Podcasts

The Oslo Accords, signed 30 years ago, were a seminal development in Israel-Palestinian relations. In today’s podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with Dr. Anat Kurz, senior researcher and director of research at INSS and editor of INSS Insight, Col. (res.) Adv. Pnina Sharvit Baruch, senior researcher and head of the INSS Program on Law and National Security, and Brig. Gen. (res.) Udi Dekel, who served as Managing Director of INSS for ten years and currently heads the INSS Program on the Palestinian Arena. Together they examine the core principles of the Oslo Accords and ask: what is left of these principles today? Did they fail in the long run, or have some remained valid on the ground? How did Israel move from “making peace” toward “managing the conflict”? What threats confront what is left of the agreements? And finally: what can still be done to stop the dangerous slide into a one-state reality?

In this podcast, INSS researcher Adi Kantor sits down with senior researcher Brig. Gen. (res.) Udi Dekel, who currently heads the research program on the Palestinian arena in the INSS, and with researcher Noa Shusterman, the Israel-Palestinian Research Program Coordinator in the institute, to discuss their latest memorandum titled: “The Day after Abbas”: Strategic Implications for Israel”. The question of who will replace or succeed Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as President of the Palestinian Authority is one of the most urgent and important issues specifically regarding the Palestinian arena, but one which also has clear implications for Israel. The research presented in the talk was an effort of a team of experts in the Palestinian Research Program of the INSS, who joined together with the purpose of examining the possible leading scenarios after President Abbas’s departure and the repercussions for Israeli-Palestinian affairs. Among the main questions discussed are the following: What is the significance behind publishing this research, and why now? What are the leading possible scenarios detected by the authors regarding the situation after the departure of Abbas? What will affect the probability of each scenario, from both Palestenian and Israeli perspectives? What are the implications of a lack of “long term thinking” regading Israeli policy? What is the danger behind the slide into a ‘one state’ reality? and what are the main recommendations for the Israeli government when taking all of these parameters under account? Read the full memorandum: https://www.inss.org.il/publication/the-day-after-abu-mazen/

INSS Managing Director Udi Dekel, joined by INSS senior researchers Pnina Sharvit Baruch and former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, speaks about the application of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated is planned for the coming month. What would the map of Israel look like after this move? What would be the legal status of the Jewish population and the Palestinian population in the annexed area? Would this move ignite the region? What is the expected reaction in the international arena? Will US President Donald Trump accept any Israeli decision on the matter? What will be US policy if Joe Biden enters the White House in January 2021?

INSS Deputy Director Itai Brun hosts a special podcast following the update of the Institute’s strategic assessment for 2020, in the wake of both the coronavirus pandemic and the establishment of Israel’s new government after more than a year of political deadlock. INSS Managing Director Udi Dekel, together with INSS researchers Sima Shine, Assaf Orion, Orna Mizrahi, Meir Elran, Sarah Feuer, and Carmit Valensi provide a comprehensive review on the international system and the Middle East, which have been rocked by the virus, and will offer their recommendations to the new government.