and at times has had an effect on Israeli policy. Examples include: • In 1994 a

Today's election by Parliament of Ahmet Necdet Sezer as president of Turkey brings a fresh but somewhat paradoxical personality to a job that can be powerful or not, depending in large part on the officeholder's personality. During a two-year stint as chief of Turkey's highest court, Sezer has been an

As Palestinian and Israeli negotiators settle into a negotiating routine in Eilat this week, the peace process quietly marks an anniversary of sorts--one year ago the Oslo-Wye diplomacy faced the threat of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence. That step was temporarily averted when Palestinian Authority (PA) ra'is Arafat postponed

After eleven years of legal and political maneuverings, the Lockerbie trial is finally set to begin on May 3 in Camp Zeist, Netherlands. The two suspects, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fahima, stand accused of perpetrating one of the worst acts of terrorism in history. The explosion of

As the May 5 second-round Majlis (parliament) election approaches, questions remain as to whether the Islamic Republic's hardliners can be marginalized through the ballot box, whether reformists' voices can be muzzled, and whether change in Iran can both be rapid and nonviolent. In February, the reformist triumph in the first

For two decades now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has confounded the American foreign policy community, whose members have oscillated wildly between urgent appeals to normalize relations with Tehran and equally determined bids to contain its influence. In the latest swing of the pendelum, a chorus of voices--including those of

The stability of the Hashemite Kingdom has consistently confounded observers. Jordan’s imminent demise has been predicted time and again, only to be defied by the seemingly extraordinary capacity to endure and remain one of the most stable states in the region. If the death of King Hussein gave rise to

With Israeli-Palestinian peace talks getting underway in Eilat this weekend, the Middle East seems to be switching peace tracks yet again. After President Bill Clinton held separate White House meetings with Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Yasir Arafat earlier this month, State Department spokesman James