• Washington Policy Weekly
    LevantProtests and Activism

    Congressional Update – Combatting BDS Act of 2016

    Jun 6, 2016

    On Monday, June 6 the Senate began consideration of the FY 2017 Defense Authorization bill, S2943. Senators are expected to consider nearly 100 amendments to t…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranReligion and Politics

    Battle over Fallujah Tests US-Iran Tacit Deal against ISIL

    Jun 3, 2016Joe Macaron

     As Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force, was reportedly spotted in the northern outskirts of the besieged city of Fallujah, …

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantUS Domestic Politics and Elections

    Why the World Shouldn’t Panic About Trump

    Jun 1, 2016Joe Macaron

    “Everything I say right now is a suggestion, I am not the President,” the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Fox News on May 13. However, his …

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    IranSecurity and Defense

    Congressional Update

    May 27, 2016

    (May 20-27, 2016)Congress has been preoccupied with Saudi Arabia and Iran this week as noted in the push to enact the Justice against Sponsors of Terrorism Act…

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    US-Saudi Relations – Update: Senate Passes Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act

    May 23, 2016

    On May 17, the Senate passed by voice vote S2040 The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, referred to as the “JASTA,” after agreeing to a substitute amen…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantInternational Law

    Navigating Pitfalls and Opportunities: Obama’s Parting Shot on Israel/Palestine

    May 17, 2016Yousef Munayyer

    President Obama, who gave his first interview to Al-Arabiya in 2009 and spoke again few months later in his Cairo address about Palestinian aspirations, is now…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Paris Initiative and US Middle East Policy: Paving the Way for the 4th Intifada – Why justice is the only roadmap to peace

    May 16, 2016Tamara Kharroub

    In the middle of the US presidential election season, France has elected to take the opportunity and break the US monopoly over the Middle East peace process, …

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    IranMedia and Technology

    Congressional Update

    May 13, 2016Roxanne Perugino

    I. PalestinePalestinian Children’s’ Rights. On April 28, 2016, Representative Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota) circulated a letter to her colleagues urging Preside…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantJustice, Equality, and Human Rights

    The Coming Change in US-Israel Relations

    May 10, 2016Yousef Munayyer

    The discussion on Israel at the most recent Democratic presidential debate is but the latest benchmark in progress down a road on which the American people hav…

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    Saudi Arabia: Under Congressional Scrutiny

    May 4, 2016

    There has been a debate in Washington about the nature of the US-Saudi relationship which recently has been fraught with tension due largely to the Iran nuclea…

  • Washington Policy Weekly
    LebanonReligion and Politics

    Congressional Update

    Apr 29, 2016

     Note:  Congress will recess at the end of the week.  The House will return on Tuesday, May 10, the Senate will return on Monday, May 9. The next Congress…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Wanted: A US Strategy in the Middle East

    Apr 11, 2016Yousef Munayyer

    In 2006, as Israel and Hezbollah were engaged in what would be a 34­day war, the longest of any Arab­Israeli war since 1948, US Secretary of State Condoleezza …