Israel and Hamas were unable to reach an agreement to extend their fragile truce, collapsing a two-month-old cease-fire and throwing the Gaza Strip back into violence. Efforts to revive the cease-fire by Arab powers have so far proven fruitless. After 18 months of regional turmoil, what comes next for Gaza and the broader Middle East?
Join the Middle East Institute for a discussion with experts on the breakdown of the cease-fire; the Israeli government’s potential end-goals, calculations, and domestic pressures; US priorities in the region; the threats the renewed war in Gaza and escalations in the West Bank pose to the internal situations of some long-time Arab partners of the United States; as well as Arab countries' influence and ability to change dynamics on the ground.
Speakers
Ibrahim Dalalsha
Founder and Director, Horizon Center for Political Studies and Media Outreach
Nadav Eyal
Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University
Yasmine Farouk
Project Director, Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, International Crisis Group
Brian Katulis (Moderator)
Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
Extended Speaker Biographies
Ibrahim Eid Dalalsha is one of the leading analysts of Palestinian politics in the region. Prior to founding the Horizon Center, he served for two decades as the Senior Political Advisor at the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, advising US officials on the Peace Process; Palestinian politics, state development, and civil society; as well as extremist movements. Dalalsha has an unparalleled network of contacts and holds close working relationships with key Palestinians officials, Civil Society leaders and political activists across the spectrum. At the Horizon Center, Dalalsha drafts political, legal, security and economic studies and other topics related to the Israeli -Palestinian conflict. He also oversees the Center’s daily publication of its political update which highlights major political, security and domestic dynamics
Nadav Eyal is one of Israel's most prominent journalists and a winner of the Sokolov Award—Israel's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. He writes columns for Yediot Ahronot and Ynet, Israel's most widely circulated newspaper and news website, respectively. He also serves as a senior commentator for Channel 12, one of Israel's two commercial channels. Since 2021, Eyal has served as the chairman of the Movement for Freedom of Information, a highly regarded NGO in Israel dedicated to promoting transparency and accountability, aiming to foster a more open, democratic, and accountable society. Beginning on October 7, 2023, he has focused his work on stories and analyses related to the Hamas attack and the subsequent war in Gaza and the northern border of Israel, including reporting multiple times from the field and writing the accounts of victims.
Yasmine Farouk is the Arabian Peninsula Project Director at the International Crisis Group. Previously, she was a Senior Advisor at the European Institute of Peace where she supported the overall design and implementation of the Institute’s Gulf regional dialogue project and advising the Institute’s Middle East program at large. Before that, she was a visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Yasmine has been a scholar and practitioner of international relations and governance in the Middle East since 2005, focusing on the Gulf region. From 2016 to 2017, Yasmine was the research director at the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding (CCCPA). From 2012 to 2013, she headed the Civil Society Unit at the Social Contract Center (SCC), an official think tank of the cabinet of Egypt’s Prime Minister.
Brian Katulis is Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute. He was formerly a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), where he built the Center’s Middle East program and also worked on broader issues related to U.S. national security. He has produced influential studies that have shaped important discussions around regional policy, often providing expert testimony to key congressional committees on his findings. Katulis has also conducted extensive research in countries such as Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. His past experience includes work at the National Security Council and the U.S. Departments of State and Defense.
(Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)