Palestinians

In March 2006, while campaigning for the post of Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert surprised many by pledging, if elected, to dismantle the majority of Israel's West Bank settlements. Dubbing his plan "convergence," he outlined a strategy that would involve evacuating Israeli settlers from most of the West Bank. Olmert's

The new government to be formed in Israel has one urgent task: to abort the government of Hamas. Not to rout it or overthrow it, but to act with determination to cause its paralysis; to make it obvious to every Palestinian, within a few months' time, that Ismail Haniyah and

Matthew Levitt exposes the real Hamas: an organization that threatens peace and security far beyond the borders of the West Bank and Gaza.

As the international donor community struggles to determine its stance on aid to the Palestinians under the Hamas government, it is important to remember the extent to which the Palestinian economy is dependent upon Israeli decisions. Last year the international community gave the Palestinians $1.4 billion in aid; Israel has

On March 8, 2006, Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog (Israel Defense Forces) testified before the House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia. General Herzog is a visiting military fellow at The Washington Institute. The following is the prepared text of General Herzog’s testimony. Hamas’s electoral

Reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs, 2006. Copyright 2006 by Council on Foreign Relations. For permission to republish, please contact lhammes@cfr.org The Great Experiment Much has happened in the decade between the first parliamentary elections for the Palestinian Authority (PA), in 1996, and the second, this year. The Oslo peace

On February 28, 2006, Institute executive director Robert Satloff appeared on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer program to discuss international funding of the Palestinian Authority following Hamas’s victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The following is a transcript of Dr. Satloff’s appearance on the program. Access streaming video and audio of

Khalid Mishal, a Hamas leader currently residing in Damascus, visited Ankara today. Despite fierce debate in the Turkish press and objections from the secular-minded foreign policy elite, Mishal's visit went ahead with backing from Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. From the American

Dennis B. Ross, who was the chief U.S. Middle East peace negotiator in the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, says that in the aftermath of the Palestinian electoral victory by Hamas and with elections pending in Israel, there are "two different dynamics" at play in the region