In recent years, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict arena has seen growing momentum toward the reality of a binational state. The roots of this trend lie in the frozen political process – in particular, the failure of the most recent round of talks between Israel and the Palestinians mediated by US Secretary of State John Kerry. This failure, much like the failures of previous rounds of negotiations, reflects both the inability and the lack of political willingness on the part of the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to bridge the...
The events that erupted in Jerusalem during the Jewish holidays in the fall of 2015, reflecting what Palestinians feared were Israeli intentions to change the status quo on the Temple Mount, spilled over into Israel, to the border area with the Gaza Strip, and into the West Bank. Palestinian usage of terms related to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount – such as the al-Aqsa or al-Quds Intifada – strengthened the prevailing sense that the religious dimension was the major motif behind the recent escalation and “knife terrorism.” Indeed,...
With December 2015 marking five years since the outbreak of the “Arab Spring,” a current assessment of Israel’s strategic situation must be based on the perspective of this period. What follows are twelve observations regarding recent political and security developments that impact on Israel’s national security and require the formulation of an overarching strategy for foreign policy and security policy for the coming five years.
The civil war that erupted in Syria in 2011 and the ongoing instability in Iraq have served as the backdrop for the growth of the ISIS organization and the ensuing establishment of the Islamic State, which contributed to the dissolution of the state structures in both Syria and Iraq. Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi’s appointment of himself as caliph and the establishment of the Islamic State as the basis of his caliphate have inspired and driven tens of thousands of Muslim volunteers from all over the world to join the ranks of the Islamic...
This study examines and measures the social resilience of the residents of the Gaza Strip area during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014 and thereafter. We provide an overview of the concept of resilience, focusing on the phenomenon of bouncing back towards recovery following the functional decline as a result of stressful events. Social resilience is measured here by three behavioral yardsticks: demographics and evacuation, therapeutics and education, and employment and economics. We chose two regional councils to represent...
Faced with the ongoing reality of stabbings, vehicle attacks, and shootings, many in Israel are demanding that much more be done to deal with the situation. In this context, they repeatedly invoke the old, familiar toolbox that was effective during the second intifada, when Israel faced organized terrorism. However, the current outbreak does not resemble the second intifada. In recent years, Israel has failed to outfit a new toolbox suited to the spirit of the times focused on economic, infrastructural, social, educational, and...
This article considers whether it is possible to ensure security in the context of an independent Israeli disengagement from the West Bank without a permanent status agreement in place. The underlying condition is that any withdrawal from all or part of the West Bank and any separation from the Palestinians would not compromise the personal safety of Israel’s citizens and national security as a whole. The security framework proposed is fundamentally different from the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. On the civilian level, the...
In 1993 Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people; in 2015 Palestinian leader Abu Mazen does not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This longstanding Palestinian position has profound significance for the negotiations on a permanent settlement, because in effect it means advocacy of a particular two-state solution: an independent Palestinian state next to Israel as a bi-national (Jewish-Palestinian) state within the Green Line, in contrast to a solution of two states for two peoples, as advocated by...
A bone of contention between the Palestinians and some Arab countries concerns visits by sports delegations to the PA in the framework of international sports events. The Palestinians have asked the Arabs not to include these visits among the prohibitions concerning normalization with Israel, but these requests were not always granted. The Palestinian-Arab debate over normalization reached a peak in September 2015, when Saudi Arabia, refusing to come to Faisal al-Husseini Stadium in the village of al-Ram just outside Jerusalem,...
With many of the Palestinian lawbreakers and terrorists in the current wave of violence residents of East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu is said to be considering revoking Israeli residency of some 55,000 Palestinians living beyond the security fence in East Jerusalem. However, it appears that actually implementing this move will be exceedingly difficult from a legal standpoint. At present, there is no sustainable legal source in Israeli law that authorizes a governmental entity to exercise a large scale, sweeping revocation of...
The uniqueness of the current outbreak of violence is that those driving it are the young Palestinians of East Jerusalem, who demonstrate willingness to confront Israeli military and police forces and engage in acts of sacrifice. The events in Jerusalem refute three basic assumptions that thus far have guided the policy of the Israeli government. The first is that the status quo is sustainable, not only on the Temple Mount, but also in Israel’s greater regional strategic situation, and that any alternative would have more negative...
Recent weeks have been marked by terrorist attacks and rioting in Jerusalem and the West Bank; rocket fire from the Gaza Strip; and protests by Israeli Arabs. Many observers and politicians have been quick to affix the familiar label of “intifada” to the current wave of violence. Calling the escalation a “third intifada,” however, is not an accurate portrayal of the current events, and therefore does not invite the right response to the situation. At this stage, there is no intifada according to its recognized meaning, but the...
