Is Israel a Colonial State? The Political Psychology of Palestinian Nomenclature
Israel’s creation, far from being a foreign colonial transplant, can actually be seen as the vanguard of and impetus for decolonialization of the entire Middle East, including a significant part of the Arab world, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The Palestinians’ Unilateral “Kosovo Strategy”: Implications for the PA and Israel
Mahmoud Abbas’ new precondition that the international community recognize the 1967 lines in the West Bank as the new Palestinian border bolsters the assessment that the Palestinians have largely abandoned a negotiated settlement and instead are actively pursuing a unilateral approach to statehood.
A Paradox of Peacemaking: How Fayyad’s Unilateral Statehood Plan Undermines the Legal Foundations of Israeli-Palestinian Diplomacy
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad published a plan in August 2009 to unilaterally declare statehood after a two-year state-building process. However, any unilateral action that undermines the existing Oslo interim framework could jeopardize the peace process and remove the basis for the existence of the Palestinian Authority.
Kazakhstan: Israel’s Partner in Eurasia
Israel and post-communist, resource-rich states have similar geopolitical priorities in opposing terrorism and radical Islam.
The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: Why Continued Israeli Control Is Vital
The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, that the Palestinians demand to transfer to their control, is the most important Jewish cemetery in the world. The area has constituted a religious and national pantheon for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, containing the tombs of the illustrious dead of the nation over the course of 3,000 years.
Hizbullah’s Struggle to Change the Lebanese Regime
On April 3, 2009, Hizbullah published its political platform in advance of elections to the Lebanese parliament scheduled for June 7, 2009. The document calls for the abolition of sectarian politics and for the enactment of a new election law that would alter the equation of sectarian forces in Lebanon. The abolition of the existing political system will advance Hizbullah toward its fundamental goal: the establishment of an Islamic state and a complete Iranian takeover of Lebanon.
Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction
NGOs that are supported financially by special interest groups or even states for the benefit of their own agendas have been instrumental in the implementation of universal jurisdiction against Israeli officials. Universal jurisdiction and the International Criminal Court are applied when a country does not or cannot act to prosecute. Yet Israel is a democracy with a well-developed judicial system and does not need external intervention to conduct any investigation.
Can the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah Forces Retake Gaza? Obstacles and Opportunities
It is widely believed that the PA in Ramallah only pays the salaries of civil service employees in Gaza to encourage them to stay at home to avoid working with Hamas. However, PA Prime Minister Fayyad also pays the monthly salaries of between 6,000 and 12,000 Hamas Executive Force operatives in Gaza, in line with the 2007 Mecca national unity agreement, as well as to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorists. The U.S. must avoid the temptation of once again blindly relyin
The Influence of Christian Interests in Setting the Route of the Security Fence in Jerusalem
In March 2002, at the height of a terror campaign in which 1,804 Israelis were killed in Palestinian suicide bombings, the government of Israel decided to take a defensive measure to block terrorists from reaching Israeli population centers by establishing a physical obstacle. Even Israel’s worst enemies confessed that the security fence saved Israeli lives. In building the fence, great efforts were invested and solutions were provided to meet the unique needs of the Christian churches.
Israeli Approvals for Medical Entry in the Shadow of Terror Attacks at the Erez Crossing
Human rights groups have criticized the Israeli government for denying access to Gazans seeking to receive permits for care in hospitals in Israel, the PA and Jordan. Yet the data shows that the number of patients receiving permits for referrals to hospitals in Israel – or the PA or Jordan – increased by 45 percent from 4,932 in 2006 to 7,176 in 2007, and continued to increase in the first six months of 2008, despite increasing rocket attacks on Israel’s civilian population.
Talking to Terrorists: The Myths, Misconceptions and Misapplication of the Northern Ireland Peace Process
For the British government, formal negotiations with the IRA could only occur in a context in which republican violence had been brought to an end.
Hizbullah’s Triumph: The Long-Term Implications of Prisoner Exchanges
By exchanging prisoners with the proxy organizations as if they were law-abiding states, Israel can be seen as upgrading the status of the organizations’ unlawful combatants from terrorists and war criminals. Such exchanges afford them the same rights as lawful soldiers, without demanding from their leaders the reciprocal obligations. At the same time, Israel downgrades the rights of its own captured soldiers by overlooking the organizations’ systematic depravation of POW rights.
Israel at Sixty: Asymmetry, Vulnerability, and the Search for Security
In the past sixty years as a nation, Israel has survived many existential threats by means of its intense motivation to restore national sovereignty and through the adoption of various strategies and tactics. Threats of ballistic missiles, nonconventional warheads and mass terror attacks have increased in the recent past, with the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran posing a problem for the future.
President Truman’s Decision to Recognize Israel
The charge that domestic politics determined our policy on Palestine angered President Truman for the rest of his life. In fact, the President’s policy rested on the realities of the situation in the region, on America’s moral, ethical, and humanitarian values, on the costs and risks inherent in any other course, and on America’s national interests.
The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran and Its Aftermath: A Roundtable of Israeli Experts
Between 2003 and 2005, the Iranians refrained from any nuclear activity under the influence of the impression created by America’s pre-emptive policies in the region, which served as the main instrument that enabled the Europeans to force Iran to postpone uranium conversion and enrichment. But when the Iranians realized in 2005 that there was no actual threat behind their fears of U.S. pre-emption, they decided to start conversion and then enrichment.
