Articles - Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs

Placing Things in Proportion

“Proportionality” has become a common term, widely used by human rights
organizations, politicians, soldiers and laypersons. But its precise legal
meaning is little understood. NGOs allege that a certain attack was
disproportionate because civilians were killed; military officers retort
that the action was proportional because the enemy fired first. From a legal
standpoint, both claims are inaccurate, and based on irrelevant conceptions
of proportionality. The goal of this paper is not to justify or discredit
the use of proportionality, but rather to clarify its parameters, and
identify the problems confronting attempts to apply it, especially in the
context of military operations. The main claim in this paper is the
following: Proportionality cannot be analyzed as a legal term disconnected
from the institutions that apply it. Proportionality may be understood only
in the context of its application by the courts. This paper was presented at
the conference Sixty Years Since the Adoption of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and Genocide Convention: Evaluating the Record, at Bar Ilan
University on December 10, 2008.

Will Palestinian Reconciliation Lead to a Hamas Takeover of the PLO?

Hamas’ joining of the PLO does not herald a strategic shift in the movement’s policy or recognition of the agreements the PLO has signed with Israel.

US arms in Arab hands

Last week, the Obama administration announced a series of massive arms sales to Arab states. There was a $29.4 billion dollar package for Saudi Arabia that includes 84 F-15 fighter jets, as well as modernization of 70 existing aircrafts. It will include the latest generation air-to air missiles and precision-guided air-to-ground missiles that operate under all weather conditions, day or night. Elements of this package already emerged last year in a $60.5 billion sale that was announced in October 2010.

Majority and Minorities in the Arab World: The Lack of a Unifying Narrative

A Year after the Revolution: Egypt and the U.S. Battle over Democracy

Egypt’s Islamic movements seek a way to cast off the Camp David agreement in a manner that will incur minimal diplomatic and economic damage while restoring Egypt to its leading role in the circle of states confronting Israel. This means re-examining the Camp David agreement and submitting it to the decision of the new parliament that will be controlled by the Islamic parties or to a referendum – thereby alleviating the responsibility of any future Egyptian government for cancelling the peace treaty.

“Remembering to Remember,” “Remembering to Benefit,” “Remembering to Forget”: The Variety of Memories of Jews and the Holocaust in Postcommunist Poland

Poland presents the most advanced case of the transformation of the memory of Jews and the Holocaust in all of postcommunist Europe. For that reason, it can serve as a paradigm in comparative studies of the scope, dynamics, complexities, and challenges of this memory transformation.

The Emergence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Regime

Iran’s increasingly confrontational stance with the West coincided with the surprise victory on June 24, 2005, of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-line mayor of Tehran, in a runoff election for the Iranian presidency.

Is Iran Rational?

It would be an error to just assume that they will adopt the deterrence doctrines of the West should they cross the nuclear threshold.

The Jerusalem Jewish Community, Ottoman Authorities, and Arab Population in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: A Chapter of Local History

This paper investigates the relations in the second half of that century between one minority group in the city (the Jewish community) and the Ottoman authorities in Jerusalem and in Damascus, the capital of the Sancak, as well as the Jewish community’s relations with the Arab population of Jerusalem.

Will Egypt’s Islamic Parties Nullify Peace Treaty with Israel?

Egypt’s Islamic movements seek a way to cast off the Camp David agreement in a manner that will incur minimal diplomatic and economic damage while restoring Egypt to its leading role in the circle of states confronting Israel. This means re-examining the Camp David agreement and submitting it to the decision of the new parliament that will be controlled by the Islamic parties or to a referendum – thereby alleviating the responsibility of any future Egyptian government for cancelling the peace treaty.

Goodbye Iraq. Hello Iran

The new situation emerging as a result makes the strategic logic of Israel retaining the Jordan Valley as its forward line of defense even more compelling, just as leading voices in the international community are unfortunately pressuring it to fully withdraw from the West Bank and accept the 1967 lines.