Robert Satloff is the Segal Executive Director of The Washington Institute, a post he assumed in January 1993.
In-Depth Reports
How Washington responds to the passing of Yasir Arafat depends largely on forecasts of internal Palestinian political dynamics, in both the short- and medium-term. The three concise essays in this special Policy Focus publication provide just such analyses. Each is written by a close and informed observer of the Palestinian scene: Ehud Ya'ari, Israel's leading television commentator on Arab and Palestinian politics and the author of Arafat's first biography; Adam Garfinkle, editor of the National Interest, author of numerous works on Middle East history and politics, and rapporteur of the Washington Institute's multi-year project on managing leadership change in the Arab world; and Khaled Abu Toameh, senior writer on Palestinian affairs for the Jerusalem Report and special correspondent for U.S. News and World Report.
Rather than work on a single, collaborative project, the authors were invited to offer their own perspective on the implications of Arafat's death for Palestinian politics -- that is, what comes next? Their contributions, together with the brief analysis by Robert Satloff, represent different, though complementary, views on post-Arafat Palestinian politics. It is hoped that all four of these essays will spark both analytical debate on likely developments within Palestinian politics as well as prescriptive debate on the opportunities and challenges that this change will present to U.S. policymakers.
