Rethinking the Two-State Solution
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U.S. Policy in the Middle East Martin Indyk
U.S. Policy in the Middle East Martin Indyk s much as the Obama administration would challenge to the Alawite regime in Syria but has now like to disengage from the Middle East and spread viciously to Iraq and could well spread to the Ashift its focus and energies to Asia—above all Gulf where a majority Shiite population in Bahrain to India and China—it finds itself constantly sucked is controlled by a Saudi-backed Sunni monarch, and back into the vortex as the region grows ever more in Yemen, where Shia Houti tribesman are challeng- volatile, chaotic, and dangerous . President Obama has ing a Sunni regime in Sana’a . Saudi Arabia—the been determined to end American involvement in the world’s largest oil producer—now faces instability country’s two longest-running wars—Iraq and Afghan- on almost all its borders . istan—and to avoid involvement in any other region- al conflicts, especially the Syrian civil war . And yet, In Egypt, the traditional leader of the Arab world, a the surprising success of the Islamic State of Iraq and military-backed regime has deposed and suppressed the Levant (ISIL) in taking control of broad swathes the Muslim Brotherhood party, generating an ad- of Syrian and Iraqi territory and the threat it poses to ditional schism across the region between Islamist Baghdad in the south, Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, and po- and moderate Sunnis . This tension recently spilled tentially Jordan in the west, have forced the president’s over into the Arab-Israeli arena where Hamas, the hand and led him now to order air strikes on northern stepchild of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, at- Iraq . -
Reimagining US Strategy in the Middle East
REIMAGININGR I A I I G U.S.S STRATEGYT A E Y IIN THET E MMIDDLED L EEASTS Sustainable Partnerships, Strategic Investments Dalia Dassa Kaye, Linda Robinson, Jeffrey Martini, Nathan Vest, Ashley L. Rhoades C O R P O R A T I O N For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RRA958-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-1-9774-0662-0 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. 2021 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover composite design: Jessica Arana Image: wael alreweie / Getty Images Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface U.S. -
U.S. Military Engagement in the Broader Middle East
U.S. MILITARY ENGAGEMENT IN THE BROADER MIDDLE EAST JAMES F. JEFFREY MICHAEL EISENSTADT U.S. MILITARY ENGAGEMENT IN THE BROADER MIDDLE EAST JAMES F. JEFFREY MICHAEL EISENSTADT THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY WWW.WASHINGTONINSTITUTE.ORG The opinions expressed in this Policy Focus are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Washington Institute, its Board of Trustees, or its Board of Advisors. Policy Focus 143, April 2016 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publica- tion may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing fromthe publisher. ©2016 by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 1111 19th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 Design: 1000colors Photo: An F-16 from the Egyptian Air Force prepares to make contact with a KC-135 from the 336th ARS during in-flight refueling training. (USAF photo by Staff Sgt. Amy Abbott) Contents Acknowledgments V I. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF U.S. MILITARY OPERATIONS 1 James F. Jeffrey 1. Introduction to Part I 3 2. Basic Principles 5 3. U.S. Strategy in the Middle East 8 4. U.S. Military Engagement 19 5. Conclusion 37 Notes, Part I 39 II. RETHINKING U.S. MILITARY STRATEGY 47 Michael Eisenstadt 6. Introduction to Part II 49 7. American Sisyphus: Impact of the Middle Eastern Operational Environment 52 8. Disjointed Strategy: Aligning Ways, Means, and Ends 58 9. -
Turkish American Relations Course Outline
Turkish American Relations SUNY New Paltz Spring 2012 Tuesdays 9:25 am - 12:05 pm Coykendall Science 029 Professor Ş. İlgü Özler Office: JFT 912 Phone: 257-2635 Office Hours: T and W 1-3pm E-mail: [email protected] Course Description This course is designed to introduce students to the study of Turkish politics and foreign policy with a special perspective on relations with the United States. The course will be run simultaneously with a partner institution class from Sehir University in Istanbul. Students will get a chance to collaborate with peers from Turkey on several projects. The relations between the United States and Turkey have been historically strong especially during the height of the Cold War. There have been disagreements on policy between the countries over Cyprus, Iraq and the Kurds, Syria and Iran. Yet, both sides identify the alliance between the US and Turkey vital to their national interests. United States and Turkey have common interests under NATO, over EU issues, energy policy among others. The course will focus on creating a broad understanding of Turkish foreign policy and American foreign policy toward Turkey as well as develop understanding over specific issues of contention (Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Israel) and cooperation (EU, energy). Course Objectives Students are expected to • familiarize themselves with Turkish politics and political system, • develop skills in reading foreign policy texts and identify the main argument, • build knowledge about the Turkey in relation to the Middle East, European Union and the United States. • to develop skills of cross cultural communication. The ability to communicate with people who may have a different perspective on issues is essential part of diplomacy. -
Military Activism and Conservatism During the Intifadas Murat ÜLGÜL* Abstract Introduction
Soldiers and The Use of Force: Military Activism and Conservatism During The Intifadas Murat ÜLGÜL* Abstract Introduction Are soldiers more prone and likely to use force Are soldiers more prone to use force and initiate conflicts than civilians? To bring a and initiate conflicts than civilians? new insight to this question, this article compares The traditional view in the civil- the main arguments of military activism and military relations literature stresses that military conservatism theories on Israeli policies during the First and Second Intifadas. Military professional soldiers are conservative activism argues that soldiers are prone to end in the use of force because soldiers political problems with the use of force mainly are the ones who mainly suffer in war. because of personal and organizational interests Instead, this view says, it is the civilians as well as the effects of a military-mindset. The proponents of military conservatism, on the who initiate wars and conflicts because, other hand, claim that soldiers are conservative without military knowledge, they on the use of force and it is the civilians most underestimate the costs of war while likely offering military measures. Through an overvaluing the benefits of military analysis of qualitative nature, the article finds 1 action. In recent decades, military that soldiers were more conservative in the use of force during the First Intifadas and Oslo conservatism has been challenged by Peace Process while they were more hawkish in a group of scholars who argue that the the Second Intifada. This difference is explained traditional view is based on a limited by enemy conceptions and by the politicization number of cases, mainly civil-military of Israeli officers. -
Good News & Information Sites
Written Testimony of Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein1 Hearing on: A NEW HORIZON IN U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS: FROM AN AMERICAN EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM TO POTENTIAL RECOGNITION OF ISRAELI SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE GOLAN HEIGHTS Before the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security Tuesday July 17, 2018, 10:00 a.m. Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154 Chairman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Ranking Member Stephen Lynch (D-MA) Introduction & Summary Chairman DeSantis, Vice Chairman Russell, Ranking Member Lynch, and Members of the Committee: Thank you for holding this hearing to discuss the potential for American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in furtherance of U.S. national security interests. Israeli sovereignty over the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights is a key bulwark against radical regimes and affiliates that threaten the security and stability of the United States, Israel, the entire Middle East region, and beyond. The Golan Heights consists of strategically-located high ground, that provides Israel with an irreplaceable ability to monitor and take counter-measures against growing threats at and near the Syrian-Israel border. These growing threats include the extremely dangerous hegemonic expansion of the Iranian-Syrian-North Korean axis; and the presence in Syria, close to the Israeli border, of: Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Quds forces; thousands of Iranian-armed Hezbollah fighters; Palestinian Islamic Jihad (another Iranian proxy); Syrian forces; and radical Sunni Islamist groups including the al Nusra Levantine Conquest Front (an incarnation of al Qaeda) and ISIS. The Iranian regime is attempting to build an 800-mile land bridge to the Mediterranean, running through Iraq and Syria. -
The Changing of the Guard in the IDF Giora Eiland
INSS Insight No. 242, February 20, 2011 The Changing of the Guard in the IDF Giora Eiland The much-publicized conflict between the Minister of Defense and the outgoing IDF Chief of Staff, as well as the drama surrounding the appointment of the new Chief of Staff, diverted public attention from the critical question of the state of the IDF today compared to its state four years ago, when Gabi Ashkenazi assumed Israel's highest military post. Five points are particularly noteworthy. First of all, the past four year period has been among the most peaceful the country has ever known. The northern border, the West Bank, and in fact all of Israel’s borders – including the Gaza Strip region since Operation Cast Lead – were calm sectors with few incidents. While it is true that there are external explanations for the calm, there is no doubt that the quality of the IDF’s activity and operational discipline contributed to this state of affairs. Second, by virtually every known parameter, the army’s preparedness has improved dramatically. Reservists are training more, and their training is of better quality. The army has undertaken major re-equipment processes. The frequency of drills and exercises of the upper echelons has increased, and operational plans, some of which were buried deep in the drawer when the Second Lebanon War broke out, have been reformulated and brought up to date so that they are ready for implementation. Third, the IDF’s five year program, "Tefen," is now entering its fourth year. Unlike the past, it is actually progressing according to plan – and to budget. -
MDE 02/02/00 UA 30/00 Fear for Saf ISRAEL
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 02/02/00 UA 30/00 Fear for safety 8 February 2000 ISRAEL/LEBANONCivilians in Lebanon and northern Israel During the night of 7 February 2000, at least 18 civilians were injured during an attack by the Israel Air Force (IAF) on civilian targets in Lebanon. Amnesty International fears that there may be more indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Lebanon and northern Israel by both the Lebanese armed opposition group Hizbullah, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and its militia ally, the South Lebanon Army (SLA). In the last two weeks Hizbullah and other armed groups in Lebanon have carried out an increasing number of attacks against the IDF, which occupies part of south Lebanon, and the SLA. The deputy head of the SLA, Colonel Akel Hashem, and five Israeli soldiers have been killed. Israel had retaliated by bombing military targets in Lebanon. On the night of 7 February, however, the IAF bombed three power stations in Baalbek, Deir Nbouh, near Tripoli and another in Jamhur, 10 kilometres east of Beirut. According to media reports, the civilian casualties occurred around Baalbek. The IAF also attacked a Hizbullah base in the Bekaa Valley. Hizbullah leaders have recently threatened to attack Israeli civilians in reprisal for Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians and civilian objects. In a radio interview on 3 February, a Hizbullah member of the Lebanese parliament said: "We would like to remind the enemy that our Katyushas [rockets] are always ready and capable of terrorising [Israel’s] settlers in the same way that the enemy terrorises our people." At a press conference on 8 February, the head of the Operations Directorate of the IDF, Major-General Giora Eiland, said: "We will consider other actions, more elaborate ones, severe ones .. -
The Evolution of the Revolution
The Evolution of the Revolution THE CHANGING NATURE OF IRAN’S AXIS OF RESISTANCE KENNETH M. POLLACK MARCH 2020 AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE Executive Summary ince the earliest days after the 1979 Islamic Soleimani in January 2020 could significantly impede S Revolution, the Iranian regime has sought to build further progress. a coalition across the Middle East to help it achieve its As it stands currently, the Axis is comprised of ideological and geostrategic goals. Tehran understood both state and non-state actors. These groups include that its ability to secure the Islamic Republic in Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liber- overturn the regional status quo, drive out the United ation of Palestine–General Command (PFLP-GC), States, and make Iran the regional hegemon was lim- Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and occasionally the ited if it acted on its own. It could only succeed with Kurdistan Workers’ Party. State and quasi-state actors the help of others. openly aligned with Tehran include Hamas in Gaza, However, for the next two decades, the Axis was Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, and the Houthis little more than rhetoric, ascribing greater unity in Yemen. of effort to an amalgam of states,semi-states , and Ultimately, the new operating method of Iran’s non-state actors than was ever the reality. It was pri- Axis of Resistance is a strategy born of necessity. It marily a psychological ploy to frighten its adversaries is a strategy of the weak, unlikely to succeed against and make its members feel less isolated in the face the strong except when they are badly constrained of American hostility. -
The Gulf States and the Middle East Peace Process: Considerations, Stakes, and Options
ISSUE BRIEF 08.25.20 The Gulf States and the Middle East Peace Process: Considerations, Stakes, and Options Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Ph.D, Fellow for the Middle East conflict, the Gulf states complied with and INTRODUCTION enforced the Arab League boycott of Israel This issue brief examines where the six until at least 1994 and participated in the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council— oil embargo of countries that supported 1 Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. In Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates 1973, for example, the president of the (UAE)—currently stand in their outlook and UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, approaches toward the Israeli-Palestinian claimed that “No Arab country is safe from issue. The first section of this brief begins by the perils of the battle with Zionism unless outlining how positions among the six Gulf it plays its role and bears its responsibilities, 2 states have evolved over the three decades in confronting the Israeli enemy.” In since the Madrid Conference of 1991. Section Kuwait, Sheikh Fahd al-Ahmad Al Sabah, a two analyzes the degree to which the six brother of two future Emirs, was wounded Gulf states’ relations with Israel are based while fighting with Fatah in Jordan in 3 on interests, values, or a combination of 1968, while in 1981 the Saudi government both, and how these differ from state to offered to finance the reconstruction of state. Section three details the Gulf states’ Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor after it was 4 responses to the peace plan unveiled by destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. -
A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution WATCH
HUMAN RIGHTS A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution WATCH A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution Copyright © 2021 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-62313-900-1 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org APRIL 2021 ISBN: 978-1-62313-900-1 A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution Map .................................................................................................................................. i Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 Definitions of Apartheid and Persecution ................................................................................. -
Reassessing the Special Relationship: How the United States Can Reclaim Its Influence with Israel
THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES IMES CAPSTONE PAPER SERIES REASSESSING THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: HOW THE UNITED STATES CAN RECLAIM ITS INFLUENCE WITH ISRAEL AYELET HANFLING & GREGORY MCGOWAN APRIL 2014 THE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES THE ELLIOTT SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY © OF AUTHORS, 2014 Table of Contents I.) Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 II.) Methodology and Structure....................................................................................................... 5 III.) Background .............................................................................................................................. 7 IV.) Literature Review .................................................................................................................. 13 Alliance Theory ......................................................................................................................... 13 U.S.-Israeli Alliance Theory ..................................................................................................... 16 The policy angle: What worked and what didn’t ...................................................................... 19 V.) Research Findings ................................................................................................................... 26 Credibility.................................................................................................................................