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

“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

Israel Releases 199 Palestinian Prisoners —
Significant Lebanese-Syrian Meeting Overshadowed by Bombing —
The Challenge of Jerusalem —Prof. Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, head, Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies; professor of international relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Hamas May Find it Needs Fatah

Craig S. Smith and Greg Myre (The New York Times)

June 18, 2007

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

For now, Hamas appears to be winning, but its latest gains are primarily military, not political. While the movement is popular politically among the urban poor and the young in both the West Bank and Gaza, Fatah remains the stronger movement in the West Bank — where people are relatively better off and where it has built an extensive system of patronage. It still has support among many moderate Gazans, too.

Hamas’s military victory last week obscures the fact that Fatah has been gaining political support in Gaza over the past year, according to Mouin Rabbani, an analyst at the International Crisis Group in Jordan…Hamas could face a backlash if Palestinians generally blame it for undermining unity. It could also be blamed for giving Israel, the United States and others further reason to isolate Hamas and work with Fatah in the West Bank at the expense of Hamas in Gaza. Access the full article>>