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- Policy AnalysisSaudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics
The Jeddah Arab League Summit: MBS’s Final Crowning
May 31, 2023Imad K. HarbThe 32nd Arab League Summit was little more than the final crowning of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince as the leader of the current Arab political order.
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyDemocracy and Governance
Turkish Elections in a Post-Truth Political Landscape
May 24, 2023Mustafa GurbuzThe scene was all too familiar in the headquarters of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the day of the recent Turkish election. Giant portraits o…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
Democrats and Republicans’ Positions on Israel Ahead of the 2024 Election
May 24, 2023Gregory AftandilianAlthough relations with Israel are usually foreign policy talking points for American politicians ahead of national elections, it seems that the issue has come…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs
The Nakba’s Coming Stages: Patterns, Process, and Predictability
May 15, 2023Yousef MunayyerThe Nakba, a term that describes events in Palestine surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel from 1947 to 1949, which included the ethnic cleansin…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Young Palestinians’ Aspirations for the Future
May 15, 2023Yara M. AsiOne night in December 2022, 15-year-old Jana Zakarneh was at home with her family in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The night probably began like any ot…
- Policy AnalysisSudanConflicts and Conflict Resolution
The Sudan Crisis: How Regional Actors’ Competing Interests Fuel the Conflict
May 11, 2023Khalil Al-AnaniThe outbreak of military clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds and t…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arab WorldGlobal Health and Health Policy
Challenges Facing the Arab World’s Health Care Professionals
Apr 26, 2023Yara M. AsiIn 2022, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate released a shocking report, finding that over 10,000 Egyptian doctors resigned from positions in government hospitals d…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Israel’s Normalization with Arab States Slows as Repression of Palestinians Rises
Apr 19, 2023Gregory AftandilianIsrael’s extreme right-wing government and its draconian policies toward the Palestinians have slowed down efforts to expand the so-called Abraham Accords, a p…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
What Does Normalization with Assad Mean for Accountability and a Political Resolution?
Apr 18, 2023Patricia KaramAgainst the backdrop of Syria’s impending return to the Arab fold, French judges this month ordered three high-ranking Syrian intelligence officers to stand tr…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelReligion and Politics
On the Struggle Between the Founding Colonialists and the New Colonialists of Israel
Apr 14, 2023Honaida GhanimIsrael today is witnessing an unprecedented internal struggle that has split Israeli society into two contentious groups separated by what is, at least at the …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
The United States’ Weak Response to the Netanyahu Government
Apr 12, 2023Douglas ChristensenIn December of last year, Benjamin Netanyahu once again returned to the position of prime minister in Israel, leading a new far-right governing coalition that …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israel’s Policy of Fragmentation Harms Palestinian Hopes for a Sovereign State
Apr 6, 2023Jonathan KuttabRecent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, and others have labeled Israel an apartheid state. Thi…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Discrimination Fuels Intra-Palestinian Violence and Crime in Israel
Mar 30, 2023Yara M. AsiIn recent weeks, it has been impossible to miss the protests taking place in Israel against proposed judicial reforms laid out by the country’s new extreme rig…
- Policy AnalysisIranSecurity and Defense
Iran’s Nuclear Program Poses Challenges for China and the United States
Mar 29, 2023Daniel BrumbergNow that China has brokered a renewal of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, it must translate that achievement into real tangible benefits. After all, fo…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Arab States Are Normalizing with Syria’s Assad Regime
Mar 28, 2023Gregory AftandilianTaking advantage of the devastating earthquake that ravaged parts of northwestern Syria in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tried to use the trag…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy
US Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action
Mar 22, 2023Charles W. DunneAll US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Lebanon and Syria and the Saudi-Iran Detente
Mar 21, 2023Imad K. HarbThe recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to have a de-escalating effect on many issues in the Midd…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs
Politics, Displacement, and the Human Toll of the Recent Earthquake in Syria
Mar 15, 2023Heba GowayedOn February 6, 2023, the earth shifted at the fault line that runs along the Turkey-Syria border, resulting in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which was followed j…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonDemocracy and Governance
A New Model for Presidential Elections in Lebanon
Mar 9, 2023Patricia KaramIt has been four months since former Lebanese President Michel Aoun left office in October 2022, after a presidential term marred by a series of catastrophic e…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelViolent Extremism
The Rapid and Predictable Rise of Israeli Settler Violence Against Palestinians
Mar 8, 2023Yara M. AsiHuwwara is a small town outside of Nablus that, largely due to its location on a prominent route in the occupied West Bank, has been subject to a significant I…
- Policy AnalysisOmanRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Walking a Tightrope: Oman and Normalization with Israel
Mar 7, 2023Imad K. HarbAs the mechanisms of normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan continue to take shape, other Arab states are ponde…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
The Aqaba Joint Communique Dies in Huwwara
Feb 28, 2023Khalil E. JahshanOn Sunday, February 26, 2023, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan hosted Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and US officials in Aqaba, Jordan to try to stem the worri…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaSecurity and Defense
Syrian Kurds Are Hoping for, but Not Banking On, Continued US Partnership
Feb 24, 2023Gregory AftandilianThe massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria has given the Syrian Kurds a reprieve from a possible Turkish military invasion of ar…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance
The Settler Colonial Origins of Israel’s Constitutional Crisis
Feb 22, 2023Yousef MunayyerTens of thousands of Israelis have filled the streets of major cities in recent weeks to protest significant judicial reforms that the new far-right Israeli go…
- Policy AnalysisLevantDemocracy and Governance
Turkey’s Presidential Election in the Shadow of Devastating Earthquakes
Feb 22, 2023Mustafa GurbuzThe devastating February 6 earthquakes in Turkey, which caused nearly 45,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria and rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless, …
- Policy AnalysisLebanonDemocracy and Governance
Lebanon’s New Opposition MPs Must Work Together for Political Change
Feb 14, 2023Patricia KaramAlthough the October 2019 protests in Lebanon rallied every sector, class, and gender in a moment of enthusiasm with the expectation of revolutionary change, t…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonIdentity Politics and Sectarianization
Beirut Port Explosion: A “Judicial Coup” to Bury the Investigation?
Feb 9, 2023Halim ShebayaThere is broad consensus in Lebanon regarding the need to reform the country’s judiciary and to work toward enhancing its independence, as stipulated by both t…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
Annual Palestine Forum: Opening Keynote by Azmi Bishara
Feb 7, 2023Azmi BisharaThe Annual Palestine Forum: Considerations and PurposesThis forum, the need for which was given considerable thought, embodies three main considerations.The fi…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israel Sees Palestinian Family Reunification as a Demographic “Threat”
Feb 2, 2023Yara M. AsiIn 2015, the Hebrew-language novel Gader Haya (published in English as Borderlife) was banned in Israeli high schools by the Ministry of Education. The book, a…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs
Erdoğan’s Rapprochement with Assad Spells Trouble for Syrian Refugees
Feb 1, 2023Nabeel A. KhouryTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s interest in a rapprochement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the latest chapter in his delicate domestic and r…
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Turkey Faces a Dilemma in its Foreign Policy Toward Libya
Jan 24, 2023Mustafa GurbuzOn January 9, 2023, a Libyan court suspended an energy exploration deal between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) that was or…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arab WorldThe War in Ukraine
Arab and Israeli Positions on Ukraine War Continue to Frustrate the US
Jan 18, 2023Charles W. DunneThe positions taken by many governments in the Middle East have proven a notable exception to the global groundswell of support for Kyiv.
- Policy AnalysisLebanonEnergy and Economics
Lebanon’s Politicians Are Incapable of Productive Dialogue
Jan 12, 2023Halim ShebayaLebanon has now entered the fourth year of its devastating economic crisis and collapse, with no end in sight and no hint regarding the possible launch of a re…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy
The Biden Administration and the Middle East in 2023
Jan 4, 2023Khalil Al-Anani Yara M. Asi Amal Ghazal Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Kristian Coates UlrichsenThe first two years of the Biden administration, although short, have offered insight into the ways in which the reality of governing can clash with declared h…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israel’s New Government and the Rapid Acceleration of Apartheid
Dec 29, 2022Yousef MunayyerIn 2012, while standing in the Beit El settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “There is no government that s…
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyConflicts and Conflict Resolution
How Realistic Is an Erdoğan-Assad Rapprochement?
Dec 28, 2022Mustafa GurbuzDespite Turkey’s frequent threats that it will soon undertake a new military ground offensive in northern Syria, no such operation has yet materialized. This h…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy
The Gordian Knot: A Bird’s Eye View of US-Israel Relations
Dec 20, 2022Nabeel A. KhouryNabeel Khoury takes a broad view of American-Israeli relations, highlighting the issue of robust US military aid to Israel and intelligence sharing between the…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonDemocracy and Governance
Lebanon Faces a Prolonged Presidential Vacuum
Nov 29, 2022Imad K. HarbLebanon has experienced a long presidential vacuum three times in its history: from September 1988 to November 1989, from November 2007 to May 2008, and from M…
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyThe War in Ukraine
Turkey-Brokered Grain Deal Bolsters Erdoğan-Putin Partnership
Nov 22, 2022Mustafa GurbuzTurkey’s role in negotiations around Russia’s war in Ukraine has provided Ankara with extraordinary visibility on the global stage. Turkish President Recep Tay…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution
From Hornet’s Nest to Lion’s Den: Shaking Palestinian Politics from the Ground Up
Nov 14, 2022Yousef MunayyerTwo decades ago, in 2002, the Israeli military was in the midst of violently repressing a Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada, in a campaign that took pl…
- ViewpointPalestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance
A Scandal-Plagued Netanyahu Returns for His Fifth Term as Israeli Prime Minister
Nov 4, 2022Khalil E. JahshanWith final election results having been announced by Israel’s Central Elections Committee, Haaretz declared that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Lik…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonEnergy and Economics
Lebanon Will Not Benefit from Its Maritime Agreement with Israel
Oct 31, 2022Imad K. HarbAfter ten years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Lebanon and Israel have finally reached what leaders in both countries consider an acceptable deal to dema…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
The Violent Nature of Israeli Occupation
Oct 21, 2022Khalil E. JahshanForeign military occupation is, by definition, a form of international armed conflict resulting from the belligerent acquisition of territory outside of the re…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israel’s Administrative Detention Serves Its Practice of Apartheid
Oct 21, 2022Ben WhiteIsrael’s policy of administrative detention, which is to say of military detention without charge or trial, rarely attracts mainstream media coverage in the We…
- Policy AnalysisEgyptRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Egypt-Turkey Relations: Challenges and Future Prospects
Oct 18, 2022Khalil Al-AnaniOver the past two years, several positive signs have emerged in the Egyptian-Turkish relationship that might result in the normalization of diplomatic relation…
- Policy AnalysisIranSecurity and Defense
Iran-Israel Drone Competition and the Changing Nature of Warfare in the Middle East
Oct 13, 2022Bishara A. BahbahUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have been widely used in recent armed conflicts, particularly in the Middle East. Their low cost and…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelDemocracy and Governance
Israeli Elections: A Fifth Attempt at Forming a Stable Government
Oct 6, 2022Yousef MunayyerOnce again, and for the fifth time in four years, Israel is on the brink of an election, and is facing the all-too-familiar prospect of political deadlock—even…
- Policy AnalysisTurkeySecurity and Defense
Turkey’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Iraq
Sep 28, 2022Mustafa GurbuzHead of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan’s recent visit to Baghdad was an attempt to heal wounds that were opened during a diplomatic ro…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaGlobal Health and Health Policy
The Captagon Problem in Saudi Arabia and Other Gulf States
Sep 22, 2022Gregory AftandilianOver the past decade, the amphetamine fenethylline, widely known by the brand name Captagon, has increasingly become the drug of choice among the youth in Gulf…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
The Biden Administration Must Press for Accountability and Justice for Shireen Abu Akleh
Sep 22, 2022Jonathan KuttabOn September 5, the Israeli Army released the long-awaited results of its investigation into the murder of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaUS Foreign Policy
Biden’s Syria Policy: Steady Non-commitment and Persistent Failure
Sep 20, 2022Nabeel A. KhouryThe Biden administration’s Syria policy, as well as its policy for the Middle East in general, stems from priorities and practices set in place during the eigh…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
US Silence Enables Israel’s Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations
Sep 16, 2022Yousef MunayyerNearly one month after the Israeli military raided the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations—its latest step in an escalating campaign of re…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
New Israeli Regulations Pave the Way for the Ethnic Cleansing of Area C of the West Bank
Sep 13, 2022Jonathan KuttabThe current situation in the occupied West Bank reflects an ever-growing Israeli effort to take over large parts of Area C and to remove as much of its Palesti…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonEnergy and Economics
Lebanon Struggles to Pick up the Pieces After the Beirut Port Explosion
Sep 9, 2022Yara M. AsiLebanon’s independence in 1943 formally ended a 23-year French mandate backed by the League of Nations, a period that saw the consolidation of the country’s cu…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonEnergy and Economics
An Update on the Lebanon-Israel Border Dispute
Sep 7, 2022Imad K. HarbAs the summer comes to a close, indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel continue apace. Although US mediator Amos Hoc…
- Policy AnalysisThe Arabian Peninsula and The GulfUS Foreign Policy
Gauging Gulf Responses to President Biden’s Middle East Diplomacy
Aug 31, 2022Jon HoffmanWhen examining how the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) perceived and reacted to US President Joe Biden’s July visit to the Middle East, the Gulf …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelGlobal Health and Health Policy
First, Do No Harm? The World Health Organization in the MENA Region
Aug 26, 2022Yara M. AsiIn June 2022, Richard Horton, the editor in chief of The Lancet, one of the world’s most well-regarded health and medical journals, published a short piece cal…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelReligion and Politics
American Evangelicals, the Gulf States, and Israel: A Cynical Covenant
Aug 24, 2022Mimi KirkEach July, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States, holds a multi-day conference that culminates in a day…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Comparing the Palestinian and Irish-Catholic Struggles
Aug 18, 2022Daoud KuttabDaoud Kuttab compares Irish and Palestinian experiences with occupation and settlement, building on a remark made by President Biden during his July 2022 trip …
- Policy AnalysisTurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics
Erdoğan Bets on “Turkish Exceptionalism”
Aug 17, 2022Mustafa GurbuzMustafa Gurbuz analyzes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s calculations as he increases his cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Tu…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank
Aug 12, 2022Ben WhiteBen White discusses how Israel’s practice of denying building permits, demolishing homes, and attacking civil society organizations in Area C of the occupied W…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelEducation and Development
International Aid to the Palestinians: Between Politicization and Development
Aug 4, 2022Omar ShabanFollowing the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, an international conference was held in Washington …
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelSecurity and Defense
A Developing Authoritarian-Israeli Nexus in the Middle East
Aug 3, 2022Imad K. HarbAuthoritarianism in the Arab world has assumed many shapes and shades in the decades since the end of formal European colonialism in the mid-twentieth century.…
- Policy AnalysisPalestine/IsraelJustice, Equality, and Human Rights
An Update on Israel’s Terrorist Designation for Palestinian Civil Society Organizations
Aug 3, 2022Jonathan KuttabIn October 2021, Israel’s Defense Ministry issued an order designating six prominent Palestinian civil society groups and NGOs as terrorist organizations. This…
- Policy AnalysisIranUS Foreign Policy
US Diplomacy with Iran Is Needed to Achieve Security in the Middle East
Jul 28, 2022Daniel BrumbergNow that President Joe Biden has completed his trip to the Middle East, his administration will likely make one last bid to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, …
- Policy AnalysisThe Arabian Peninsula and The GulfUS Foreign Policy
Biden’s Trip to the Middle East Failed to Serve US Interests
Jul 22, 2022Jon HoffmanWith President Joe Biden concluding his Middle East visit, many in the United States are left wondering what tangible benefits the American people gained as a …
- Policy AnalysisThe Arabian Peninsula and The GulfUS Foreign Policy
Reflections on President Biden’s Predictably Disappointing Middle East Trip
US President Joe Biden visited Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia from July 13 to 16 to meet with various regional leaders. This was Biden’s first visit as pr…
- Policy AnalysisLebanonDemocracy and Governance
Lebanon’s Upcoming Presidential Race Is Riddled with Uncertainty
Jul 21, 2022Nabeel A. KhouryAmid political chaos, economic collapse, a dearth of public services, and shortages of basic foods and medications, Lebanon is nonetheless slated to hold anoth…