In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

12/11/08: Toward Resolution —President of Israel Shimon Peres. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
11/25/08: U.S. Engagement with Iran: A How to Guide — Karim Sadjadpour, associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
11/20/08: Pakistan: Learning the Right Lessons from Iraq —Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

A Shared Interest

"With his enthusiastic embrace of the so-called Saudi peace plan, Olmert is committing Israel to accepting the Arab narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict. … With Olmert now giving his stamp of approval to the Saudi plan, he is denying the country its moral right to defend itself both militarily and diplomatically."
—Caroline Glick, deputy managing editor, The Jerusalem Post; senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs, Center for Security Policy, "Tzipi and the Drug Lords," The Jerusalem Post, November 27, 2008

“Israel rejected the Initiative in the past without examining it in depth. According to the common wisdom, the more Arab partners involved, the more they’ll be pushing us and be in favor of the Palestinians. I think that in the present situation in the Arab and Muslim world, where we see strengthening of extremism that bothers moderate Arab states no less than it bothers us, the Arab states have an interest that such an agreement comes to fruition. And for that to happen, if there is a need to push the Palestinians or assist them, I think this is exactly the time to do that.”
—Maj. Gen (ret.) Danny Rothschild, president, Council for Peace and Security, interview, Israeli radio, Reshet Bet, November 2, 2008 (translated by Middle East Bulletin)

Middle East Analysis

Putting the Arab Peace Initiative Into Action —Ghaith al-Omari, director of advocacy, American Task Force on Palestine; former foreign policy adviser to Palestinian President Abbas. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
Peace Plan Needs PR Backing —Roula Khalaf (Financial Times)
A Comprehensive Agenda —Ezzedine Choukri-Fishere, former adviser to the Egyptian foreign minister, & Omar Dajani, former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team (Al-Ahram Weekly)

A Better Way to Help Israel: Don’t Subsidize Settlements

June 6, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

At an Orthodox synagogue in Teaneck, Israeli West Bank settlers [recently] made their most blatant attempt yet to harness Americans to support their effort to thwart a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives of the settlers’ council came to Cong. Bnai Yeshurun to try to entice American Jews to purchase homes in west bank settlements. In a flier they prepared for the housing fair, the settlers described their enterprise as "the Zionist horse pulling the State of Israel’s cart up the hill."

Why are the settlers trying to sell houses to Americans? For the same reason that they find it increasingly difficult to sell homes to Israelis: because very few in Israel buy their messianic vision; because most Israelis have long ago concluded that the beast trying to drag them to the hilltops of the west bank is not a white horse but a stubborn mule, insistent on denying Israelis hope of ever reaching a historic compromise to divide the land and allow both sides to live separately in peace. Access the full article>>