Policy Analysis

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  • Policy Analysis
    US Foreign Policy

    The Middle East’s Well-Documented Human Rights Abuses Have Little Impact on US Policy

    Jun 7, 2022Charles W. Dunne

    On April 12, the US Department of State released its annual country reports on human rights. The reports are a key resource for human rights scholars and gover…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Middle East Leaders Contend with Strains in an Evolving Regional Entente

    May 13, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    In its unfolding bid to expand ties with Middle East governments, Israel must grapple with a basic challenge: how to ensure that events in the Palestinian-Isra…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    Israel and the US Visa Waiver Program: Not a Done Deal

    May 12, 2022Yousef Munayyer

    Israel has long sought entry into the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP) with limited success, despite years of efforts and the close strategic and bilate…

  • Policy Analysis
    The War in Ukraine

    The Water’s Edge: Ukraine, the United States, and the Middle East

    Mar 30, 2022Charles W. Dunne

    “Politics must stop at the water’s edge,” Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg famously asserted in1947, as he helped Democratic President Harry S. Truman lay …

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    Yemen: The Failure of International Diplomacy

    Mar 3, 2022Nabeel A. Khoury

    The latest escalation in Yemen, particularly the cross-border rocket fire by the Ansar Allah militia (the Houthis) and the retaliatory aerial bombardment by th…

  • Policy Analysis
    QatarUS Foreign Policy

    Qatar’s New Designation as US Non-NATO Ally Serves Multiple Purposes

    Feb 4, 2022Imad K. Harb

    Less than five years after the eruption of the Gulf crisis of June 2017 that seriously threatened Qatar’s security, President Joe Biden designated the Gulf Ara…

  • Policy Analysis
    US Foreign Policy

    Biden’s Non-Doctrine in the Middle East: One Year On

    Jan 27, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    To understand the actual forces shaping US foreign policy, it is imperative to put aside the alluring but misleading notion that a “doctrine” provides a useful…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Abbas-Gantz Encounter: Much Ado about Nothing in the Middle East

    Jan 18, 2022Khalil E. Jahshan

    On December 28, 2021, a surprising development took place in the Middle East: Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas held a rare meeting in Israel,…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Ukraine’s Geostrategic Tremors Reach into the Middle East

    Jan 13, 2022Daniel Brumberg

    Daniel Brumberg disentangles the complications arising from the current tensions between Ukraine and Russia and their impact on US-Russian relations as well as…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    Biden and the Israeli Settlement Elephant in the Room

    Jan 5, 2022Yousef Munayyer

    One of Barack Obama’s first acts as president was to create the position of envoy for “Middle East peace.” George Mitchell, whom the president named for this p…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    US-Palestinian Economic Talks Serve Israeli Interests

    Dec 29, 2021Jonathan Kuttab

    The recent resumption of discussions about economic ties between the US government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) after a five-year hiatus must be understo…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    Houthi Intransigence Is Changing the US View of the Conflict in Yemen

    Dec 21, 2021Gregory Aftandilian

    A combination of offensive military actions by the Houthi rebels and stalled peace talks to try to end the civil war in Yemen have changed the way the United S…