Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Israel and the Palestinian Authority

What is 'Israel-Palestine'?

Joshua Gleis — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:30:30 -0500

"It’s common to hear the term 'Israel-Palestine' when referring to either Israel or the Palestinian Territories, particularly in academic circles. Students and professors in any American college — from your local college to an Ivy League university — are likely to refer to 'Israel-Palestine' (also written as 'Israel/Palestine') as if that was the name of a country. In this age of extreme political correctness, apparently many are willing to overlook the little fact that there is no such country of 'Israel-Palestine'...."

Indo-Israeli Relations: Key Security Implications

Ronak D. Desai and Xenia Dormandy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:33 -0500

Following more than forty years of diplomatic estrangement, the last decade has witnessed India and Israel embark on a new multidimensional "strategic partnership." What are the implications of growing ties between these two countries for India and the United States?

Peace with Syria?

Chuck Freilich — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:02:57 -0500

"...While it is clear that withdrawal is the price of peace, disagreement over the Golan's precise delineation is what led to the talks' failure in the past. Syria demands a return to the 1967 lines, Israel to the 1923 mandatory border.

Under the 1923 demarcation, the recognized basis for all Mideast negotiations, the Golan ends just meters east of the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee. Between 1948 and 1967, however, Syria encroached upon Israeli territory, with two enclaves along the Jordan and a strip on the lake’s northeastern shore. The 1967 lines would thus give Syria more than 100% of the internationally recognized Golan, a claim to the lake's water and end full Israeli access around it...."

A Disastrous Attack on Iran?

Chuck Freilich — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:14:58 -0500

"...Only if the US proves to both domestic and world opinion that it has exhausted all diplomatic possibilities, will it gain support for major economic sanctions, let alone future military action. Iran will probably reject the offer, as it has all others, but we will only know if the option is pursued and it is a vital way station on the road to stronger measures. Talking to Iran does not imply acquiescence, or appeasement."

Separatism's Final Country

Richard N. Rosecrance and Arthur A. Stein — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:54:01 -0500

"Muller argues that ethnonationalism is the wave of the future and will result in more and more independent states, but this is not likely. One of the most destabilizing ideas throughout human history has been that every separately defined cultural unit should have its own state. Endless disruption and political introversion would follow an attempt to realize such a goal. Woodrow Wilson gave an impetus to further state creation when he argued for "national self-determination" as a means of preventing more nationalist conflict, which he believed was a cause of World War I...."

Israel's Friends and the Path to Peace

John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:39:33 -0500

This letter was written in response to Jeffrey Goldberg's op-ed, "Israel's 'American Problem' " which was published on May 18, 2008.

On a River Heading Home

Rami Khouri — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:08:00 -0500

May 14, 2008

This week marks the beginning of the fourth generation of Palestinians who insist on living as free, dignified citizens in their own sovereign state, on their own ancestral land.

International Security Program "Paths to Violence" Research Workshop

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:58:43 -0500

The International Security Program (ISP) at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs hosted a research workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 25, 2008. Workshop organizers Erica Chenoweth (ISP) and Adria Lawrence (ISP/Intrastate Conflict Program) brought together leading scholars to explore the conditions under which non-state actors resort to violence and the various strategies state actors use to address aggrieved populations. Workshop participants addressed issues such as why the use of violence varies among non-state actors, how the decision to use violence affects strategic outcomes of internal and international conflicts, and how states arrive at decisions to accommodate, assimilate, or ethnically cleanse minority groups. Participants received feedback on original research papers prepared in advance of the workshop. The final drafts of the papers will be compiled into an edited volume, which will be submitted for review in fall 2008.

Expanding Settlements and 'Right' Directions

Rami Khouri — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:50:05 -0500

April 2, 2008

It is difficult to understand why an otherwise apparently sensible and learned American secretary of state can live in a fantasy world when it comes to understanding the real significance of Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land. Soft rhetorical criticism of the settlements simply does no good to anyone -- Americans, Israelis, Palestinians or those aliens in unidentified flying objects who also look down and see things "moving in the right direction."

Hamas Grows Stronger

Rami Khouri — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:09:06 -0500

March 18, 2008

If a cease-fire takes hold soon in Gaza, Hamas' popularity will rise even further, and will give it a stronger hand in any renewed Palestinian national unity government. This will create conditions that will seriously challenge the prevailing policy in Israel, Europe, and the United States of boycotting Hamas and trying to bring it down by supporting rival Fateh. The exact opposite appears to be happening: As Fateh loses credibility, support among Palestinians for Hamas grows.

Six Ways Not to Deal with Hamas

Chuck Freilich — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:07:28 -0500

How do you stop a foe whose tolerance for pain exceeds your willingness to inflict it?

Senior Fellow Chuck Freilich examines each of the alternatives.

Hezbollah is Angry: A Time for Vigilance

Joshua Gleis — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:18:14 -0500

"There is no doubt that a heightened level of awareness is necessary today. Hezbollah pioneered the use of suicide bombings. It has an advanced global network, sophisticated operatives, and financial and military backing from Iran and Syria. The knowledge, experience and means to operate in multiple countries around the world exist, proven by actions they have taken in the past from Germany to Argentina to Israel. While Imad Mughniyeh is gone, the threat remains. And thus our vigilance must persevere as well."

Fighting for a Cease-Fire

Rami Khouri — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:25:26 -0500

March 10, 2008

Both Israelis and Palestinians feel that the armed struggle gives meaning to their lives, because in fighting they define their will to live in dignity and ability to survive as free people. The only way to stop the violence is to recognize this -- and forge a truce.

Abbas, Olmert and Rice Make Us Losers, One and All

Rami Khouri — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:54:27 -0600

March 5, 2008

The tragedy of the Palestinian people is not only that over and over again they get slaughtered by Israeli gunfire, dozens at a time -- militants and civilians alike -- while their land is encircled, choked and colonized. It is also that they must suffer the added ignominy of an increasingly bizarre American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who seems to live in another world where she believes her pleas can restart peace talks; and of a Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has transcended the political dysfunctional to historical levels of the pathetic and tragic.

Targeting Civilians in War

Alexander B. Downes — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:32:36 -0600

Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice?

La République de Dieu

Charles G. Cogan — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:08:39 -0600

La République de Dieu is a collection of essays on the idea of God; on evangelism ("La République de Dieu"); on Islamic fundamentalism ("L'Islam médiéval"); and followed by empirical chapters analyzing a number of conflicts between the Muslim and non-Muslim world: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Arab/Israeli.

Disavowing the Iran NIE: Smoke Screens or Smoking Guns?

Chuck Freilich — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:55:49 -0600

"US policymakers, too, will have to give increasing thought to the options for living with a nuclear Iran, as well as to Israel's considerations. How the US engages with Israel and others regarding the NIE, will have a major effect on crucial decisions they will have to make in the coming months, as well as the long term prospects for containing Iran's nukes."

A Post-Annapolis Breakthrough Proposal

Chuck Freilich — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:34:09 -0600

"TO OVERCOME Palestinian skepticism, Israel would commit to a timetable for resettlement and a true settlement freeze in those areas to be resettled, contingent on Palestinian security measures. If packaged as Israeli concessions to Abu Mazen, this proposal would constitute an historic step that even Hamas would have trouble denying and, unlike the ill-fated measures now under discussion, would dramatically demonstrate the efficacy of the negotiated path Abbas represents."

Dissolve the Palestinian Authority

Rami Khouri — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:41:43 -0600

February 13, 2008

Israel's occupation and aggression in Palestine are not being stopped by the body that is globally mandated to restore security -- the United Nations Security Council. Abu Odeh says the UN has become only one -- and the weakest -- of the four members of the Quartet (along with the United States, the European Union, and Russia) that is supposed to shepherd Arab-Israeli peace-making. Two other potential external sources of pressure on Israel to relinquish the occupied lands and agree on a negotiated peace have also failed to materialize, he says: The United States has become more of a structural ally to Israel and less a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, while the Arab governments have effectively stopped thinking about it and apply no pressure whatsoever.

Power and Authority Reconfigured

Rami Khouri — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:01:55 -0600

February 6, 2008

The reconfiguration of power and authority is the big, new, historic and pervasive macro-development now taking place in Arab society, as the prevailing power structure of the past 75 years reaches the limits of its abilities. Not surprisingly, concerned citizens, agile gangs and efficient businessmen alike are moving in to grab their share of power in those spaces where the state is retreating, or franchising its own legitimacy and authority. Handled wisely, this could be a heartening and positive development that allows Arab society to define itself according to the consensus views of its pluralistic citizens -- unless American, British, Israeli or other Western armies invade again and try to re-configure us to their liking, rather than to our rights and wishes.

Walk With Your People

Rami Khouri — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:03:57 -0600

February 4, 2008

"Abbas should take advantage of the one Palestinian border point that is not controlled by Israel, and join the flow of other ordinary Palestinians returning to Gaza from Egypt -- preferably on foot, but if he wishes by car, or even on one of those nifty donkey- or horse-drawn carts. He should walk to Gaza to share the pain of living in the harsh conditions that Israel is imposing on the region, in order to send a powerful message to four distinct audiences."

The Tragic Political Geography of Fleeing

Rami Khouri — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:28:26 -0600

Israel and the United States refuse to do the hard work of making reasonable compromises that all the Arabs, including Hamas, have already suggested: to engage with all the Palestinians and negotiate, first, a long-term truce and, consequently, a permanent peace that is fair to all, that gives Israelis and Palestinians alike a chance to live in peace and dignity.

Correspondence: Time and the Intractability of Territorial Disputes

Stacie Goddard, Jeremy Pressman and Ron E. Hassner — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:41:04 -0600

Stacie Goddard and Jeremy Pressman respond to Ron Hassner's Winter 2006/07 International Security article, "The Path to Intractability: Time and the Entrenchment of Territorial Disputes."

Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present

Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:57:18 -0600

An anthology of the most important documents on the domestic and foreign policy of the modern state of Israel, in relation to the rest of the Middle East.

A Jewish Israel Needs a Wholesome, Healed Palestine

Rami Khouri — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600

December 5, 2007

In this case, Israeli and Palestinian national narratives must make room for the other, if either wishes to be acknowledged and legitimized. Mutual denial will only get us to where we are today -- perpetual warfare, and chronic mutual national rejection.

Speaking about the Unspeakable: U.S.-Israeli Dialogue on Iran's Nuclear Program

Chuck Freilich — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Despite the longstanding and ever-evolving "special relationship" between the United States and Israel, the two allies do not appear to have engaged in substantive discussions on key facets of their most pressing mutual concern, the Iranian nuclear threat. Specifically, there has been little if any dialogue on the possibility of military action if the diplomatic route comes to a dead end, nor on the possible means of living with a nuclear Iran should both countries decide to refrain from military action.

Offshore Balancing or International Institutions? The Way Forward for U.S. Foreign Policy

G. John Ikenberry and Stephen M. Walt — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0600

G. John Ikenberry, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, and Stephen Walt, professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, participated in a debate at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University on May 8, 2007. Christopher Lydon hosted the debate.

Peace Process

Boaz Atzili — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:12:32 -0500

"A peace process is a series of persistent diplomatic and political initiatives to negotiate a resolution to a protracted conflict between political entities. The term was first used consistently during the 1970s to describe the efforts to negotiate peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Its use has spread since, both geographically and across social categories...."

Critical Clarity for Humanitarians

Rami Khouri — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500

October 24, 2007

It is very refreshing when law, international responsibility, and human courage converge in the remarks or actions of a single person. This occurred earlier this month in New Zealand, in a talk by Karen Abuzayd, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides humanitarian aid and basic social services to Palestinian refugees.

Arabs Won't Be Rice's Rabbit-in-the-Hat

Rami Khouri — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Despite Condoleezza Rice's sudden earnestness, the Arabs will not come to Annapolis to resolve magically all the disastrous policies and actions perpetrated on the Middle East by the United States and Israel during the Bush years.