Since the Obama administration took office, its relations with Israel have been characterized to no small measure by distrust and suspicion. In this context, the April 11, 2011 essay in the Weekly Standard by Elliott Abrams, a senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as National Security Council Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs under President George W. Bush is of particular interest. It reviews the sorry state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and in part focuses on the lack of...
The Egyptian announcement of April 27 that Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement on reconciliation took many people by surprise, including many Palestinians. Israel and the United States, who have factored the rift between Fatah and Hamas as a central element in their policies, were likewise surprised. Against this background, several major questions about the reconciliation agreement emerge. What moved the parties to change their positions and reach an accord? Have they really succeeded in bridging the main gaps in their positions,...
Decision making in the UN General Assembly is on the basis of one vote for each member state. This may reflect the principle of sovereign equality of states, but clearly a situation where Micronesia and China have equal weight does not reflect political reality. The drafters of the UN Charter were therefore careful not to grant the General Assembly any executive or legislative power. Except on matters of procedure and budget, all General Assembly resolutions are only recommendations. The other main organ of the UN is the Security...
Dramatic popular uprisings across the Arab world have overshadowed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent weeks. Nevertheless, last week’s exchange of fire across the Gaza-Israel border, including the firing of Grad rockets at Beer Sheva and Israel Air Forces strikes at targets in Gaza, serves as a reminder that the potential for violent confrontation on that front remains. Indeed, because of the historical connection between Egypt and Gaza, there has been speculation that the overthrow of Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, by...
The book includes seventeen analytical essays written by INSS and outside researchers. Focus is on Israel’s potential, at times at variance with US administration efforts, to navigate current and prospective national security challenges. The ongoing challenges represented by the Palestinian issue and Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions are well documented, as are implications of internal Israeli politics, Arabs in Israel, international terrorism, trends in Egypt and Lebanon, and other regional developments.
In order to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian political process in 2009, the Obama administration sought to foster suitable conditions for negotiations. It suggested that Israel commit to a comprehensive freeze on construction in the Jewish settlements, and the moderate Arab states make some gestures towards Israel. The idea was to give Israel a taste of the Arab peace initiative, thereby demonstrating to Israel’s leadership and public what the fruits of peace with the Palestinians could be like. Assuming that for Israel the...
At the end of the period designated by the Annapolis process for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to reach a set of principal understandings, direct talks between the sides were suspended. The break was not absolute: security cooperation continued, and Israel continued to encourage institutionbuilding and economic growth in the West Bank. Still, differences of opinion over preconditions for renewing the talks and disagreement over discussion of the conflict’s core issues prevented renewal of the political process. In an...
Russia has recently taken a renewed interest in the Middle East peace process. Several factors apparently led Russia to conclude that the time is ripe to raise new proposals: Russia is finding itself sidelined in the process; its sense of self-confidence is returning; and it apparently assesses that the international standing of the United States is weakening and the current peace process has reached a dead end.
In her December 10 speech at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton surveyed the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in light of the administration’s failure to renew direct talks between the two parties. This failure has led to severe criticism of the Obama administration.
Is US Middle East policy playing a constructive role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? This question, which ought to have been asked immediately after President Obama’s speech in Cairo in June 2009, is even more poignant following President Obama’s speech at the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2010. The speech included messages that do not seem helpful to reaching a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Even before the first round of direct peace talks began in the renewed diplomatic process, a serious dispute emerged regarding the agenda of the Israeli-Palestinian discussions that threatens the future of this process. While as in the past the Palestinians continued to demand that the division of territory head the list of issues for discussion, Netanyahu has deviated from the outline presented by Israel in previous rounds of negotiations and demanded that the talks start with agreements on security arrangements and a recognition of...
