Arab-Israeli Relations

Their willingness to stand against perceived threats to their democratic institutions is laudable, but allowing Israel to drift toward a de facto “one-state” peace solution poses serious threats of its own.

Even if another civil war is averted, the delay in signing a peace agreement has provided room for the rise of political factions that oppose further relations with Israel.

Many Middle Eastern outlets have used the crisis to reinforce their inflammatory rhetoric, but some have provided nuanced analysis through the lenses of democratic principles and Arab-Israel peace.

With an opportunity to subtly expand its influence in the West Bank, Hamas is less likely to risk an all-out war with Israel from Gaza as they did in 2021.

A former Israeli intelligence official joins two other experts to discuss how the situation might affect the government’s domestic political prospects, relations with Washington, and ability to counter external security threats.

Their latest gathering at Sharm al-Sheikh was a welcome opportunity to discuss de-escalation and establish closer ties between key civilian officials, but their efforts may not mean much in the end without visible movement on the security, economic, and political fronts.

Taking stock of last year’s deal shows that while there were plenty of good reasons for Washington and Jerusalem to accept it, improving Israel’s long-term security was not one of them.

Reversing the dangerous trends in Palestinian domestic dynamics is a complicated undertaking, but failure to address these issues will ultimately hobble any diplomatic and security understandings reached on West Bank de-escalation.

The vow of “never again” taken by virtually all nations after the Second World War remains unfulfilled.