In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

09/04/08: From Zero-Sum to Win-Win —Mara Rudman, adviser, Middle East Progress; senior fellow, Center for American Progress. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
09/04/08: How Progress Is Possible —
08/07/08: How to Deal with Jerusalem —Lt. Col. (Res.) Ron Shatzberg, Project Director, Economic Cooperation Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Two-State Solution Still Best Option

“In practical terms, we can reach two conclusions: First, a final-status agreement, although its details are known, cannot be secured in the foreseeable future. Second, the time has come to think about other solutions. One of them is a return not to the 1967 borders, but rather, to the reality that prevailed in 1967, when Jordan controlled the West Bank.”
—Major General (ret.) Giora Eiland, “The Jordanian Option,” YNet, September 3, 2008

"On both sides of the green line and, indeed, wherever people think about solutions to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, a lot of old/new thinking is taking place. … Most of these ideas are patently unrealistic. Discussion of them often reflects despair, not pragmatic strategic thinking. … Precisely because there is no such alternative, other options more readily suggest themselves, ranging from temporary conflict management to three states or entities. Nor does failure today mean that tomorrow we cannot try again to arrive at a two-state solution, which remains the best option for all."
—Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications & former director, Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, "One State Definitely Not an Option," bitterlemons.org, August 18, 2008

Middle East Analysis

How Progress Is Possible —Hiba Husseini, chair, Legal Committee to Final Status Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis; former vice chairperson of the Palestine Securities Exchange (1998-May 2005). Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
Perils of an Israeli Transition —The New York Times, Editorial
The Arabs Will Look Differently Upon America —Ron Pundak, director general of the Peres Center for Peace and former architects and negotiators of the Oslo Agreement (bitterlemons.org)

Letting Sanctions Work

February 11, 2008

"The fact of the matter is that diplomacy and sanctions have done nothing, nothing except buy the Iranians time to move closer and closer to their goal of developing a nuclear capability, and we’re now at that point where most people ... who had a virtually religious belief in the effectiveness of sanctions and diplomacy, are now tacitly bidding that they won’t work. ... There’s only one factor that gives me any hope whatsoever, and that is, I have to admit fading hope, and that is that George Bush may still, before he leaves office, in spite of what my friend John Bolton's certainty that he won’t, might still order strikes of the nuclear facilities."
--Norman Podhoretz, Editor-at-Large, Commentary Magazine, Herzliya Conference, January 22, 2008

"The military option is problematic, complex and fraught with dangers. ... Israel should be ready for any possible scenario. Yet it must also realize that sanctions are a much better and more realistic option. Economic sanctions have an impact, and have caused regimes to capitulate. They worked on South Africa's apartheid regime and on Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, and will soon force North Korea to radically change its policies. Global resoluteness and tightening sanctions against Tehran will force it to capitulate as well, and to abandon its ambitious program to develop a nuclear bomb."
--Silvan Shalom, Likud MK, former Israeli foreign minister and finance minister, op-ed in Haaretz, February 10, 2008