Europe’s Moral Attitudes toward the Holocaust in Light of the Current Defamation of Israel
The moral aspects of Western attitudes toward the Jews and the Holocaust since World War II have not yet been analyzed systematically. However, the current campaign of hatred against Israel and the Jewish people — unprecedented since the end of the war — recalls many elements of the prewar decades. Yet it is too easy to generalize and describe this as one more outburst of the ancient illness of anti-Semitism.
A Primer for the Arab Summit in Beirut
Vol. 1, No. 21 March 26, 2002 The Arab summit must not alter the only agreed terms of reference for the Arab-Israeli peace process — UN Security Council Resolution 242. The whole debate over whether Israel allows PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to travel to the Arab summit meeting in Beirut presupposes that this gathering […]
Whose Fault Was the Failure of Camp David?
It is not often that two articles are enough to shake a powerful pillar of conventional wisdom and trigger an international firestorm. The influence of these articles, "Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors," by Robert Malley and Hussein Agha in the New York Review of Books,1 and "Quest for Mideast Peace: How and Why it Failed," by Deborah Sontag in the New York Times,2 cannot be understood simply in terms of their content.
Saudi Arabia’s Op-Ed Diplomacy: A Public Relations Ploy or a Serious Initiative?
Vol. 1, No. 20 A revealing Washington Post news story on February 26, 2002, reported a striking American public opinion poll claiming that Americans rated Saudi Arabia above North Korea and Syria as a state-supporter of international terrorism. While 64 percent of Americans viewed Iran as a state supporting terrorism, a full 54 percent shared the same perception […]
The Phalcon Sale to China: The Lessons for Israel
The Israeli decision, under intense American pressure, to cancel the sale of the Phalcon Airborne Early Warning System to China during the Camp David summit in July 2000 threatens to be a major foreign policy debacle for Israel. What was once a promising Israeli endeavor to develop strategic and lucrative commercial relations with a rising great power now lies in tatters.
Only Buffer Zones Can Protect Israel
JERUSALEM — It is doubtful that another case can be found in recent history of a nation that has been willing to take greater risks for peace than has Israel. Eight years ago, Israel embarked on a diplomatic experiment by agreeing to grant authority to the Palestine Liberation Organization, an organization whose founding charter called for Israel’s annihilation, and to its leader, Yasir Arafat, in the disputed territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Was There a Missed Opportunity for Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
A number of observers of Middle East diplomacy still believe that a full political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is within reach. Advocates of this school of thought point to the purported breakthroughs reached during the Taba talks in January 2001. If they had a few more weeks, so they argue, an Israeli-Palestinian final-status deal could have been struck. For this reason, they assert that if Israel and the Palestinians were to re-engage diplomatically, they could reach an agreement based on the December 1999 Clinton parameters that were presented to Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams at the White House.
The Way to Peace Emerged at Madrid: A Decade Since the 1991 Madrid Conference
The October 1991 Madrid Peace Conference represented a breakthrough in relations between the State of Israel and the Arab world. For the first time, Israel engaged in direct, face-to-face negotiations with all its immediate neighbors, and not just with Egypt, with whom Israel had signed a peace treaty in 1979. These talks were between the political leaders of the region, unlike the armistice discussions that Israel undertook in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Arafat’s Iraqi Connection
Vol. 1, No. 18 February 6, 2002 Both Iraq and Iran would have a difficult time projecting their influence in the Arab-Israeli sector of the Middle East, if Yasser Arafat was not seeking to draw them into his conflict with Israel and, thereby, jeopardize regional stability. Speaking to his Knesset faction on February 4, […]
Israel’s Political Map: After Cancellation of Direct Election of the Prime Minister
Following the last prime ministerial elections held in Israel in February 2001, the Knesset voted to change the electoral system and restore the former system. Instead of separate ballots for prime minister and for political party, in the next nationwide elections, voters will again be given only one ballot — for political party — and the leader of the party that is able to put together a majority coalition in the Knesset will become prime minister.
Elie Hobeika’s Assassination: Covering Up the Secrets of Sabra and Shatilla
Vol. 1, No. 17 Elie Hobeika knew the truth of Israel’s innocence in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres, and for that reason many interested parties wanted him silenced. Elie Hobeika, the former Lebanese Christian militia leader, was killed by a car bomb outside his home in a Beirut suburb on January 24, 2002. Lebanese […]
Marwan Barghouti, Fatah-Tanzim, and the Escalation of the Intifada
The twin attacks by Fatah gunmen on a Hadera bat mitzvah celebration last week and on Israeli civilian pedestrians in Jerusalem this week have brought back into focus the military wings of the Fatah organization and the responsibility of its leadership, particularly Yasser Arafat and Marwan Barghouti, for these operations. Ironically
From “Occupied Territories” to “Disputed Territories”
At the heart of the Palestinian diplomatic struggle against Israel is the repeated assertion that the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are resisting "occupation." Speaking recently on CNN’s Larry King Weekend, Hanan Ashrawi hoped that the U.S. war on terrorism would lead to new diplomatic initiatives to address its root "causes."
The PLO Weapons Ship from Iran
Vol. 1, No. 15 January 7, 2002 Last week’s seizure by Israeli naval commandos in the Red Sea of the Palestinian ship, Karine-A, with its cargo of over 50 tons of Iranian weapons and explosives, reveals an entirely new network of cooperation in Middle Eastern terrorism. The PLO-Iranian link will require a complete re-examination […]
Destabilizing Implications of Iranian-U.S. Rapprochement for Israeli and Global Security
Vol. 1, No. 14 January 3, 2002 During the U.S. military build-up for America’s anti-terrorism campaign in Afghanistan, speculation grew over a possible political by-product of the war: a U.S.-Iranian accommodation after years of mutual hostility. The apparent driving force of this shift was the shared opposition in the U.S. and Iran to the […]
