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In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

11/13/08
The View from Gaza  —Taghreed El-Khodary, New York Times journalist in Gaza and Harvard University Nieman Fellow (2005-2006). Interviewed by Middle East Bulletin.
11/04/08
Getting on the Right Track  —Dalia Rabin, chairperson, Rabin Center, and daughter of the late Yitzhak Rabin. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
10/23/08
Bottom-Up Meets Top-Down for Progress  —Robert Danin, Head of Mission, Office of Quartet Representative Tony Blair and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

U.S. Policy Strengthens Iran

"Simply put, without permanent bases in Iraq, a nuclear capable Islamic Republic cannot be contained."
—Michael Rubin, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute, "Can a Nuclear Iran Be Contained or Deterred?" Middle Eastern Outlook, November 5, 2008 versus
  • “[B]y attacking Iraq, we automatically made Iran a regional power. We took out their major adversary in Iraq, and we neutralized, if only temporarily, the Taliban, on the other side. And so now we see not only that they are regional powers, but clearly indications of aspirations to be perhaps a hegemon in the area, their role in Iraq, their role in Syria, in Lebanon as well. And I can tell you, and I think you’ve heard it already, that there is real fear among the GCC countries about where all of this is going. All of them have minorities, in one case it’s not a minority, it’s a majority of Shias, and as the Sheika correctly pointed out, they can’t exchange Iran for some place else.”
    —General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.), former commander of U.S. Central Command (1991-94), National Council On U.S.-Arab Relations, 17th Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, October 30, 2008

    • Middle East Analysis

    Background Basics: Settlements and Outposts

    April 20, 2007

    Seven months after the Six-Day War, the first Israeli settlement, Kfar Etzion, was established in the West Bank. Today, around 260,000 people live in 121 settlements throughout the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem). 17 settlements in the Gaza strip and 4 in Northern Samaria in the West Bank were evacuated during the Disengagement Plan in August 2005.

    Since 1996, no government has officially decided upon the establishment of a new settlement in the West Bank. In order to continue to occupy additional land in the West Bank, the settlement leadership, with the close assistance of very senior elements within the government, decided to establish unofficial "outposts."

    Prime Minister Sharon commissioned a report on these outposts. On 8 March 2005, Talia Sasson submitted her report to the Prime Minister, concluding: “The method for establishing the outposts mainly consists of a way of circumventing procedures and violating the law, presenting an even-handed stand to some of the State authorities, while, at the same time, constituting the cooperation in a blatant disregard of the law by other authorities.”

    U.S. policy has consistently opposed Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As recently as June 24, 2002, when laying out his vision for the Middle East, including the need for a Palestinian state next to a secure Israel, President Bush said: "consistent with the recommendations of the Mitchell Committee, Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop."