Middle East

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• Israel and Palestine Have a Way Forward. Will They Choose It?

  by Alon Ben-Meir

  It is time for Israel and the Palestinians to face the bittersweet truth and accept certain realities on the ground that neither side can change short of a calamity. These inescapable realities will frame the contours of a peace agreement in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.  

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/18/2023
  

  I Helped John Connally Try to Delay the Release of the Iran Hostages

  The New York Times recently reported the claim by Ben Barnes that he and the former Texas governor toured the middle east in 1980 to try to delay the release of hostages to help Ronald Reagan win election. 

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• 3/5/2023
  

  Youth Failed by Their Leaders: How the Palestinians Lost Their Way

  by Alon Ben-Meir

  Four generations of Palestinian leadership have failed their youth through intransigence and a failure to distinguish between Israel and the occupation. 

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• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  2/7/2023
  

  Is a Third Intifada Imminent?

  by Daniel Byman

  The second intifada, between 2000 and 2005, ended not with negotiated peace but with an overwhelming application of force by Israel on Gaza and the West Bank. As Israeli politics tilts rightward and abandons the idea of a negotiated settlement, it is unclear what will prevent a new escalation of violence. 

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• SOURCE: Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  1/22/2023
  

  Eric Alterman on the Shifting Debate over Israel-Palestine in America

  The writer discusses his conclusions about the evolution of the debate among American Jews about the nature of their relationship to Israel and the moral status of American policy. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/15/2023
  

  Will the US Build an Embassy on Palestinian Land in Jerusalem?

  by Rashid Khalidi

  As the new ultra-right wing Israeli government prepares to escalate the dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the United States should not allow the siting of its embassy to give cover to this project. 

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• 11/6/2022
  

  From Torch to Tunis to El Alamein: Events 80 Years Ago Made the Modern Middle East

  by Robert Satloff

  80 years ago Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, opened a second front against Nazi Germany. Today, it has proven equally important for establishing models for America's relationship to the Middle East. 

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• SOURCE: American Historical Review
  9/19/2022
  

  "As if I Wasn't There": Writing from a Child's Memory

  by Martha Hodes

  Writing her own memory of being held hostage by terrorists forced the author to put herself at the center of the story. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  9/26/2022
  

  After Four Decades, Iranian Women's Frustrations are Erupting

  by Kelly J. Shannon

  Since the 1990s, Iranian women have been engaged in slowly escalating protest against the restrictions imposed by the Islamic Republic. Have those protests become too large and too public to be contained? 

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• SOURCE: National Interest
  9/5/2022
  

  Walter Russell Mead's Contrary View of the Roots of the US-Israel Alliance

  In Mead's account, American Christians, with an affinity for viewing the Old Testament as part of the nation's heritage, not the machinations of modern Jewish organizations, brought American policy to support a Jewish state. 

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  8/9/2022
  

  Walter Russell Mead: Non-Jewish Interest Groups, not "Israel Lobby" Drive Hawkish US Mideast Policy

  Rejecting the idea of a Jewish-led "Israel Lobby" Mead emphasizes the historical influence of American Christian zionists and militarists in tilting America's mideast policy toward the goals of the Israeli right. 

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• 2/6/2022
  

  Attacking Iran would be a Catastrophic Mistake for Israel

  by Alon Ben-Meir

  Regardless of a success or failure to reach a new agreement with Iran, Israel must not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and must work closely with the US to develop a joint strategy to curb Iran’s ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and potentially end the conflict with Iran on a more permanent basis.

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• 1/16/2022
  

  Can Libya's Elections Lead to a Second Chance at Stability and Engagement with the World?

  by Luiza Carter

  The recent postponement of elections is another hurdle on Libya's path from post-dictatorship chaos toward potential democratic stability. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  11/29/2021
  

  Isaac Chotiner Interviews Martin Indyk about Henry Kissinger

  Does Martin Indyk's new book on Henry Kissinger, who is a personal friend, have enough critical distance between subject and author, asks interviewer Isaac Chotiner.

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  9/30/2021
  

  "A Horrible Mistake": Time to Ditch CENTCOM

  by Andrew Bacevich

  Created by military reorganization undertaken by the Reagan administration, CENTCOM assumes control of potential military operations in 20 nations, where a half-billion people live. In the decades of its existence, it has overseen the decline and imminent collapse of American empire. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  3/11/2021
  

  On Shedding an Obsolete Past

  by Andrew Bacevich

  "Sadly, Joe Biden and his associates appear demonstrably incapable of exchanging the history that they know for a history on which our future may well depend. As a result, they will cling to an increasingly irrelevant past."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  3/11/2021
  

  Joe Biden is Making Clear that Saudi Human Rights Violations Won’t be Ignored

  by Nicholas DeAntonis

  President Biden's recent affirmation of an American commitment to human rights in discussions with King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud fell short of many demands for action against the Saudi regime. But it is a step in reforming a relationship in which human rights have not been an afterthought, but a non-thought. 

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  1/18/2021
  

  Operation Desert Shirt

  Writer Matt Stieb examines the cultural reaction to the first Gulf War by studying the topical t-shirts of the day. Blithely invoked violence and casual bigotry silkscreened on cheap fabric should be a reminder of the cruelty inherent in war. 

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• 12/20/2020
  

  Peace is Good. But are More Peace Deals Necessarily Better?

  by Catherine Baylin Duryea

  The recent normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco extends longstanding covert cooperation between the two nations, but troublingly reflects Mideast politics that are increasingly aimed at isolating Iran. It also includes concessions that  contribute to the marginalization of the people of Western Sahara.

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• 11/8/2020
  

  Eisenhower’s Election Day Crisis Reminds Us What Presidents Must Do

  by William Lambers

  The Suez crisis reminds us that we need presidents who seek to avoid war, even above their political ambitions.