Policy Analysis

The Middle East is not more dangerous today than it was in 1992; it may be as hectic, but it is not more dangerous. The question is where to go from here with the Oslo agreement in order to achieve full and lasting peace. Everything that has happened in the

Keynote discussion between Eliahu Ben Elissar and Hasan Abdel Rahman. With Ze'ev Schiff, Abbas Kelidar, Samuel Lewis, Walter Cutler, and others.

Three years ago, I had the honor of sharing the dais with Israel's chief Oslo negotiator, Uri Savir. We were both full of hope and enthusiasm about the future of Israelis and Palestinians working together in partnership to achieve peace -- peace based on mutuality, reciprocity, and recognition of dignity

The promise of Oslo evoked high expectations of reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. Its danger, however, lies in the mechanisms Oslo outlined to reach that reconciliation and the exaggerated expectations Oslo produced. A unique dynamic of the Oslo process is that the further one proceeds, the more difficult are the

Last week's serious crisis provides a number of important lessons. Although the Washington summit produced assurances from both sides to avoid violence, similar pledges have been made in the past and have been violated. Unless serious steps are taken by both sides, it is likely that last week's understanding will

The Cairo Economic Summit will take place as scheduled. Egypt is preparing for it and anticipating a constructive conference. This conference comes in the context of Egypt's overall structural reform program, initiated twelve years ago, when the government set out "to make Egypt a better place to live." This program

As Israelis and Palestinians meet at the Erez junction, Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad will be watching closely. Before the West Bank/Gaza rioting, Syrian troop movements reminded Israelis of the 1973 Yom Kippur surprise attack, prompting a war scare. In the wake of the riots, Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington

While the last two weeks have focused on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes, the Washington summit and the "war scare" with Syria, inside Lebanon the main political drama concerned the concluding rounds of parliamentary elections. These, as expected, produced a Syria-friendly legislature. Initial euphoria in some quarters about the early losses suffered

In 1989 Jordan began implementing an economic reform program. The program was interrupted by the Gulf crisis but resumed in 1992 encompassing both economic and political reforms. Objectives of Reform The government's main objective in reform is to enhance the lives of Jordanian citizens. It would seem that basic economic

"I want to repeat here once again our commitment to security cooperation with Israel and our commitment to cooperate with Israel in all aspects in accordance with the agreement signed. This cooperation with Israel in all fields will continue irrespective of our political differences." —Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, September

In 1992 a spectrum of Iraqi dissidents met in Vienna, Austria and then in Salahuddin, northern Iraq (under Kurdish control), and established the Iraqi National Congress (INC) to lead the opposition to Saddam Hussein. The INC opposes the use of force as the solution for ethnic and nationality problems and

The new Israeli government inherited from the Labor party a timetable for the completion of final status negotiations by the summer of 1999. The Labor government also developed the principle of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement based on some form of separation and partition of Eretz Yisrael into two distinct political entities

In recent days, the Clinton Administration has articulated a clear distinction between U.S. strategic interests in southern Iraq and solely humanitarian concerns in northern Iraq. Following are statements since the end of the Gulf War chronicling the evolution of this policy. "[O]ur interest in the Kurds in [northern Iraq] is

In terms of domestic political opinion in Iraq, Saddam won a significant victory in the recent operation in northern Iraq. His prestige is greater than it has ever been since the Gulf War, and he has positioned himself well for at least the next year. In about a years time

BEIRUT—While headline news was being made in Iraq and the Erez checkpoint, a less-noticed political drama has been unfolding in another corner of the Middle East, Lebanon. Here, Lebanese are in the midst of a five-week election five electoral districts each voting on subsequent Sundays that could have an important

Although the Clinton Administration's response to Saddam Hussein's attack on Erbil is based on a moral commitment to protect the Kurds of northern Iraq, Washington has focused its response on southern Iraq. U.S. strikes have hit targets in southern Iraq, rather than in the north; President Clinton has not demanded

The U.S. cruise missile strikes on Iraqi air defense forces yesterday and today were intended to have three main consequences: 1) to exact a price for the Iraqi army's actions in Irbil and thereby restore credibility to U.S. deterrence; 2) to degrade Iraqi air defenses in the newly extended no-fly

While U.S. officials were in London on Friday evening, resting between mediation sessions with representatives of both main Kurdish factions, Saddam Husayn ordered his panzers into Irbil. The few Kurdish and Iraqi National Congress defenders of Irbil were overwhelmed by the more than 40,000 members of the three Republican Guard

With pro-Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan at the helm of the Turkish government since late June, Washington faces a rare policy dilemma: how to deal with an ally whose leader harbors long-term goals inimical to U.S. interests. The U.S. won its first major policy challenge of the Erbakan era when

The past week has seen speculation by Defense Secretary William Perry tying Iran to the recent bombing of U.S. military personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and a report in Time linking Iran to the downing of TWA 800. How might the U.S. respond if these reports are true? A New