Policy Analysis

British foreign minister Jack Straw met for an hour last week with Gamal Mubarak, the youngest son of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. According to a British official cited in al-Qanat, an Arabic online daily, Straw met Gamal because he "is a very important person who certainly enjoys great influence." The

Tomorrow, October 16, President George W. Bush hosts Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. Although the two have met frequently in the year and a half since they assumed office, this session is likely to be different from previous encounters. Undoubtedly, they will discuss the situation with the Palestinians; this will

Why are local Lebanese subsidiaries of major American corporations -- like PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Western Union -- lending comfort and support to terrorists by advertising on Hezbollah television? Al Manar -- the Arabic word for beacon -- is the official television station of Lebanon's Party of God, more

Why does the Middle East have so many crises and problems? This question is usually answered in one of two ways. The "just around the corner" view, often favored by Western government officials and the media, argues that the region's conflicts and lack of significant progress could be rectified quickly

President George W. Bush recently articulated his case for liberating Iraq before the world at the United Nations, but unfortunately, his speech stands alone, not part of a larger, focused public diplomacy strategy. In fact, America's public diplomacy campaign is rudderless and, at times, counterproductive. One of the most glaring

In September 2000, the Palestinians made a strategic decision to abandon the Oslo process and prepare the groundwork for a struggle with Israel, which was to be conducted by means of terror and violence. Two years later, the armed conflict persists, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to finance and

On October 5, 2002, Zalmay Khalilzad, special assistant to the president for Near East, Southwest Asian, and North African affairs, addressed The Washington Institute's 2002 Weinberg Founders Conference. The following are excerpts from his remarks, edited for readability. Read an edited transcript of his full remarks, including the question-and-answer session

Note: Mr. Khalilzad's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the U.S. government. Bob Goldman: My name is Bob Goldman. I'm a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute. One year ago when we met here the focus of our conference was the aftermath of September

*Mr. Pillar's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the U.S. government. [Due to an unfortunate technical problem, the panelists' opening presentations were not recorded. An edited transcription of the panel's question-and-answer session follows.] Matthew Levitt, The Washington Institute: One of the more important elements driving the

We are at a stalemate. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat is able to thwart any real political reform on the Palestinian side. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has no good military options left, and, given the fact that he has the prospect of a primary and then elections coming up, he

Note: Mr. Khalilzad's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the U.S. government. I want to give you the Bush administration's perspective on where we are and what our vision is for Iraq. We believe that Saddam Husayn's regime is determined to retain, expand, and once again

*Mr. Khoury's remarks represent his own views and not those of the U.S. government. Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute: The basic premise of this panel is that the United States is currently promoting coercive democratization in Iraq and in the West Bank and Gaza. U.S. policy is coercive in the

Ladies and gentlemen, I am now going to read a legally recorded telephone call: "Hello! Hello! Rescue me! My house has caught fire! Help!" "Define your terms exactly. Has your house caught fire or has it burst into flames?" "Both! It has caught fire and it has burst into flames!"

A little more than a year ago, the most vile terror attack in the history of mankind took place in the United States, devastating the principal symbols of American military and economic power, indeed the very symbols of freedom and capitalism in the eyes of the world. September 11 --

*Mr. Eran's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the Israeli government. Dennis Ross, The Washington Institute: Many Israelis and Palestinians have a shared sense of urgency regarding the need to find a resolution to their ongoing conflict, even acknowledging the need to do so jointly. They

I want to start by praising someone who is not here, who would have been a good contributor to this discussion, my good friend Saad Eddin Ibrahim. (Applause.) He is a scholar, an activist, someone who is willing to pay the price of his convictions, even though that price is

I come from a country that has been engaged in war for the past two years. I am here to present an Israeli perspective on this confrontation -- a confrontation that will shape the nature of Israel, the Palestinian entity, and both societies in the coming years. How have we

* Secretary Roche's remarks represent his own views and not necessarily those of the U.S. government. I have a new job. This one has 700,000 employees and a budget of $80 billion. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are paying for health care, not for equipment

Unfortunately, there is no Iraqi on this panel. I wish there were. But because Kuwait is closest, in many ways, to Iraq, we Kuwaitis probably share some of the Iraqi vision of the future of Iraq. The atmosphere in Kuwait is one of anxiety and nervousness, with a strong sense

I recently read the United Nations (UN) Arab Human Development Report from one end to the other. It was the most miserable thing I have read in a long time. The report reveals the presence of a number of deficits in the Arab world. One of them is a freedom