Policy Analysis

April 22, 2016 In the 1990s and early 2000s, American media referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the “Middle East Peace Process,” a testament to the positive political developments achieved in Wye River and Oslo under the stewardship of former President Bill Clinton. President Clinton, a self-declared “honest-broker,” took calculated

April 22, 2016 In a statement issued in early March in by the headquarters of State Security in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, Egyptian Ministry of Interior General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar announced that Hamas was responsible for the June 2015 assassination of Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat. Abdel Ghaffar

April 22, 2016 Following a number of nationalist, independent and partisan Egyptian newspapers, including: Al-Ahram, Al Gomhuria, Al Akhbar, Al Youm Al Sabeh, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al Wafd, Sawt al-Ummah and Al Shorouk in the past weeks reveals a surprising lack of discrepancy in their rhetoric towards events related to the

Rather than debate the hypothetical results if the administration had ordered strikes in 2013, it is more instructive to examine the policy it did execute, which delivered questionable results at significant cost.

Given the group's ever-lengthening criminal rap sheet around the world, designating it as a TCO has become an open-and-shut case.

The recent Russian "withdrawal" from Syria reflects not a parting of ways with Assad but rather frustration with the regime's poor performance on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

April 21, 2016 German philosopher and political scientist Hannah Arendt stated in one of her lectures that it is a problem when politicians make wrong decisions, but a catastrophe when they do not know how to present their decisions to the people. This saying perfectly encapsulates the Egyptian president’s latest

In this new Policy Focus, David Pollock analyzes a significant transition in PA messaging, both governmental and in the Palestinian street, that has taken place during the past two years.

The Obama administration may have launched a new era in U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia, one marred by suspicion over Iran, anti-American radicalization, and lingering questions about the September 11 attacks.

Ongoing bilateral security discussions aim to decrease controversial Israeli operations in parts of the West Bank, and their chances for success largely depend on avoiding the political obstacles associated with a formal agreement.

Israel's deterrent power is largely a reflection of how its adversaries view the strength of its strategic relationship with the United States, so actively addressing the issues that have caused recent fissures is paramount.

Normalization negotiations seem closer than ever to conclusion and should be encouraged, but significant differences remain, especially on Gaza, Hamas, and Egypt, and they will likely prevent a return to past bilateral intimacy.

Until Iran stops engaging in illicit behaviors such as terrorist financing, banks are likely to see prohibitive reputational, regulatory, and other risks to doing business there.

To curb the power of Salafi ideas, the West must help Middle Eastern countries rebuild even as they fight ISIS, so that the group's destructive, exploitative project is perceived for what it is.

April 17, 2016 On the periphery of international concern, the situation in Libya continues to disintegrate. Yet Libya’s eastern neighbor Egypt has consistently exercised its influence in determining the diplomatic outcomes of the five year-long crisis. Recently, Cairo hosted talks between U.N. special representative to Libya Martin Kobler and Libyan

By heeding the lessons garnered from past experience and empirical studies, Washington can mitigate concerns about sanctions overreach and greatly increase their effectiveness.

The two countries will likely continue to cooperate, especially on the economic and military fronts, but Putin's assertive anti-Westernism could still pose problems for Israel in Syria and elsewhere.

April 15, 2016 The last few weeks have witnessed increased tensions over the Sahara conflict – a more than forty year long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed separatist group Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Morocco’s southern provinces. Although a ceasefire between sides has held since 1991, subsequent attempts

April 14, 2016 The journey from London to the French coastal city of Calais was quick and comfortable . I nearly forgot I was traveling between two different countries until I was greeted by high fences and endless spirals of barbed wire, which marked the boundaries of the refugee camp

Four eminent scholars and policy practitioners debate the president's worldview and how it will shape American interests and options in the next administration.