Political Geography: Israel / Publication Year: within 10 Years and within 25 Years / Topic: Treaties and Agreements

Author:: David Pollock
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:: A closer look at Palestinian views on prisoner releases, the Jewish state question, economic needs, and other issues suggests diplomatic openings are far from exhausted. As the United States works to salvage the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the Palestinian public in the West Bank and Gaza is more prepared to accept various diplomatic compromises than official positions or elite attitudes would suggest. A number of new polls by different Palestinian pollsters, and in-depth discussions with Palestinian scholars and others in late March, indicate that Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas has greater latitude to make a deal than is often supposed. The polls cited here are from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) and Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), both based in Ramallah, and the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), based in Bethlehem.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and North America

Author:: Robert Satloff
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:: The current impasse in Israeli-Palestinian talks is buffeted by a series of profound global and regional challenges, including Ukraine, Iran, and Syria, among others. In the immediate arena, while Israel and the Palestinian Authority may have dysfunctional political and diplomatic relations, they also have reasonably effective security cooperation and economic coordination. Therefore, a principal challenge for U.S. policy and for local leaders is to find ways to preserve, even enhance, the latter even as disagreement over the former worsens.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: United States, Iran, Ukraine, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and North America

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

Author:: Ehud Yaari and Neri Zilber
Publication Date:: 04-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:: Even as the deal offers short-term political benefits for both sides, it fails to resolve key issues separating them. The April 23 Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement announced in the Gaza Strip is the latest in a long line of attempts to bridge the intra-Palestinian divide. The timing of the agreement amid U.S.-brokered peace talks, as well as both parties' internal weaknesses, points to more serious intent than past efforts. However, the deal fails to address the most sensitive issues separating the two sides and likely can be explained by the political boost it offers to both leaderships. The only certainty is that the reconciliation deal severely complicates efforts to extend Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations past their April 29 deadline.
Topic:: Foreign Policy and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

Author:: Robert Satloff
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:: As narratives about the root causes of the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations take shape, U.S. leaders have a major decision to make about whether to disengage from diplomacy or deepen involvement in less high-profile ways.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:: United States, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

Author:: Neri Zilber
Publication Date:: 06-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:: If U.S. policy was to "wait and see" how the Hamas-approved Palestinian reconciliation process would unfold in practice, the test is now.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Terrorism, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and North America

Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Israel and Hamas are locked again in combat likely to yield – beyond tragic life and property loss – a return to a destructive status quo. The immediate triggers were the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli yeshiva students, for which Israel holds Hamas responsible, and the revenge torture and murder of a Palestinian teen by vigilante Israeli Jews. The nature and extent of Hamas's involvement in the initial obscenity remains unclear, but the attack's consequences are anything but. Since Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July, 168 Palestinians have been killed (80 per cent civilians, a fifth of whom were children) and about 1,150 wounded. Some 1,000 rockets have been launched toward Israel, of which about 200 were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system. Previous rounds ended with each side claiming at best a Pyrrhic victory, because Israel can achieve lasting stability only when Gaza does, and vice versa. Breaking this pattern is even more urgent today, because the stakes of this escalation could be higher.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Islam, Treaties and Agreements, and Territorial Disputes
Political Geography:: Israel

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