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The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfClimate and EnvironmentBracing for the Sandstorm: The Gulf Energy Transition Imperative
Jun 6, 2024Karim ElgendyBefore the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)…
- Policy Analysis
Palestine/IsraelMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsIsolating Gaza from the World: Humanitarian Implications of Israel’s Seizure of Rafah
Jun 6, 2024Yara M. AsiPrior to the fall of 2023, Rafah was a relatively unknown city in the already poorly understood Gaza Strip, especially to much of the world outside of the Midd…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonWomen & Gender Issues
Violence Against Women in Lebanon: The Challenge of Legislative Action
Jun 6, 2024Rola El-HusseiniIn March 2024, Lebanon’s “reform MPs,” a group of legislators who were elected in 2022 from outside the country’s traditional sectarian system, proposed a new …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Biden’s Warmed-over Ceasefire Proposal
Jun 6, 2024Khalil E. JahshanIn the midst of what the White House touted to supporters as a significant update of his administration’s diplomatic efforts regarding the eight-month-old unab…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Biden’s Gaza Announcement: What to Make of the Bizarre Spectacle
Jun 4, 2024Yousef MunayyerOn May 31, President Joe Biden announced what he described as a “comprehensive new proposal” offered by Israel for ending the war in Gaza that would be “a road…
- Policy AnalysisKuwaitDemocracy and Governance
The Supremacy of Executive Power in Kuwait
Jun 4, 2024Kristian Coates UlrichsenTwo decades of political turbulence in Kuwait came to a head on the evening of May 10 when Emir Mishal al-Ahmad Al-Sabah announced he was suspending the Nation…
- Policy AnalysisIranDemocracy and Governance
Will Ebrahim Raisi’s Death Help Ultra-Hardliners ‘Make Iran Great Again’?
May 31, 2024Daniel BrumbergThe May 19 deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a fiery helicopter crash has created a challenge that Iran’s lead…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelInternational Law
ICC Cases Against Israel and Hamas: A Preliminary Assessment
May 24, 2024Susan Akram John QuigleyThe Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim A.A. Khan, announced on May 20 that his office had applied for arrest warrants against both Isr…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelInternational Law
The ICJ Moves to Protect International Law from Israeli Transgressions
May 24, 2024Khalil E. JahshanThe International Court of Justice (ICJ) today issued its long-awaited decision regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip and the case advanced by South Africa…
- Policy AnalysisUAERegional Relations and Geopolitics
UAE Restricts US Military Strikes from Its Territory
May 22, 2024Gregory AftandilianFearing an attack by Iran or its allied militias in the region, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has restricted US military aircraft from targeting these proxy g…
- From our AffiliatesSaudi ArabiaConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Determinants of Saudi Arabia’s Response to the Gaza War
May 22, 2024Arab Center for Research and Policy StudiesFollowing Hamas’s “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7, Saudi Arabia publicly criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and blamed it for escalating tensions, desp…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Whitewashing Biden’s Policy on Gaza
May 21, 2024Khalil E. JahshanOn May 13, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan addressed the media in the White House press room on current developments in the Middle East, focusing on th…
- ViewpointIranDemocracy and Governance
Raisi Departs, But Iran Remains Khamenei’s Realm
May 20, 2024Imad K. HarbIranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s death comes at a particularly precarious time for the Islamic Republic. While important, considering the monumental news, Sup…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Seven Months of War on Gaza, Israel Is in International Distress
May 17, 2024Mtanes ShihadehThe Israeli government has described the war on Gaza since last October as an “existential war and a second war of independence.” Israel’s official and public …
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelUS Domestic Politics and Elections
Congress’s Crackdown on Campus Protests and the Threat to Civil Liberties
May 15, 2024Ethan Mayer-RichIt has been a month since student protests started at Columbia University with the establishment of a protest encampment on April 17. In response, students aro…
- Policy AnalysisSaudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy
The Gaza Crisis Pushes Washington and Riyadh Closer
May 15, 2024Daniel BrumbergHamas’s May 6 acceptance of a hostage deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar was surely designed to induce the White House to pressure Israel to produce a counteroff…
- Policy AnalysisYemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Divergent Saudi-Emirati Agendas Cripple Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council
May 15, 2024Afrah NasserTwo years into its existence, Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) still has not effectively addressed critical problems facing the country: a dire ec…
- Policy AnalysisSudanConflicts and Conflict Resolution
One Year On: The Calamities of the Sudan Conflict
May 14, 2024Imad K. HarbThirteen months have passed since the eruption of the military dispute between Sudan’s powerful generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed F…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelProtests and Activism
American Student Protest Movements, Then and Now
May 10, 2024Rami G. KhouriWatching university students protest in the United States over the past three weeks begs the question of whether they will end American support for Israel’s ge…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arabian Peninsula and The GulfUS Foreign Policy
Iraq’s Sudani Runs the Risks of Sustained Relations with the United States
May 7, 2024Rend Al-RahimOn his recent visit to the United States, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia` al-Sudani proposed a bold new relationship with America, basing it on the joint S…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Middle East Trajectories Emanating from the War on Gaza
May 2, 2024Nabeel A. KhouryIsrael’s still unfolding war on Gaza is finishing its seventh month with no let-up in sight. The Palestinian death toll from Israeli operations has surpassed 3…
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyDemocracy and Governance
Local Elections Show Turkey’s Democratic Resilience
May 2, 2024Salim ÇevikImmediately after his re-election to a third term last May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that his Justice and Development Party (AKP) was r…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelProtests and Activism
Although Limited, Arab Public Protests Against the War in Gaza Continue
Apr 30, 2024Dana El KurdSeven months into Israel’s violence in Gaza—which has credibly been identified as an active genocide—the Middle East has teetered on the brink of chaos. Unders…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arabian Peninsula and The GulfConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Gulf Arab States Avoid Iran-Israel Tensions
Apr 25, 2024Kristian Coates UlrichsenYears of shadow conflict between Israel and Iran, which included targeted assassinations as well as cyberattacks, gave way in April to direct confrontation and…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Domestic Politics and Elections
The Gaza War Still Can Decide the American Presidential Election
Apr 24, 2024Gregory AftandilianLatest polls indicate that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the presidential race at this point in the campaign, whi…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelInternational Law
Is International Law Still Relevant after the Carnage in Gaza?
Apr 23, 2024Susan Akram John QuigleyAccording to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the death toll in Gaza by Israel’s onslaught has passed 34,000 Palestinians, …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelMedia and Technology
The Dozen Ds That Drive Israel’s Propaganda
Apr 17, 2024Rami G. KhouriThe past six months of Israeli-Palestinian warfare have witnessed levels of military ferocity, human suffering, societal destruction, and mass political activi…
- ViewpointIranConflicts and Conflict Resolution
A Failed Iranian Performance and Its Repercussions
Apr 15, 2024Imad K. HarbRare are the occasions when a purportedly capable country’s determined military response to attack turns out to be a mere theatrical performance. Such was the …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Iran’s Resistance Strategy After Israel’s Damascus Attack
Apr 12, 2024Daniel BrumbergDaniel Brumberg discusses whether Iran and Israel are on their way to a direct confrontation after the latter’s attack on the Iranian consulate’s annex in Dama…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Hezbollah-Israel War Is Becoming Inevitable, and the United States May Not Prevent It
Apr 10, 2024Patricia KaramPatricia Karam evaluates the possibility of a war between Hezbollah and Israel that would be a major escalation in the Middle East as the United States tries t…
- Policy AnalysisYemenEnergy and Economics
Houthi Red Sea Attacks Have Global Economic Repercussions
Apr 5, 2024Jim KraneThe Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping present a new phenomenon in geo-economic conflict: a non-state actor using asymmetric warfare not just to fight conventi…
- ViewpointJordanProtests and Activism
Path of Least Cost: Assuaging Public Protests in Jordan
Apr 1, 2024Imad K. HarbOnce again, events in Gaza are showing up in the form of indignant protests in Jordan that, if not properly handled, could lead to serious challenges for the J…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
“Heartbreak and Heartlessness” in Gaza: Crisis in International Humanitarian Aid
Mar 28, 2024Yara M. AsiIn March 2024, after months of watching and funding the active destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure and the degradation of its population, the global powers st…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Gaza, Biden, and an American Intifada
Mar 27, 2024Charles W. DunneAs Israel’s devastating Gaza invasion wears on, tensions between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are spiking, endangering the…
- Policy AnalysisLibyaDemocracy and Governance
Libya: Despite Talks on a Unified Government, Impasse Remains
Mar 27, 2024Gregory AftandilianTalks last month in Cairo between representatives of Libya’s two rival governments raised hopes over progress in resolving the country’s 10-year political impa…
- Research PaperPalestine/IsraelMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs
The Gaza War Is a Chapter in the Displacement of the Palestinian People
Mar 26, 2024Mahmoud MuharebIsrael took advantage of October 7, 2023, to launch a war of extermination against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. It announced that its goal in the …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
A Return to First Principles: The ‘Day After’ and Palestinian Self-Determination
Mar 26, 2024Saul TakahashiOn numerous occasions since October 2023, Israel, the United States, and other countries have outlined their visions for how Gaza, and Palestine as a whole, sh…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Whither the Arab World from What is Happening in Gaza?
Mar 20, 2024Imad K. HarbIsrael’s war on Gaza has recently entered its sixth straight month with no respite or apparent possibility of a permanent ceasefire that could spare the lives …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israeli Non-Compliance with ICJ Provisional Orders
Mar 20, 2024Jonathan KuttabOn January 26, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) indicated preliminary measures in the case brought against Israel by South Africa under the Genocide C…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Domestic Politics and Elections
Gaza and the Battle of Negations in the United States (and Beyond)
Mar 14, 2024Daniel BrumbergAt no point in the history of the Middle East has the Palestinian-Israeli conflict collided with US domestic politics in such a visceral way as today. As multi…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelInternational Law
The ICJ Case on Israeli Occupation: A Report
Mar 4, 2024Jonathan KuttabOn February 19, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began public hearings on the issue referred to it by the General Assembly of the United Nations, by vi…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
The Limits of Justice in Lebanon—and What It Means for the Future of the Country
Feb 28, 2024Patricia KaramThree years ago this month, the assassination of Lokman Slim—public intellectual, human rights defender, writer and publisher, and outspoken critic of Hezbolla…
- Policy AnalysisSaudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Saudi Arabia May Be Taking Center Stage in Post-Gaza Peace
Feb 28, 2024Kristian Coates UlrichsenWith Israel’s war on Gaza in its fifth month amid ongoing international pressure for a ceasefire, Saudi Arabia has become the focus of much attention over what…
- Policy AnalysisYemenUS Foreign Policy
Instead of Houthi Designation, the United States Should Embrace a Comprehensive Approach
Feb 28, 2024Afrah NasserOn January 17, the United States designated the Houthis in Yemen, also known as Ansar Allah, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in response to t…
- Policy AnalysisLevantUS Foreign Policy
US Troops to Stay in Syria and Iraq but Perhaps Not for Long
Feb 22, 2024Gregory AftandilianIn recent weeks, there have been meetings in Washington and in Baghdad about the presence in Iraq and Syria of US troops, whose official mandate is to aid loca…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Arab States Have Supported and Shunned Hamas in the Gaza War
Feb 21, 2024Rami G. KhouriFour months of warfare between Israel and Hamas have generated regional and global dynamics that will shape the Middle East for decades. But the war in Gaza ha…
- ViewpointSomaliaRegional Relations and Geopolitics
The Dangerous Chipping Away of Somalia’s Sovereignty
Feb 16, 2024Imad K. HarbOn New Year’s Day, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the president of Somalia’s breakaway federated state of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi signed a Memorand…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Congress Works to Give More Aid to Israel, None for UNRWA
Feb 16, 2024Ethan Mayer-RichOn February 13, the Senate voted 70-29 to pass a $95.3 billion national security supplemental package (H.R.815) to provide additional security assistance to Uk…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
The Biden Administration’s Confused Response to Israel’s Rafah Operation
Feb 15, 2024Hanna AlshaikhAt the center of US coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza in recent days is the rift between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding …
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Turkish-Gulf Relations in the Context of Regional Reconciliation
Feb 14, 2024Salim ÇevikSince 2021, Turkey has been resetting its policies in the Middle East and has started to reconcile with its rivals in the previous decade—Egypt, Israel, Saudi …
- Policy AnalysisJordanRegional Relations and Geopolitics
From Gaza to the Syrian Border, Jordan Is Increasingly in the Line of Fire
Feb 9, 2024Curtis RyanSince Israel launched its current war on Gaza last October, Jordanians have been closely watching the enclave, and the rising tensions in the region, with deep…
- Policy AnalysisEgyptConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Egypt, the Gaza War, and Fears of Another Nakba
Feb 7, 2024Charles W. DunneLike most Arab countries, Egypt was stunned by the conflagration ignited by last October’s Hamas attack inside southern Israel and subsequent Israeli onslaught…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
How the Gaza War Is Upending US Middle East Policy
Feb 2, 2024Patricia KaramAs the Israel-Hamas war threatens to pull the United States into a broader conflict that would potentially upend US standing and policy, peace and stability in…
- Policy AnalysisYemenUS Foreign Policy
From Gaza to Yemen and Back: The Biden Administration’s Confused Strategy
Feb 1, 2024Nabeel A. KhouryOn January 17, the Biden administration announced it was adding Yemen’s Houthis (also called Ansar Allah) to the US terrorist list. The move returned the rebel…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelMedia and Technology
Gaza as Ground Zero for Israel’s Border Technology
Feb 1, 2024Heba GowayedMore than a node in a global system of border apartheid, Gaza has become ground zero for Israel’s carceral and military technology that is marketed to other st…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
The Occupied West Bank Since October 7: Movement Restrictions and Collective Punishment
Jan 26, 2024Yara M. AsiIn August 2023, Itamar Ben-Gvir—not just any government minister, but Israel’s Minister of National Security—told an interviewer that “my right, the right of m…
- ViewpointLebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Continuing Skirmishes but No Hezbollah-Israel War
Jan 25, 2024Imad K. HarbDaily and intense skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah and its allies across the Blue Line—in reference to the border drawn by the United Nations fo…
- Policy AnalysisIranConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Iran Between Managing Allies and Modulating Its Deterrence
Jan 25, 2024Daniel BrumbergThis is a bad time for Iran to become embroiled in an expanding regional war that pits the Islamic Republic and its allies in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen against …
- Policy AnalysisYemenUS Foreign Policy
The Biden Administration Is Strong in the Red Sea but Weak in Gaza
Jan 24, 2024Gregory AftandilianAfter enduring weeks of regional tension, including Houthi rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and on American commercial vessels, the Biden administratio…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Deciphering Blinken’s Unguarded Optimism
Jan 18, 2024Khalil E. JahshanThe Biden administration announced its first Middle East initiative of the new year on January 4, 2024, by dispatching Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the…
- Policy AnalysisRegional Implications and Geopolitics
Turkey’s “Guarantor System” for Ending the Gaza War Has Limitations
Jan 17, 2024Ali BakirIn mid-October, following the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a Russian resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, Turkey proposed a…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Normalization Survives Despite the Gaza War
Jan 11, 2024Imad K. HarbThe current Israeli war on Gaza, now well into its fourth deadly month, has cast a calamitous shadow over the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, as well as ov…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arab WorldRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Important Considerations for the Middle East in 2024
Jan 10, 2024Yara M. Asi Daniel Brumberg Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Laurie King Dana El Kurd Yousef MunayyerThe October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip will play a major role in shaping what unfolds in the Middle East in 20…
- Policy AnalysisRegional Relations and Geopolitics
The Far East Pivots to the Middle East
Jan 3, 2024Nabeel A. KhouryThe phrase “Pivot to the East,” popularized during the Obama administration, signified a realization of the rising importance of China and of growing US intere…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Arouri’s Assassination Will Achieve Nothing
Jan 3, 2024Imad K. HarbIn its pursuit of Hamas leaders, an Israeli drone has assassinated Saleh al-Arouri, the Deputy Chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau, a senior official in the o…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Russia and China on Gaza: Sidelined, Lurking—or Winning?
Dec 22, 2023Charles W. DunneIt wasn’t that long ago that Russia and China seemed to dominate the Middle East, and the United States was on the brink of relegation to the sidelines.Russia …
