The December 30, 2014 vote in the Security Council is certainly an Israeli diplomatic victory, given the various resolutions of UN bodies of previous years and the resolutions that were adopted in recent months, for example, in several European parliaments. Whatever doubts existed as to how the US would handle the Palestinian move were removed by a very firm position during the weeks before the vote and the clarification, unquestionably conveyed to other members of the Security Council, that the US would veto even a softened version...
As Israel tries to contain the damage resulting from recent measures taken against it in the international legal sphere, the Palestinians and their supporters are pursuing a sophisticated strategy that employs legal and diplomatic tools in almost every legal or political institution in the international arena. Indeed, the past two weeks can be described as a blitz. It appears that the Palestinians are scoring political goals, while in most cases causing severe delegitimization of Israel. The gradual erosion of Israel’s defensive...
Trends that marked the Middle East in preceding years that were joined in 2014 by new developments are analyzed in this volume, as well as the response of regional and international actors to these processes of change. To date, no political or military response has been found to contain the threat inherent in the crises occupying the regional and international communities in recent years, let alone resolve them. It is therefore likely that these crises will maintain their central position on the international agenda both during 2015...
The end of 2014 witnessed a change in Israel’s regional status and discredited one of Israel’s fundamental policy assumptions – that it is possible to stand on the sidelines and build a protective wall to prevent the spillover of regional unrest into its borders. Operation Protective Edge in Gaza; the rise of “lone wolf” terror activity in the West Bank; clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces and civilians on the Temple Mount; the formation of the Islamic State in the ISIS-occupied areas of Iraq and Syria; the...
The Israeli-Palestinian arena of the past year was marked by four principal developments. The first was the failure of the talks between Israel and the PLO/Palestinian Authority (PA) on a permanent settlement, launched at the initiative of the United States and conducted under the mediation of US Secretary of State John Kerry. The second development was the agreement reached between Fatah and Hamas as a basis for the formation of a national unity government, even though no progress was made toward genuine reconciliation between the...
The decision by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to seek a UN Security Council resolution that would recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and would require Israel’s withdrawal from the territories by the end of 2017 has forced many countries, in the Middle East and around the world, to revisit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and restore the issue yet again to the front burner. This development has inevitably also placed the political process with the Palestinians and...
This article examines three options for Israel regarding the reconstruction of Gaza. None of these options are optimal for Israel, as they do not guarantee a long term lull in hostilities – although two have the advantage of including a political initiative, which could extricate Israel from its international isolation and facilitate a breakthrough in the political deadlock. Nonetheless, it seems that at this stage, the option of Israeli efforts to help rebuild the Gaza Strip and improve the living conditions of the population is the...
The terrorist attack on November 18, 2014 in a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem was another step in an emerging trend whereby the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is liable to evolve from a national struggle into a religious war. In recent months, the main Palestinian area of concern has been the struggle over Jerusalem, and debate of the issue is rife with religious extremism. Israel must prevent the continuing slide of the conflict from the national to the religious level, particularly given the lack of effective...
The hastily-arranged summit in Amman on November 13, 2014 produced the desired – albeit short term – benefits. King Abdullah appeared to be a voice of responsibility and moderation in an otherwise tense, hostile, and volatile region. He reemphasized his role as custodian of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, a reliable partner of the United States, and a key ally in the battle against ISIS. However, the results of the summit should be seen as tenuous and temporary. Lip service was paid to efforts to resume a peace process, and...
The use of the phrase “the third intifada” is gaining ground, even though the recent car attacks and stabbings were carried out by individual terrorists on their own initiative. While certainly affected by the tense atmosphere in Jerusalem, they did not carry them out as organizational operatives or in the name of any particular group. At the same time, it seems that use of the word “intifada” helps categorize the events, ascribing a certain logic to them and making them easier to understand. However, it is important to stress the...
Given that the Palestinian leadership is still formally committed to the Oslo Agreements and it repeatedly declares its sincere intention of reaching a peace agreement with Israel, it must explain the meaning of its demand for recognition of the right to Palestinian self-determination alongside its resolute denial of the same right for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. It will be difficult to counter the argument of those who regard the Palestinian refusal to recognize the right to self-determination of the Jewish people as...
It is hard to argue that the past few governments of Israel had a clearly articulated policy with regard to the conflict with the Palestinians, especially its territorial aspect. Yet while rolling along without clear objectives may be possible for a while, perhaps under the rationale of conflict management (as opposed to conflict resolution), it is unclear how sustainable this is in the long run. Events such as Operation Protective Edge underscore the need to articulate a final objective with regard to the Palestinian Authority. The...
