Research & Commentary Results

The trilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States has deteriorated in recent years as Israel's and Turkey's foreign policy goals in the Middle East continue to diverge. Despite repeated attempts, the United States has failed to reconcile these two important regional allies since the divisive Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010. MEI and The Stimson Center held a discussion of this critical yet troubled trilateral relationship in a time of unprecedented change in the Middle East featuring Prof. William B. Quandt, Edward R.

This article first appeared as an Op-Ed on Politico.com on September 19, 2011

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early this week will likely fulfill his longstanding vow to introduce in the U.N. Security Council a resolution to recognize Palestine as the 194th member state. No one should be the least bit surprised.

The Middle East Institute is proud to host Ilan Peleg and Dov Waxman, authors of the book Israel's Palestinians:The Conflict Within (Cambridge, 2011), for a discussion about their findings. One in five citizens of Israel are Palestinian. Often overlooked by outside observers, the challenges facing the Palestinian minority in Israel are an inseparable part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Resolving this conflict – a central concern of U.S. foreign policy and current international diplomacy – requires more than the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Middle East Institute is proud to host Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin for a discussion about the ongoing challenges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on their knowledge and experiences recounted in their new book, This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Myre and Griffin, journalists who are husband and wife, traveled to Jerusalem in 1999 in hopes of finally seeing Middle East peace. Instead, the pair watched as violence in the area escalated and the peace process disintegrated.

The Middle East Institute is proud to host Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin for a discussion about the ongoing challenges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on their knowledge and experiences recounted in their new book, This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Myre and Griffin, journalists who are husband and wife, traveled to Jerusalem in 1999 in hopes of finally seeing Middle East peace. Instead, the pair watched as violence in the area escalated and the peace process disintegrated.

The Obama administration's efforts to win a settlement freeze as a confidence-building measure have failed, and the U.S.has not presented a new vision for resuming the moribund peace process. Nevertheless, many analysts now recommend shifting the diplomatic focus to negotiations to define the border between Israel and the future state of Palestine. Resolving the border would address the issues of settlements and Jerusalem as well as potential land swaps between the two states.

The Middle East Institute is proud to host the Honorable Robert Wexler and Dr. Yoram Peri for a discussion about the challenges facing Israel and the Middle East peace process in the wake of the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Some in Israel, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, argue that current events in the region make it imperative that Israel move quickly to secure a peace treaty with the Palestinians. Others insist Israel proceed with caution, given the increased instability in the region.

Israeli politics is notable for its wide array of parties and unstable coalition governments. The main institutional cause of this chronic instability is the system of nationwide proportional representation, which gives disproportionate influence to minor parties. This instability limits the ability of Israeli governments to pursue coherent long-term strategies and leads to policies that address the concerns of minority groups at the expense of the national interest.

Educational reform in Israel has repeatedly shifted from expecting individual excellence to expecting access for all. Excellence and access reflects the early history of the country when Jewish funders from France, England, and Germany established educational systems for Jewish children. The Zionist organizations that structured much of the curriculum and the external funding streams insured the Jewish schools were far better funded than the British-supported schools during the Mandate.

External Partnerships

Originally posted November 2010

With Pakistan caught up in four wars during the past nine years — the Afghanistan war, the War on Terror, the insurgency in the tribal areas, and the wave of terrorism unleashed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) and the Punjabi Taliban in the rest of the country — it has often been said that the country is facing an existential threat. If this was a cliché before, it is no more so after the catastrophic floods. Pakistan had been living dangerously in the past, but the wars and floods threaten to wash away its future.

Originally posted November 2010

This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed in McClatchy News, July 6, 2010.

The misuse and abuse of language is yet another obstacle to obtaining peace in the Middle East. In recent weeks the media, government officials and commentators have so garbled the use of the words “blockade” and “embargo” to describe events in Gaza that understanding what is occurring, the legal implications, and developing a reasonable policy are almost impossible.

The last five years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be summed up in one word: Gaza.

Israel’s lethal raid on the flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza is part of a recurring theme that goes like this: Gaza wallows in dysfunction. Tensions steadily build. A confrontation erupts. Every major crisis between the Israelis and the Palestinians in recent years has revolved around Gaza—the overcrowded, impoverished strip of sand squeezed between Israel and the Mediterranean.