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In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

08/07/08
How to Deal with Jerusalem  —Lt. Col. (Res.) Ron Shatzberg, Project Director, Economic Cooperation Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
08/07/08
How to Deal with Jerusalem  —
08/05/08
Why Did Maliki Call for a Timeline?  —by Christopher Kojm who teaches at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and is a former senior advisor to the Iraq Study Group. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Already Divided

“Even the Arab minority in the city has shown its preference for living under Israeli rule, as many have moved to the Israeli side of the security barrier being built around Jerusalem. Their choice is reasonable, as Jerusalem offers the quality of life of a modern western city while only a few kilometers away the norm is a third world standard of living, chaos and religious intolerance. An undivided Jerusalem is the best guarantee of a better life for all Jerusalemites.”
—Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, July 23, 2008 versus
  • “Those who believe that Jerusalem should not be divided, and mean by that that the Arab neighborhoods should not be separated from the city, should be the first to insist that an active policy be adopted by the government and the municipality to improve the lot of local Arab residents. Barring that, Jerusalem will continue to remain a divided city.”
    —Moshe Arens, former Israeli defense and foreign minister (Likud), “A Story of Neglect,” Haaretz, July 28, 2008

    • Middle East Analysis

    Seize the Opportunity for Diplomacy

    Larry Zicklin, Member of the Executive Committee of the Israel Policy Forum and Past President of UJA-Federation of New York (JTA).
    April 18, 2007
    "The United States and Israel now have a momentous opportunity to use diplomacy to help bring peace and stability to the Middle East and long-term security to Israel."

    Opportunity comes infrequently, often disguised, but when it comes, you had better recognize it and do something about it because it may be a long time before it comes again. . . This same principle should be applied to policy decisions in the Middle East, for example in responding to overtures from Saudi Arabia and Syria. The unanimous approval of the Arab Peace Initiative by leaders of 22 Arab states at the Arab League summit in late March offers the United States and Israel an opportunity to put this principle into practice. The opportunity may not arise again.

    In December, I participated in private meetings in Washington with ambassadors from Saudi Arabia and Syria organized by the Israel Policy Forum. These discussions convinced me that the spread of instability and fundamentalism in the Middle East poses at least as much of a threat to countries there as it does to the West.

    As a result, the United States and Israel now have a momentous opportunity to use diplomacy to help bring peace and stability to the Middle East and long-term security to Israel. Then-Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal told us in December that the United States needs to make a determined push for peace. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have begun to do exactly that. Read More>>