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James Jeffrey

A memorial in Tel Aviv to the victims of the OCtober 7 Hamas terror attacks - source: Reuters

October 7, Two Years On: Repercussions for Israel, the Middle East, and U.S. Policy

An Emirati official and an Israeli expert join two former U.S. officials to discuss the ongoing aftershocks of the Hamas attack, including the revised prospects for peace amid the Trump administration's new diplomatic push.

Assessing Israel-U.S. Alignment on the Gaza Framework

Yossi Klein Halevi
Ali al-Nuaimi
Dana Stroul
Dennis Ross

Prime Minister Netanyahu will likely accentuate the positive in his response to President Trump’s initiative to end the war, but key details—let alone Hamas’s response—could decide whether the plan ultimately succeeds or falls prey to another “yes but” cycle.

Sep 29, 2025

The Twilight of Palestinian “Armed Struggle”?

David Makovsky

A police officer loyal to the Palestinian Authority stands guard on a wall at PA headquarters in Ramallah in 2007 - source: Reuters

Militant groups are under growing pressure, and large-scale armed struggle seems far-fetched, yet it remains unclear if Palestinians are finally ready to give up their old battle cry.

June 2025

Ehud Yaari

Institute Expertise on Arab-Israeli Relations

Dennis Ross

A diplomat with decades of experience in U.S. Middle East policy in the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, Ambassador Dennis Ross is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Dana Stroul

A policy practitioner with extensive experience within the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, Dana Stroul is Director of Research and Kassen Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.

Ghaith al-Omari

The former director of the American Task Force on Palestine, Ghaith al-Omari served as advisor to the negotiating team during the 1999–2001 permanent-status talks in addition to holding various other positions within the Palestinian Authority.

David Makovsky

A veteran journalist, author, academic, and diplomat, David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations.

Recent Institute Analysis

Iranians Are Not Rallying Behind the Islamic Republic

The regime’s attempts to stir up nationalist support and increase its legitimacy postwar are not working—opposition is at a historical high.

Oct 6, 2025

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Holly Dagres

A worker inspects oil pipes near Turkey's Mediterranean Coast - source: Reuters

How Renewed Oil Flows from the ITP Could Benefit U.S.-Iraq-Turkey Relations

The potential economic and strategic benefits of reopening the northern Iraqi pipeline are clear, but the agreement still faces bureaucratic, political, and security challenges before exports can resume in earnest.

Time to Unify the Kurdish Northeast with the Rest of Syria

Noam Raydan
Soner Cagaptay

Ongoing delays in implementing their integration agreements threaten to derail the entire post-Assad national project, but the Kurds and Damascus don’t need to solve all of their core issues right away—they just need to take a well-defined set of urgent confidence-building steps.

Can Municipal Polls Help Break Libya’s Political Deadlock?

James Jeffrey
Devorah Margolin

Although top-down change seems increasingly unlikely, elected Libyans may stand a better chance of challenging the national status quo by pushing from the local level.

Oct 3, 2025

Fighting Pirates and Terror: The Development of the Puntland Maritime Police Force, 2010-2023

Ben Fishman
Sabina Henneberg

Officers of the Puntland Marine Police Force patrol the Red Sea in 2024 - source: Reuters

An expert traces the PMPF’s evolution from a maritime-focused entity to a potent counterterrorism force, exploring why it has been more effective than other local forces.

October 2025

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Ido Levy

Study: Leveraging Sanctions to Change Tehran's Strategic Calculus

Four Keys for Iran Snapback Implementation

Inevitable attempts by Tehran to rebuild its nuclear and missile programs will require a U.S.-led campaign to track the regime’s proliferation activities and block transfers of related materials.

Oct 8, 2025

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Richard Nephew

In-Depth Report: The Abraham Accords at Five Years

Netanyahu, Trump, and Foreign Ministers Zayani (Bahrain) and Abdullah bin Zayed (UAE) at the Abraham Accords ceremony, Sep 15, 2020.

Maps & Graphics

Resilience and Roadblocks:

The Abraham Accords at Five Years

The architecture behind Arab-Israel normalization has survived the war years, but expansion to other countries will require a credible embrace of diplomacy, along with regional collaboration to shape Gaza’s future.

Sep 11, 2025

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David Makovsky

Recent Webcasts: Expert Policy Conversations

October 7, Two Years On: Repercussions for Israel, the Middle East, and U.S. Policy

Yossi Klein Halevi
Ali al-Nuaimi
Dana Stroul
Dennis Ross

Recognizing “Palestine”: Rationale, Expectations, Implications

An Israeli legal expert, a Palestinian political activist, and a French journalist explore the many shortcomings of recognition, including its failure to address Israeli fears and promote reform in the PA.

Sep 19, 2025

Tal Becker
Samer Sinijlawi
Isabelle Lasserre

Leaders of the United States, Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE sign the Abraham Accords at the White House in 2020 - source: Reuters

The Abraham Accords at Five Years: Resilience and Roadblocks

A panel of former ambassadors and decorated journalists discuss the impact of the landmark normalization agreement and what its future holds given ongoing hostilities in Gaza and growing Arab-Israeli diplomatic turmoil.

Sep 16, 2025

Access the interactive map.

David Makovsky
Yael Lempert
Amir Hayek
Victoria Coates
Ahdeya al-Sayed

Interactive Map: ISIS Global Activity

Under the leadership of jihadism scholar Aaron Zelin, a team of researchers at The Washington Institute has built the Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity Map, an interactive tool that provides a more accessible way to search, track, and understand the organization’s global reach. It represents the most comprehensive public archive of the group’s attack data, media output, government designations, and legal cases — information that is becoming invaluable as IS affiliates disperse into a wider range of jurisdictions and the U.S. government continues shifting resources away from the global counterterrorism fight.

Iranian External Operations Map and Timeline

Access this powerful interactive tool, which maps over forty-five years of Iranian clandestine operations around the globe.

Recently in Fikra Forum

Fikra Forum

The IMF’s Lebanon Framework: Balancing State Debt with Depositor Rights

So far, the proposals presented to Lebanon’s central bank risk prolonging rather than solving the country’s financial and economic woes.

Oct 1, 2025

Facing Fiscal Pressures: Iraq’s Struggle for Reform Ahead of the 2025 Election

Samara Azzi

Photo of an oil facility in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Fikra Forum

Baghdad’s oil dependency is a risk for long-term stability, but making the necessary changes will mean confronting political elites who benefit from the status quo.

Sep 18, 2025

Freeing Libya’s Locked-Up Oil Reserves

Mohammed Hussein

Overhead photo of a Libyan oil pipeline.

Restoring the oil-for-fuel program would avert a near-term crisis and potentially provide a platform for more ambitious reform—though it is

Sep 14, 2025

Bedouin fighters stopped at a government checkpoint near Suwayda in July 2025 - source: Reuters

Implications of the Recent Violence in Suwayda

The violence in Suwayda has exposed the limits of Ahmed al-Sharaa’s control of Syria. But the assumption that the Druze

Aug 6, 2025

Interactive Tool: Tracking Maritime Attacks in Middle East Waters Since 2019

This interactive map documents the extent to which Houthi forces, their Iranian military patrons, and other actors have been targeting vessels in regional waterways for years, including well before the Hamas-Israel war.

View the Map

Maritime Spotlight

A Houthi helicopter approaches a civilian cargo ship in the Red Sea in 2023 - source: Reuters

Lethal Attacks Show Strengthened Houthi Control over Red Sea Transit

The latest attacks make clear that the international community must guarantee the freedom and safety of all ships transiting the Red Sea, combining a permanent military mission with assistance from regional countries and private security firms.

Jul 16, 2025

Noam Raydan
Farzin Nadimi

Screenshot from MarineTraffic shows tracks of the Marina between Cyprus and Syria on March 28, 2025.

Hezbollah-Linked LPG Tanker Sails to East Mediterranean

Past ties between the Marina and the Lebanese terrorist group, along with the ship’s deceptive practices at sea, merit U.S. scrutiny.

Mar 28, 2025

What Does the Red Sea Crisis Reveal About Sanctioned Ships?

Noam Raydan

Two sanctioned Russia-linked oil tankers, which were attacked by the Houthis in 2023 and 2024, recently changed their names and

Jan 17, 2025

Screenshot excerpt of a StoryMap covering maritime attacks in the Middle East.

Tracking Maritime Attacks in the Middle East Since 2019

An interactive map showing the extent to which Houthi forces, their Iranian military patrons, and other actors have been targeting

Aug 3, 2024

Arab Public Opinion 2014 to Today

Fikra Interactive Public Polling Platform Thumbnail

Maps & Graphics

TWI Interactive Polling Platform

Interactive datasets, from 2014 to today

Jun 30, 2022

In Focus: Great Power Competition and the Middle East

How Renewed Oil Flows from the ITP Could Benefit U.S.-Iraq-Turkey Relations

External Non-State Actors as a Source of Instability in West Africa: Hezbollah and Wagner/Africa Corps

Noam Raydan
Soner Cagaptay

Russian fighters with the Wagner Group pay tribute to colleagues killed in Mali in 2023 - source: Reuters

An in-depth report on the corrosive role that Russian and Hezbollah elements are playing in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and other West African states.

October 2025