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2. One step forward, one step back: International discourse on advancing Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking
- Author:
- Lior Lehrs
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
- Abstract:
- The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been locked in a stalemate since the 2014 collapse of the US mediation initiative led by then-Secretary of State John Kerry. The relations between the parties have been all but severed and characterized by a series of crises and tensions that peaked over Israel’s 2020 West Bank annexation plan. While the Israeli-Arab normalization agreements removed the annexation idea from the agenda, this did not change the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Developments in recent months in the Israeli-Palestinian arena pose challenges and risks but also new opportunities and possibilities. Special attention should be paid to the impact of the May 2021 escalation, the deep crisis in the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the establishment of a new government in Israel. This paper maps the international discourse on advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace under the current conditions, and constitutes a follow-up to the paper we published in April 2021. It is based on a series of dialogues held by Mitvim Institute experts in August and September 2021 with European, American and Palestinian diplomats and experts, as well as UN officials, and also on a series of discussions among a team of Israeli experts formed by Mitvim.[1] The paper offers an analysis of the positions and perceptions of international actors regarding the effects of the latest developments on the Israeli-Palestinian arena, and their insights and conclusions about the feasible and desired measures that could be undertaken to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Negotiation, Peace, Annexation, and Dialogue
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
3. The Roots of Israel’s Diplomatic Revolution
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The latest diplomatic moves demonstrate that despite recent events in Jerusalem, Israel has thwarted the Palestinian plan to force it into diplomatic isolation.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
4. Understanding Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution delusion
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The idea that a Jewish and a Palestinian state will coexist peacefully is widespread in contemporary academic and political circles but ignores the reality on the ground.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Nation Building
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
5. The Maritime Border Agreement with Lebanon
- Author:
- Yaakov Amidror
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The agreement with Lebanon over the maritime border has several implications and needs to be examined from different angles.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Territorial Disputes, Maritime, Conflict, and Borders
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Lebanon
6. The Libyan EEZ Challenge: Israel Should Reject Turkey’s Claims in the Eastern Mediterranean
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The delineation of the Libyan and Turkish Exclusive Economic Zones was and remains essential not only for Israel and Egypt but also for others in the region who seek to curtail Erdogan’s ambitions and shore up Egypt’s economic and political stability.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, Middle East, Israel, and Mediterranean
7. One Month after the Start of the Escalation: The Fog Dissipates
- Author:
- Yohanan Tzoreff
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)
- Abstract:
- The escalation that began even before Ramadan has exacted a painful toll in Israel, and Hamas has indeed earned some achievements and improved its status. However, thus far events have not led to the organization’s desired outcome: mass demonstrations on several fronts, with the participation of Arabs from Israel, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Does Israel recognize the new challenges that Hamas attempts to pose? And what can be done now so that next year, when once again Passover and Ramadan coincide, this escalation does not recur?
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Hamas, and Escalation
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
8. Taliban Victory Serves as a Model for Palestinian Terror Groups
- Author:
- Marta Furlan
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- World powers and Israel should refuse to recognize the Taliban regime. This would give hope to Middle Eastern terrorist groups like Hamas that they could also gain recognition under the right conditions. Upon returning to government, the Taliban have been implementing a system of civilian administration based on their Islamist ideological background. The consequences for women and minorities have been horrifying. The same can be said about Afghanistan’s economy, which can no longer provide for its starving population. The Taliban began house searches around Kabul recently, drawing criticism from Western diplomats about rights abuses. The Taliban claim that the operations are to find “kidnappers, professional thieves and crime groups,” however, seven residents told Reuters that the searches were spreading fear and appeared indiscriminate. In terms of security, the Afghan-Pakistani border and the Afghan-Iranian border have traditionally been porous, with illicit goods, illegal immigrants, and terrorists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province moving undetected from one country to another. Similarly, the borders shared by Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan with Afghanistan remain characterized by volatility, which exposes those countries to the risk of exportation of terrorism from Afghanistan. Though Afghanistan’s neighbors have engaged in efforts to increase border security by erecting fences, conducting anti-terrorism exercises in the border areas, and relocating troops to border areas, the potential security threats originating from Afghanistan remain a source of great concern for the region and beyond. Nevertheless, for Islamists across the border in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, the Taliban’s victory – and ability to hold onto power in Afghanistan – serves as a model they seek to follow. This should cause worry for Israel due to the encouragement this provides to radical Islamist armed groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) that a return to the armed struggle is the only path to defeat Israel.
- Topic:
- Terrorism, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Taliban, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
9. Resource Mobilization in Palestinian Nonviolent Campaigns
- Author:
- Mahmoud Soliman
- Publication Date:
- 08-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
- Abstract:
- This monograph analyzes how Palestinian grassroots activists, popular resistance committees (PRCs), and popular resistance networks (PRNs) secured, managed, and used material and non-material resources to wage sustained and successful nonviolent campaigns in Area C of the occupied West Bank. A comprehensive analytical framework is developed to capture a variety of resources and to better understand the role that different types of resources have in the launching, conducting, and outcomes of a campaign. This framework is then used to analyze three nonviolent campaigns led by Palestinian communities living under occupation, highlighting how the Palestinian activists managed to secure, administer, and deploy a diverse range of material and non-material resources to support their campaigns. This study offers specific recommendations and lessons learned from the investigated cases for various actors—including activists, allies that want to support grassroots campaigns, and researchers interested in furthering the study of the role and impact of resources in nonviolent organizing and their successful acquisition by local organizers
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Activim, Grassroots Organizing, and Nation Building
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
10. The Palestinians and Arab normalization of Greater Israel
- Author:
- Mouin Rabbani
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- This paper explores the dynamics of the Palestinian response to the recent wave of normalization deals between Israel and certain Arab states. It analyzes the motivations that contributed to this wave of normalization, examines the state of Palestinian institutions, and concludes with options for a path forward.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Institutions, Peace, and Normalization
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
11. Hamas takeover of Gaza killed the two-state solution
- Author:
- Hillel Frisch
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The American pressure against the Atarot housing project north of Jerusalem was likely meant to maintain the possibility of a two-state solution.
- Topic:
- Security, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and State Building
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
12. Palestinian Violence, Not Settler Violence is the Problem
- Author:
- Hillel Frisch
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- In conjunction with radical Arab MKs, Leftist Israeli politicians focus on settler violence when the real issue is Palestinian violence organized from the apex of the PA down to paid local instigators. Palestinian violence is twenty times greater than what settlers commit and is far more dangerous and lethal.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Violence, Settler Colonialism, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
13. Ten Lessons of the Recent Gaza War
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar and Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Only time will tell whether Israel has been successful in buying for itself some time before it needs to “mow the grass” in Gaza again. In the meantime, Israel must learn from what transpired in “Operation Guardian of the Walls.”
- Topic:
- Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Military Intervention, Conflict, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Palestine, and Israel
14. Breaking the Israel-Palestine Status Quo
- Author:
- Zaha Hassan, Daniel Levy, Hallaamal Keir, and Marwan Muasher
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- A new U.S. approach should prioritize protecting the rights and human security of Palestinians and Israelis over maintaining a peace process and attempting short-term fixes. The authors of this paper identified four overarching areas of focus: (1) prioritize rights and protect people, (2) roll back the Trump administration’s actions and reassert international law, (3) clarify expectations for Palestinians and Israelis, and (4) support new multilateral approaches and accountability.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and United States of America
15. Equal Rights as a Basis for Just Peace: a European Paradigm Shift for Israel/Palestine
- Author:
- Daniela Huber
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Abstract:
- Historically speaking, the European Community and then the European Union have always reacted with paradigm changes in their foreign policies to watershed moments in the Middle East. In response to the two Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973, the European Community actually set up its own foreign policy in the first place and initiated the Euro-Arab Dialogue. After the Camp David Accords, the nine foreign ministers came out with the Venice Declaration in 1980 which reminded its partners in Washington and Tel Aviv that the Palestine question had been ignored and set the parameters for diplomacy in the 1990s. After the Cold War, however, the European Union became absorbed into the so-called Middle East Peace Process (MEPP), resulting in less independent EU agency on Israel/Palestine. This trend has become particularly obvious over the past four years of the Trump presidency, during which time the EU seemed almost paralyzed. While Europeans are now counting on the incoming Biden administration, during the election campaign Joe Biden stated that he will leave the US embassy in Jerusalem and that he is also favourable of the normalization deals between Israel and certain Arab states which President Trump had pushed for. At the same time, the Biden team seems hesitant to return to negotiations.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Human Rights, Territorial Disputes, European Union, and Negotiation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
16. Who Won the 2021 Gaza War?
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Since war is about inflicting pain and sustaining pain, Israel clearly can be declared the winner of the recent confrontation.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, War, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
17. Iran and Hamas’s Jerusalem/Gaza offensive against Israel
- Author:
- Jonathan Spyer
- Publication Date:
- 05-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- As ever, Iran prefers to avoid direct involvement. But without its backing, support and expertise, the latest Hamas offensive against Israel would have been inconceivable.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Hamas
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
18. Why Pakistan won’t be next to normalize with Israel
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Domestic constraints, support for Palestine and growing ties with Iran will likely continue to keep Pakistan and Israel apart.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Territorial Disputes, Normalization, and Domestic Policy
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
19. After the Trump “Peace Plan”: One-State Solution is the Only Way Forward
- Author:
- Diana Buttu
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- Last month, a Palestinian think tank, the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, revealed its survey results following the release of the Trump/Netanyahu plan. In announcing the results, Dr Khalil Shikaki, the head of the polling centre, noted that 94 percent of Palestinian respondents opposed the plan: “I don't think we've ever seen such a level of consensus among the Palestinian public,” he said. These results are unsurprising, of course, as the Trump/Netanyahu plan effectively seeks Palestinian approval for Israeli land theft, ethnic cleansing and continued subjugation. But alongside the results of the question pertaining to the Trump/Netanyahu plan was a more important question: “Do you support the two-state solution?” A mere 39 percent of surveyed respondents answered affirmatively, while 37 percent indicated that they support a one-state solution. These results should be placed in their proper light: for more than two decades, as the Palestinian leadership and the international community have repeatedly called for the implementation of the two-state solution, increasing numbers of Palestinians have moved away from this view and increasingly supported one state, even though there is not a single Palestinian party – whether inside ‘48 borders or in the occupied territories – advocating for it. In fact, Palestinian leaders and the international community both espouse the common view of decrying the concept of one state and adamantly holding that “There is no Plan B.” The reason for this steadily increasing Palestinian support for one state has both everything and nothing to do with the Trump/Netanyahu plan. This plan makes clear that it aims to ensure that Palestinians will never have a state and instead remain forever under Israel’s boot. But it isn’t just the Trump plan. Over time, Palestinians increasingly have seen that the version of “two states” that the international community will support – and indeed press for – is not the version of two states that Palestinians demand. To the contrary, while the world spoke of a two-state settlement, Palestinians witnessed a tripling of the number of Israeli settlers living on their land. The international community appears content with allowing Israel to build and expand settlements, while at the same time allowing it to demolish Palestinian homes and schools and imprison Palestinians into cantons. This approach condones Israel holding our economy hostage and mercilessly besieging the Gaza Strip, with only the mildest, mealy-mouthed international condemnations. The world community has blocked attempts to press for a condemnation of Israeli settlements in the International Criminal Court and has, in some cases, criminalized support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Even the European Union has been loath to uphold its trade agreement with Israel, under which Israeli settlement products should be labelled separately and should not benefit from free trade status. It has become clear that while the international community speaks of wanting a two-state settlement, it has shown itself wholly unwilling to do anything to make that happen. As someone who participated in the peace negotiations, I observed that a state for Palestinians was the furthest thing from the Israeli public and political leadership’s thinking. Instead, they were concerned with how to forever contain and control Palestinians, and how to maintain longstanding international community support in this endeavour. In short, the concept of two states has become devoid of all meaning, with the focus instead on form – whether labelled as a “state” and however dysfunctional and lacking any of the powers that actually define a state. This increasing realization has led many Palestinians to abandon the statehood project. This may sound like a defeatist position or the expression of frustration. Indeed, over the years, we have heard PLO leaders threaten to abandon the two-state project and, separately, threaten to dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Some support for one state is undoubtedly borne of that feeling. But not all. To be clear, my support for one state grew not from the futility of negotiations – even though they were indeed futile – but from a sense that the approach was incorrect. The attempt to divide land simply modelled the power structures I was attempting to fight – economic and political structures that aim to maintain Israeli power and control over Palestinians lives. Therefore, rather than focus on land – where Israel always has an advantage –, the focus should be on people and how we, as people, should live. The time has come to look to a model that focuses on equal rights for all, irrespective of religion; a model which seeks reconciliation and not separation and where people are protected and not viewed as subjects of control or, in the case of refugees, of wholesale and heartless exclusion. Today Israel and the occupied territories function as one territory, with rights and privileges granted to some and not to others. There are no separate border crossings for “Palestine” and no separate Palestinian currency. Yet Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, are denied the same rights and privileges as Israeli Jews. I am under no illusion that achieving this equality will be easy. Power is never voluntarily given up by those who wield it but taken through pressing for rights. Palestinians will be better able to break down the system of ethnic-religious privilege that plagues Palestinians (a similar system ruled apartheid South Africa) by getting to the root cause – that of Zionism, a nationalist project that favours one group over another –, by pushing for BDS and for accountability internationally and by challenging racist Israeli laws. In short, we can and must create a just system for all, irrespective of whether we demand one or two states. History demonstrates that ethnic privilege ultimately fails in a multi-ethnic world. And given that Palestinians and Israelis are fated to live together, the real question is whether we will continue to allow this system of ethno-religious privilege to prevail or whether we will press for equality, irrespective of religion. Borders, flags, and currencies can wait.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Borders, Peace, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
20. After the Trump “Peace Plan”: Two Perspectives on Palestinian Options
- Author:
- Diana Buttu and Mouin Rabbani
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- The “Peace Plan” presented by Trump and his administration as the ultimate solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been overwhelmingly rejected by Palestinians and their leadership. But what comes next? What strategy should Palestinians adopt? These two papers, written by two leading Palestinian analysts, lay out two distinct approaches for attaining Palestinian rights and aspirations. Diana Buttu argues that it is time for Palestinians to push for a one-state solution focusing on equal rights for all, while Mouin Rabbani contends that a one-state approach will not succeed given the current power dynamics and, therefore, favours a renewed Palestinian strategy to preserve the pre-Trump international consensus focused on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and a just resolution of the refugee question.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Borders, Peace, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
21. After the Trump “Peace Plan”: Ending the Occupation is the Priority
- Author:
- Mouin Rabbani
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
- Abstract:
- It is incontestable that a unitary state encompassing all of historic Palestine in which Palestinians and Israelis live in full equality represents the preferred resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Assuming this entity guarantees both individual and communal parity, and satisfactorily resolves the refugee question, it would achieve the fundamental Palestinian right to national self-determination and be consistent with the broader Palestinian aspiration of greater Arab integration. It is also irrefutable that a democratic one-state outcome in Palestine cannot be achieved without the disestablishment of Zionism, and specifically Israel’s renunciation of the core principles of Jewish political supremacy, demographic superiority, and territorial hegemony that have guided state policy since 1948. The cost-benefit calculation required for a one-state solution is thus one where Israel’s rulers determine that the price of maintaining a Zionist state has become unacceptably high and choose to relinquish it. In practice, there is no political pathway to such a resolution. Israel’s elites, and the overwhelming majority of its Jewish citizens from across the political spectrum, will contemplate a future without Zionism only as a consequence of decisive military defeat. Even then, the temptation of Israel’s leaders to rely on their nuclear arsenal to avert defeat – the so-called Samson option – cannot be dismissed. In view of the geopolitical realities which reinforce, rather than challenge, the prevailing balance of power between Israel and the Palestinians, the only one-state solutions currently on offer are those proposed by the United States in its January 2020 diplomatic initiative, and by the radical Israeli right whose agenda has been embraced by Washington. In other words, proponents of a unitary secular democratic state in Palestine who are unable to offer a credible military strategy for achieving it are dealing in unattainable illusions rather than feasible solutions. The dynamics that have produced these realities may well change, but the current state of the Palestinian national movement and the broader region suggests this will consume decades, not years. It should also be noted that economic pressure – far exceeding that exerted by the BDS movement – has had a particularly poor impact on regime change during the past century, and can play a secondary role at best. How, then, can and should the Palestinians respond to Washington’s latest proposal to formalize permanent Israeli control over the Palestinian people? Should they just abandon the two-state framework in hopes of an eventual democratic unified state? Widely condemned as the institutionalization of apartheid, the Trump-Netanyahu Plan, in fact, goes far beyond the model of structural racism devised by the white minority regime in South Africa. Israel seeks not to exploit a captive population, but rather to achieve its eventual permanent removal. Indeed, this Plan goes so far as to recommend changing the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel to residents of a Palestinian entity that will be occupied territory in all but name. The Trump-Netanyahu Plan offers nothing to the Palestinians, neither presently nor in the future, and does not even pretend to do so. It was transparently devised to accomplish each and every Israeli strategic objective at the expense of all Palestinian rights, rather than lay the basis for meaningful negotiations between the two parties in which the core interests of each are met within the framework of international legality. The measures Washington has already undertaken concerning Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, the PLO, settlements, the legal status of the occupied territories and other issues reveal this agenda and require no further comment or analysis. It is thus imperative that the various Palestinian leaderships categorically refuse any interaction – whether direct or indirect – with this initiative, as such dealings will only serve to legitimize it and provide cover for regional and international parties to seriously engage with it. The strategic purpose and primary threat of the Trump-Netanyahu plan is to transform the international consensus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For better or worse, this consensus comprises the inadmissibility of territorial conquest, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, living at peace with Israel within its 1949 boundaries, and a just resolution of the refugee question. Against this, Washington and Tel Aviv propose a resolution of the conflict on the basis that might makes right, that rights are irrelevant, and that international law is of no consequence. Rather than mobilize alongside the United States and Israel to denounce the international consensus of a two-state framework and demand its replacement, even if for radically different reasons and objectives, and to promote goals which - as noted above - are simply unattainable, Palestinians should do everything within their power to preserve, mobilize, and activate this consensus and present it as the litmus test for the preservation of the international order Washington is seeking to systematically dismantle. Indeed, under current circumstances, the only alternative is a one-state solution, which would permanently remove Palestinian national rights from the international agenda. One may not be enthusiastic about the two-state paradigm, but it would be dishonest to deny that the purpose of the Trump-Netanyahu plan is to replace it with something much worse. The above notwithstanding, to frame the Palestinian debate as a choice between a one-state solution and two-state settlement misses the point, and is today somewhat akin to a condemned prisoner spending the night before his execution agonizing over whether to spend next summer on the French or Italian Riviera. The core issue in 2020 is not about the form of eventual statehood, but rather about upholding the principle that Israel has no right to incorporate territories that international law and the international community consider to be occupied, and that its continued rule in these territories is both illegal and illegitimate. In contrast to a democratic one-state outcome, there are political avenues to ending the occupation that do not require the military resources that neither the Palestinians nor their regional allies currently possess. The cost-benefit calculation for ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip, reversing settlement expansion in the West Bank, and terminating the occupation does not require the wholesale transformation of the Israeli state. Yet, compelling Israel to dismantle the settlement enterprise and to withdraw from the occupied territories rather than annex them may – in the process – transform the state and establish pathways that in time would produce better outcomes It is commonplace to characterize the Trump administration approach to the Question of Palestine as a radical departure from traditional US policy. While this is true in certain respects, it is perhaps more useful to understand the Trump-Netanyahu Plan as the logical culmination of seven decades of US Middle East policy, and of the Oslo agreements, which never envisioned an end to occupation nor the realization of Palestinian self-determination, in particular. The prevalence of this reality and this debate attest above all to the extraordinarily weakened position in which the Palestinian people find themselves. Surpassing it will be particularly difficult, but is by no means impossible. First and foremost, Palestinians must resolve their internal differences and establish a unified national movement led by a credible leadership, with a clear strategy to disentangle from the matrix of control established by the Oslo agreements, as well as to mobilize Palestinians and their regional and international allies and supporters. Palestine needs to become a cause that stands above and beyond regional rivalries once again, rather than a political pawn used by petty autocrats for trivial advantage. It needs to once again become a primary issue on the international agenda, and a global litmus test for justice and decency, rather than a secondary dispute in a region roiled by conflict. In doing so it will also be able to rely on greater levels of popular support than perhaps ever before. A mobilized Palestinian national movement, capable of activating and – where necessary – coercing the support of regional governments, and deploying their collective wherewithal in the international arena, can successfully implement a combination of popular, political, economic, legal, and even military strategies to effectively challenge Israel’s occupation, and in critical instances compel foreign states to do the right thing out of self-interest. The Palestinians today are experiencing an existential moment. This is not a time to pursue the impossible at the expense of survival.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Occupation, Peace, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
22. From Pariah to Partner: A View from Israel on a Realigned Middle East
- Author:
- Or Yissachar
- Publication Date:
- 12-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO)
- Abstract:
- FLight number LY971 on Monday 31 August 2020, was in many respects anything but a mundane commercial flight traveling to another Middle East destination. Traditionally, the Arab world’s maximum pressure campaign against Israel was designed not only to call into question its existence militarily, but crumble its legitimacy diplomatically – prohibiting Israeli citizens from entering their territories, banning Israeli and other airlines traveling to and from Tel Aviv from using their airspace, much less land in their airports, even referring to it merely as “the Zionist entity”. Much more fundamentally than technical disagreement over policy items or territorial arrangements, the Arab world has made clear what was best enunciated in the infamous 1967 Khartoum “Three No’s”: “No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.” Despite episodic under-the-radar contacts, the Arab world had operated under the assumption that any cracks in this well-fortified wall could have been constructed as de facto recognition of a country considered a red flag.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, Zionism, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
23. Europe's Initial Reactions to Israel’s Annexation Intentions
- Author:
- Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
- Abstract:
- US President Donald Trump's plan for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, presented in January 2020, was perceived in Jerusalem as a green light to annexation of some 30 percent of the West Bank. It was in accordance with the intentions declared over the past year by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Accordingly, the April 2020 coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White political parties included a clause allowing Netanyahu to bring a USapproved annexation plan for government or Knesset approval as of July 1, 2020. 1 Soon after, reactions began pouring in from around the world, including Europe, expressing opposition to annexation and warning Israel against such a move. This paper presents the reactions of the EU, its member states and the UK. It examines them in light of the hurdles to formulating an EU consensus on the issue, and maps them according to the extent of the criticism and the attitudes of the various European states toward the Israeli government’s policy.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, International Law, Territorial Disputes, European Union, and Annexation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
24. Palestinian Non-Violence Examples in Facing Internal Disputes
- Author:
- Talal Abu-Rokba and Islam Musa
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Pal-Think For Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Throughout history, Palestinian non-violence culture was based on a large historical stock of tolerance and coexistence within the Palestinian community. Over time, the Palestinian people have been shaping one nation; they share the same culture, civilization, and political environment as well as equal shared prospects and future. For fifteen centuries, Muslim, Christian, Jewish Palestinians lived together. Usually, their different beliefs were not a reason for dispute or schism. Coexistence and a culture of respect were demonstrated in the Palestinian community. Thereby, it appears in numerous aspects of their lifestyle. For instance, they lived in the same neighborhoods, villages, and cities. Historically, population distributions showed non-religions-based demographics; they were even integrated into social, educational, and political institutions Contemporarily, Palestinians are one body. They are all related to one land where they share and cooperate on social, cultural, political, and economic levels.
- Topic:
- Religion, Territorial Disputes, Violence, and Community
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
25. The Collapse of Palestinian Grand Strategy
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Palestinian quest for an internationally imposed “solution,” which would not require them to negotiate a compromise deal with Israel, has failed. Palestinian leaders may attempt this again after Joe Biden becomes US president, but this will fail yet again, since the collapse of their past strategy is due to much more than the policies of the Trump Administration. Indeed, evolving regional and global realities allow for a new Israeli peace initiative, which can preserve the underlying principles of the Trump outline for peace.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Strategic Stability, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
26. The Lebanese-Israeli Maritime Border Talks: An Important Step Forward
- Author:
- Joshua Krasna
- Publication Date:
- 10-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The talks suggest that when common interests exist, Israel can engage beneficially and pragmatically even with enemies, resulting in de-escalation and mutual benefit.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Maritime, and Borders
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Lebanon
27. Apply Sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, Now
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Valley is Israel’s only defensible eastern border and Israel’s sovereignty there is vital for the demilitarization of a future Palestinian state
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Sovereignty, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
28. Phased Territorial Implementation of the Trump Peace Plan
- Author:
- Eran Lerman and Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Trump Plan is the most realistic route for progress towards the goal of “two states for two peoples.” Therefore, the Israeli national unity government should embrace the Trump plan in its entirety, including negotiations towards establishment of a Palestinian state, and at the same time act (in the first stage) to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and strategically significant areas in the Jerusalem envelope, such as Maaleh Adumim and Gush Etzion. An Israeli consensus exists regarding these areas.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
29. Is Iran Gaining a Foothold in the West Bank?
- Author:
- Jonathan Spyer
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- A moribund terrorist group, the PFLP, is experiencing a revival and launching terror attacks, with help from Iran.
- Topic:
- Terrorism, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
30. Build Jerusalem
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- US recognition of the eternal city as Israel’s capital and the Trump peace plan pave the way forward.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Peace, and Statehood
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Israel
31. Implementing Elements of the Trump Plan: An Opportunity to Give New Life to the Two-State Option
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Rejection of the Trump plan outright, denunciation of any steps towards its implementation, and adherence to the failed Oslo-era paradigm for peace – is certain to condemn all sides to continued conflict.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Palestine, and Israel
32. Netanyahu’s Annexation Plan Can’t Be Stopped
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Annexation of the Jordan Valley is a long-standing Israeli objective, going back to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
- Topic:
- Security, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, Settlements, and Annexation
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
33. The “Deal of the Century” and Israel’s European Challenge
- Author:
- Emmanuel Navon
- Publication Date:
- 02-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Europe ought to press the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel for a demilitarized state on a territory similar in size to the pre-1967 West Bank and Gaza Strip and whose economy will be rebuilt and boosted by a $50 billion investment.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, Peace, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
34. 15 reasons to embrace the Trump Plan
- Author:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel should act to implement the Trump Plan and reap its early rewards, because it transforms the Mideast peace paradigm. Most importantly, the plan reflects, and can serve as a platform for, Israeli consensus on the Palestinian issue.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
35. Breaking the ‘everybody knows paradigm’
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Even if the Palestinians reject Trump’s peace plan, it still serves their long-term interests. False, undeliverable expectations – based on the assumption that “everybody knows” what Israel will be forced to concede – eventually need to give way to a more realistic paradigm, which in turn may lead to a better life for both sides.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
36. No to the planned Palestinian elections
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Jerusalem is not the place to hold elections for a foreign entity.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Elections, Conflict, and Violence
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
37. Netanyahu and the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH)
- Author:
- Lior Lehrs
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Mitvim: The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
- Abstract:
- On Janury 28, 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was terminating the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), an observer force established in 1994 after the massacre of Muslim worshipers in Hebron by the Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein. In January 1997, an agreement was signed between the Government of Israel, headed by Netanyahu, and the PLO setting out terms of the TIPH mandate. The sides repeatedly extended the agreement for over 20 years. The observers do not have military or policing functions, and they do not bear arms. Their task is to monitor and report on events and convey classified reports to each side, and to the TIPH contributing states. Netanyahu’s decision, to a large extent influenced by domestic pressure in the runup to the April 9 elections, generated expressions of concern and condemnation by the international community, both by the force’s contributing states such as Norway and Italy, and by Germany, the EU and the UN Secretary General. The reactions noted that the observer force had been an element of the Oslo process and played an important role in the volatile and sensitive city of Hebron, warning against the repercussions of its removal. Changing and adapting the mandate of the observer force should be conducted in a dialogue with the Palestinian Authority and TIPH states, and not dictated as a unilateral Israeli political decision.
- Topic:
- Treaties and Agreements, United Nations, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Hebron
38. Trump’s Plan is Opportunity to Change Paradigm
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Any government elected in Israel will undoubtedly agree to discuss the plan with the Americans.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
39. Fear Not the Trump Plan
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- It is inconceivable that the Trump plan will parrot the stale Clinton/Obama parameters of yesteryear or force any “peace paradigm” on Israel.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
40. Protect and Preserve Area C
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel must administer Area C effectively and with much more authority, whether it wishes to either hold the territory as an effective card for future bargaining or it intends to annex the lands to Israel.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
41. Hamas Misread the Map
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The IDF’s response will be harsher than usual, not because Israelis in the center are more valued than those in the periphery but because of the emerging need to show Hamas that it has grossly misjudged.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Terrorism, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Hamas, and Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
42. Trump’s Law of Diminishing Returns
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Trump’s landmark Golan decision asserts the law of diminishing returns: Arabs who refuse to make peace with Israel lose rights and assets as time goes forward. Mahmoud Abbas: Take notice.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
43. Will Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ lead to change?
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The guaranteed failure of the “deal of the century” is an opportunity for Israel to open the Americans’ eyes to the harsh and complicated reality in our region and lead them to support the strategy of managing the conflict and wait for better times.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, Peace, and Strategic Stability
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
44. Egyptian Mediation in Gaza is a Strategic Asset by its Own Right
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- It is in Israel’s interest to solidify the Egyptian role in Gaza, in the context of “conflict management” as a governing policy concept. Egyptian participation in the efforts to stabilize the situation in Gaza serves as an important component in the vital Egypt-Israel relationship. It also helps erode Hamas’ pretensions of Jihad.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, Terrorism, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, Peace, Hamas, Strategic Stability, and Mediation
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Egypt
45. No Reason to Fear PA Economic Collapse
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- As dysfunctional as the Palestinian national movement has become, it has excelled in perpetuating the pork barrel born in Oslo.
- Topic:
- Economics, Territorial Disputes, Governance, Leadership, and Palestinian Authority
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
46. On Demography and Economic Development in Jerusalem
- Author:
- David Koren
- Publication Date:
- 08-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The recent State Comptroller’s report on Jerusalem shows continuing Jewish emigration from the city. Israel must act swiftly to reverse this trend.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Territorial Disputes, Economic Development, and Emigration
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
47. Annex the Jordan Valley
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 09-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- A selective settlement policy focusing on areas within the Israeli consensus, including Ma’aleh Adumim and the Jordan Valley, can be pursued with little foreign interference.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Settlements, Annexation, and Foreign Interference
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan
48. Truth-Telling to Advance Peace
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- By changing the discourse about settlements, the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for realistic negotiation. Even if you think that Israeli settlement should be rolled-back in the context of a sensible peace arrangement, applying the demonizing epithet “illegal” makes for a destructive narrative that distances, not advances, peace.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Discrimination, Negotiation, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
49. Israel is Worthy and Winning
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- There are competing narratives about Israel: that it is flying-high, or that it is heading towards disaster. Wise and important actors around the world are coming to the conclusion that the first assertion is true. Israel is an anchor of sanity and a source of ingenuity in an unruly world. Israel’s strategy of vigilance, patience, and looking over the horizon for new partnerships is working.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, Anti-Semitism, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
50. Israel Must Rule Generously in Jerusalem
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Investment in eastern Jerusalem is the core of sovereign political action that will keep Jerusalem whole and make it prosperous for all.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes, Democracy, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
51. The Demand for Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is a Waste of Zionist Energy
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 02-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The longing for Jewish sovereignty over the historic homeland of the Jewish people is understandable. Nevertheless, the recent attempt to pass a law declaring Israeli sovereignty over the settlements in Judea and Samaria is useless.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes, Law, and Zionism
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
52. Tehran is paying a heavy price
- Author:
- Eran Lerman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Iranian provocation on the Golan Heights failed, and the Iranians would do well to cut their losses now and end their confrontation with Israel.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
53. Gaza Prejudice and Perfidy
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 05-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- What is Western support for “Israel’s right to exist within secure and recognized borders” worth if those borders cannot be defended?
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Minorities, Discrimination, and Borders
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
54. The diplomatic day after Abbas
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 05-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel should be preparing for a paradigm change with regard to administration of the territories; a move beyond rotten reliance on Fatah leadership and the creaky two-state construct.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Peace, Anti-Semitism, and Palestinian Authority
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
55. ‘Mowing the grass’ in Gaza
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Because ending terrorism from Gaza is unrealistic, Israel has wisely adopted a strategy of attrition. If there is soon to be a large-scale ground operation, conquering the whole Strip should not be the goal.
- Topic:
- Terrorism, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Counter-terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
56. Moving the Markers
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Clinton-Obama parameters haven’t worked – not for 25 years of peacemaking efforts since Oslo. They have lead to deadlock and much suffering. Let’s give the Trump team credit for taking a fresh look at what is safe, wise, fair and realistic in today’s Israeli-Palestinian reality.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, Leadership, Borders, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
57. The Advantages of a Cease-Fire
- Author:
- Yaakov Amidror
- Publication Date:
- 08-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel would prefer not to go to war with Hamas over kite terrorism but Gaza’s rulers should not confuse that with apprehension. The simple fact is that clear priorities must be set and Israel must decide which of the threats it faces is truly urgent.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
58. Angela Merkel’s Duplicity on Israel
- Author:
- Emmanuel Navon
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Germany is being inconsistent and duplicitous and the time has come to say it loud and clear.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Germany
59. Warmed-Over Withdrawal Syndrome
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The INSS unilateral disengagement plan is neither new nor logical.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
60. Fear Triumphs: On the Nonparticipation of Eastern Jerusalem Arabs in Municipal Elections
- Author:
- David Koren
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Despite the desire of Arabs in eastern Jerusalem for greater integration in Israeli life, their fear of the Palestinian Authority and its agents kept them away from the polls in October. And while seeking pragmatic and constructive integration in Jerusalem, they still adhere to the Palestinian side of the identity axis. Once again, 38% of the capital city’s residents remain outside its political arena.
- Topic:
- Territorial Disputes, Minorities, Elections, Discrimination, Local, and Palestinian Authority
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
61. Restraint and Deterrence
- Author:
- Yaakov Amidror
- Publication Date:
- 12-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel’s security requirements on other fronts, require containment of the conflict on the southern front, while continuing to build the western Negev notwithstanding Hamas’ arson attempts.
- Topic:
- Security, Terrorism, Territorial Disputes, Deterrence, and Hamas
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
62. The Real Test for the Palestinian Reconciliation is Disarming Hamas
- Author:
- Yaakov Amidror
- Publication Date:
- 07-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- A Fatah-Hamas reconciliation is promising for the Palestinian people, but it cannot come at Israel’s expense. If the Palestinian Authority is unable to impose the terms of the deal on the Islamic terrorist group, it would make it clear the deal is bogus.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Palestinian Authority
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
63. Fund the Temple Mount Sifting Project Now
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Temple Mount Sifting Project has turned the Wakf’s criminal dump of the most sensitive and valuable archaeological dirt on the globe – a national disgrace – into a national treasure. Funding the project is the least the government can do as penance for its long-standing malfeasance in countering Palestinian-Islamic aggression against Jewish history in Jerusalem and Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Archaeology
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
64. Netanyahu’s Strategic Achievements
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Netanyahu has driven Israel forward on the basis of a coherent strategic worldview and improved Israel’s fortunes.
- Topic:
- Security, Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, and Leadership
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Israel
65. Western Wall Unity
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Despite Palestinian terrorism and Orthodox “control” of the site, more than one million Jewish pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem’s Western Wall during the High Holiday period. So let’s keep Kotel “crises” in perspective.
- Topic:
- Religion, Territorial Disputes, and Unity
- Political Geography:
- Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
66. How Trump and Netanyahu Xan Transform Peace Diplomacy
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- By tabling creative coexistence proposals, pushing core issues to the top of the agenda, suggesting innovative alternatives to the problematic two-state paradigm, and articulating red lines that are clear and broad.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
67. Mind-Blowing European Union Chutzpa
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 10-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Israel shouldn’t pay the EU one red cent of “compensation” for dismantling illegally-built EU settlements in Area C.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, European Union, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
68. Israel Must Rule All of Jerusalem
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Cutting Arab neighborhoods in the east and north out of Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction is a bad idea; a slippery slope towards a full-scale political division of the city. Either Israel rules effectively, generously and fully in greater Jerusalem, for all residents, or it doesn’t.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes, Statehood, and Jurisdiction
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
69. Cleaning-up and Sewing-up Eastern Jerusalem
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The application of de facto sovereignty and governance on the ground is the core of political action that can keep Jerusalem whole. The struggle for sovereignty in Jerusalem has transitioned from ‘Jerusalem on High’ – high-powered political summits, to ‘Jerusalem of Below’ – the conduct of decent daily life in the city for Arab and Jewish residents alike.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes, Governance, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
70. A Marshall Plan for Gaza is a Bad Idea
- Author:
- Efraim Inbar
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- Prof. Efraim Inbar argues that Israel should adhere to its longstanding approach of using sticks and carrots in the Palestinian arena.
- Topic:
- Military Strategy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Settlements
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
71. 70 Years to the UN vote on Partition: Looking back, looking ahead
- Author:
- Emmanuel Navon
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The 70th anniversary of the UN resolution on the partition of British Palestine is an opportunity to debunk a myth about this resolution, and to rethink Israel’s policy toward the United Nations. The General Assembly (GA) vote on 29 November 1947 was a recommendation and not a binding decision (like all GA resolutions). It became moot the moment it was rejected by the Arab League. The Security Council did not act to implement the GA resolution, even though it knew that the Arab League opposed the resolution and that it was preparing for war. Israel would not have become independent had the Jews not built a society and an economy for decades, and had they not won the war imposed on them by the Arab League. In 1947, Israel got lucky at the UN: Stalin wanted to end Britain’s presence in Palestine (to him, any British and Western retreat was a victory); Truman was determined to override the State Department (“Dealing with them was as rough as a cob” he said); and France was eager to give Britain a taste of its own medicine (the French blamed the British for the independence of Syria and Lebanon in 1944). There were very few independent Arab and Muslim states back then (Africa, the Middle-East, and Southeast Asia were mostly under European colonial rule). Decolonization and the Cold War changed this configuration to Israel’s disadvantage. The number of Arab and Muslim states rocketed, and the Soviet Union successfully recruited them to fight “imperialism” (Soviet foreign policy became openly pro-Arab in 1953, and Egypt became a Soviet ally in 1955). After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arab world used not only the oil blackmail but also its “automatic majority” at the UN to isolate Israel. This diplomatic warfare culminated in the November 1975 GA resolution that condemned Zionism as a form of racism. Despite the end of the Cold War and peace agreements between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, the political hijacking of the UN never abated. The 2001 UN Conference against Racism in Durban turned into an anti-Israel festival, and the replacement of the Human Rights Commission by the Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2006 only made things worse for Israel (and for human rights). Special UN agencies such as UNESCO are still manipulated by the Palestinians and the Arab states to gang-up against Israel. Yet Israel is not helpless, and there are ways of taming the hijacking of the UN.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, United Nations, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Decolonization
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Israel
72. Jerusalem is the Test of US leadership in the Middle East
- Author:
- Emmanuel Navon
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Arab League’s Chairman, Ahmed Abul Gheit, has warned President Trump that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would do a disservice to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as ignite violence in the Middle-East. Given the absence of a peace process and given the abundance of violence in the Middle-East, Mr. Aboul-Gheit’s warning does not even pass the laughing test. Far from inflaming the region, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would actually send a sobering message to the Arab world: that the time of historical denial is over, and that Israel is being retributed for being the only country in the region that protects the holy sites of all faiths.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Religion, Territorial Disputes, and Peace
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Jerusalem
73. Trump’s Commendable Defiance on Jerusalem
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 08-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- The Palestinians and the Europeans brought Trump’s Jerusalem declaration on themselves by running an ugly campaign of denialism and denigration against Israel. Their brazen persistence in delegitimizing the Jewish People’s historic roots and rights in Jerusalem led to this defiant and ultimately honorable result: a re-assertion of reality.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Diaspora, Territorial Disputes, and Anti-Semitism
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem, North America, and United States of America
74. Greeting Vice President Pence
- Author:
- David M. Weinberg
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
- Abstract:
- After recognizing Jerusalem, America’s next move should be banishing the EU from regional diplomacy.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Regional Cooperation, Territorial Disputes, European Union, and Leadership
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem, North America, and United States of America
75. Assessing U.S. Strategy in the Israeli-Palestinian Talks: A Mideast Trip Report
- Author:
- Robert Satloff
- Publication Date:
- 02-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Amid the swirl of Middle East chaos, Israelis are enjoying relative calm and real prosperity. External events -- from the counterrevolution in Egypt and the deepening sectarian war in Syria to the spread of Iranian influence across the region -- should provoke deep concern, but the political class is consumed with the politics and diplomacy of negotiations with the Palestinians.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Territorial Disputes, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt
76. Israeli Financial Measures Against the Palestinian Authority
- Author:
- Neri Zilber
- Publication Date:
- 04-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Israel has gotten few positive results from past financial measures against the PA, and both sides risk miscalculation and escalation when they employ unilateral tactics. On April 1, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas signed accession papers to fifteen international conventions, endangering the current round of peace talks and spurring the Israeli government to state that unilateral Palestinian steps would be met by unilateral steps of its own. Over the past several days, Israel has made good on this promise, instituting various economic and financial sanctions against the PA. Yet recent historical experience indicates that Israel's willingness to maintain punitive financial sanctions on the PA is limited.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Israel and Palestine
77. With the Peace Process on Hold, Washington Still Faces Key Israeli-Palestinian Tests
- Author:
- Robert Satloff
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- In the coming days, the Obama administration faces key decisions on how to respond to a Palestinian government "backed by Hamas," whether to condone Hamas participation in Palestinian elections, and what strategy to adopt in response to another effort by Palestinians to enhance their status in the UN.
- Topic:
- Armed Struggle and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and United Nations