Today's News

Israel to Tighten Controls at Gaza Crossings in Wake of Attacks
by Amos Harel, Barak Ravid, Yuval Azoulay and Fadi Eyadat (Haaretz)

Israel is planning to tighten controls even further over goods allowed into the Gaza Strip, after a series of Hamas attacks on border crossings. Some of the crossings will remain shut today, and may remain so for several days.

On Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces foiled a Hamas attempt to carry out a combined "hit and grab" attack against the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, aimed at killing and capturing soldiers. Three Hamas gunmen were killed, and 13 IDF soldiers were injured, none seriously.

Posted on: 04/21/08
Hamas, Egypt Clash Publicly
by Ali Waked (Ynet)

A verbal confrontation broke out Sunday between Hamas and Egyptian government officials, after Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said his country would prefer a Palestinian government without Hamas in it, since the organization will hinder the Palestinian Authority’s peace efforts.

Hamas was reportedly infuriated by the remark, as Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Gheit’s comments were unacceptable and counterproductive to the efforts made to restore Palestinian unity.

Posted on: 04/21/08
Israel Plans Construction of 100 Homes in West Bank
by The Associated Press

Israel plans to build 100 homes in a West Bank settlement, the government announced Friday. …

The construction comes in return for the recent voluntary evacuation of two unauthorized outposts that held less than 10 mobile homes, settlers and defense officials said.

Posted on: 04/21/08
Israel Allows 20 Palestinian Police Stations to Reopen
by JTA

Israel will allow the reopening of 20 West Bank police stations under Palestinian control. The stations will be staffed by some 500 personnel and are located in a zone under Israeli security control and Palestinian civil control.

This is the first time Israel has permitted such a move since 2001. It is part of commitments made last week by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to ease the lives of ordinary Palestinians.

Posted on: 04/21/08

Setting the Record Straight

Still the Only Option

“Even if a miracle happens and a final-status agreement is reached, and even if it is successfully implemented, it will not achieve stability, but rather, the opposite. There is no chance that the small, split, and resource-poor Palestinian state will constitute the homeland of satisfied people. … What is clear is that continued negotiations that cannot bring about any positive result are a waste of time at best and could lead to a third Intifadah at worst.”
–Major General (ret.) Giora Eiland, op-ed in Ynet "Back to the Jordanian Option," April 16, 2008

VS.

"The fact that there were no negotiations did little to stop terror. Maybe on the contrary—it increased it. I want to talk. I won’t miss any opportunity to try and reach an agreement. If we cannot reach a two-state solution, we’ll end up with one state for two nations. That’s what I said back in 2003. If we end up with only one state between the Mediterranean sea and Jordan, with all its citizens given a choice, the Jews will become the minority. It would be the loss of the Jewish state, which we believe to be the basis for out existence.”
–Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, April 20, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Killing in the West Bank Exposes a Furtive War
by Griff Witte (The Washington Post)

When the preacher’s body arrived at the hospital, his back was scarlet where he had been whipped with pipes. His legs were black with bruises. His wrists were sliced open and bloodied. The Palestinian Authority, which had been holding Majd Barghouti in an intelligence-service prison for the previous week, soon declared that the popular Hamas imam, or prayer leader, had died of a heart attack. But eyewitness accounts, photographs, video and an independent Palestinian investigation released this month suggested that

Continue Reading Killing in the West Bank Exposes a Furtive War

Posted on: 04/21/08

Background Basics

Keeping Track of Commitments

Progress on Negotiations
Palestinian officials have recently expressed frustrations with the ongoing peace talks, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to call for greater U.S. involvement in an upcoming meeting with President Bush scheduled for April 24. PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki voiced concerns that the talks on core issues have so far yielded “no results.” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel rejected Mr. Malki’s statement, claiming that only a “small circle of

Continue Reading Keeping Track of Commitments

Posted on: 04/21/08

Heard on the Street

Keep Mideast Peace on the Agenda

Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, April 16, 2008:

“We’re a country that can walk and chew gum. We can manage a complex diplomacy across a number of fronts. Sometimes we have failed to try that diplomacy, but when we have tried working on North Korea and Middle Eastern issues, and Russia and China, we have enough expertise, and with a good national security structure, we can manage

Continue Reading Keep Mideast Peace on the Agenda

Posted on: 04/21/08

Upcoming Events

No End in Sight: Conversations on Iraq

Keynote Address:
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)

Introduction by:
Rudy deLeon, Senior Vice President of National Security and International Policy, Center for American Progress

Featured Speaker:
Charles Ferguson, author, No End in Sight

Moderated by:
Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

When: March 13, 2008, 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Where: Center for American Progress, 1333 H St, NW, Washington, DC. 20005

RSVP for event or click here for more information

Posted on: 03/10/08