Welcome to the post-peace process: The drama that unfolded on Israel’s boundaries on Sunday as 12 Palestinians were killed in a wave of unarmed civil disobedience was but a taste of things to come. That was the warning from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Sunday night, and he’s certainly got reason to worry: Rather than pin their hopes on a moribund peace process, Palestinians have begun instead to align themselves with the Arab Spring by pressing for their own rights through acts of people power. Even if there’s no immediate followup to Sunday’s protests, they represent a political crisis of epic proportions, not only for Israel and the United States, but also potentially even for the Palestinian leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas (and even, possibly, for his new Hamas partners in government).
Access the full story >>May 16, 2011
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In-Depth Coverage
Original Commentaries
- 12/02/11
- Discussion With Tunisia’s Rachid Ghannouchi —
- 12/02/11
- Debating Military Action Against Iran —
- 12/02/11
- Terms Of Disengagement —
Setting the Record Straight
Determined to Reach a Common Objective
“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010Middle East Analysis
- Don’t Panic. Yet —Issandr El Amrani (The Arabist)
- The Islamists vs. The Markets: Egypt’s Election Analyzed —Haroon Moghul (Religion Dispatches)
- What the Libya Intervention Achieved —Marc Lynch (Foreign Policy)
Upcoming Events
The U.S. Agency for International Development and Conflict: Hard Lessons from the Field
May 17, 2011, 12:00pm – 1:15pm
From Afghanistan and Iraq to Pakistan, Somalia, and South Sudan, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is engaged daily in trying to help some of the most troubled nations on the planet make a lasting transition to stability, open markets, and democracy. Few areas of the agency’s work are more challenging or more controversial.
Join us for remarks by, and a roundtable with, the deputy administrator of USAID, Ambassador