Policy Analysis

The Bellwether Citizenship Question–Palestine Now Trumps Israel: East Jerusalem’s 330,000 Palestinian legal residents, though overwhelmingly not Israeli citizens, have many practical advantages over their West Bank neighbors. Only the former have the right to work, study, and travel freely inside Israel, and to participate in Israel’s extensive social welfare system

This month marks the anniversary of the pivotal Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, the first agreement of its kind. The two nations have enjoyed diplomatic relations since the signing of the treaty over 40 years ago. Through trials and challenges, the agreement has held and offers hope in a time where peace

In early 1947, a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad Ta’amirah threw a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff near Qumran on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea and heard a clay pot shatter. The next day, the shepherd returned with some of his friends and climbed

Palestinians watching Israel’s election this week are likely to find their low expectations fulfilled. The vote produced yet another inconclusive result, with the incumbent prime minister’s Likud Party narrowly in the lead but unable to muster a majority governing coalition with its existing right-wing and religious allies. The centrist Blue

The first signs of the coronavirus epidemic came just two weeks before Israel’s third election, when fourteen Israelis were quarantined for two weeks on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan. For Israel’s politicians, the virus gave them the excuse to bombard the electorate with news of

Despite the collapse of the Syrian economy due to the ongoing war that has raged for years, Syria’s war economy benefits those known as “war profiteers,” who exploit the war, siege, and mass poverty to amass vast resources. These profiteers operate via border crossings that connect regions in conflict, which

The disenchanted response of much of the Arab world to U.S. President Trump’s recently announced Peace Proposal has highlighted the serious need for alternative visions of a peace process, especially from Palestinians. And as an international community, we need to shake the foundations of this conflict to find peace. The

On January 14, Tunisia marked the ninth anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Yet this year’s anniversary took place amid a tense social and political atmosphere, made even more strained by Tunisia’s fragile economy. Although Tunisian citizens now enjoy freedom of expression

In between the Trump peace plan’s release on January 28 and Israel’s March 2 election, new survey data shows that most Palestinian respondents now say they prefer “regaining all of historical Palestine” over permanent peace with Israel. Yet majorities in both the West Bank and Gaza voice much more pragmatic

One year ago, Algeria witnessed the beginning of the largest and most peaceful popular protests since its independence in 1962. Since then, Algerians have filled the streets every Tuesday and Friday to express their rejection of the state’s political system and demand radical change. In the past year, Algeria has

Around the start of the Lunar New Year holiday on January 25, fears heightened as experts announced that the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) could no longer be contained in its origin city of Wuhan, China. Because much remains unknown about the virus, the international public has been reacting in a

Three different Palestinian polls in the past few weeks indicate that the West Bank and Gaza publics roundly reject the U.S. administration’s peace plan by margins of around 90%. But the latest poll, conducted by the Palestine Center for Public Opinion (PCPO), also shows that most Palestinian respondents now also

On January 29, the Trump administration unveiled the political aspect of the long-awaited ‘ Deal of the Century.’ This announcement came six months after the Manama workshop in Bahrain, which focused on the Plan’s economic vision, including proposals for investment and infrastructure projects in Palestine worth around $50 billion. The

In the past week since its announcement, there have effectively been no Palestinian voices coming out in favor of President Donald J. Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, announced on January 28, 2020 and dubbed as “The Deal of the Century,” whether publicly or privately. Palestinian opinion is overwhelmingly against this latest

Germany must recognize and seek to understand the embedded nature of anti-Semitism in Syria in order to better help its newest residents to live lives free of state-sponsored prejudice.

The four most vital governorates in Yemen, in terms of agriculture and population density, are Sana’a, Ibb, Taiz, and Hodeidah. Ibb in particular is known as “ the fertile province” or “Ibb the Green” because of its unusual amounts of rainfall and soil properties, and it serves as a major

Iraq’s trifecta of unemployment, lack of public services, and corruption has been a prime motivating force fueling Iraq’s months of protests. And since the protests began, the young Iraqi protesters who took to the streets have discovered a fourth point of contention: the elite’s lack of accountability and willingness to

The rapid escalation following the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani has threatened the already precarious state of U.S.-Iraq relations. Now, Iraq must decide how to respond, while considering the unintended consequences that any action will bring. At present, it seems the Iraqi government’s recent 170-0 vote—in the absence of

Since the start of the Iraq War in 2003, a defining element of American policy has been the importance of the political and territorial integrity of the Iraqi state. In light of the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, subsequent retaliation from Iran, and continued violence in Iraq—most recently manifesting in

On Tuesday, the Trump administration released the political portion of the long-awaited Middle East Peace Plan, six months after its attempts to publicly involve Arab states through the peace plan workshop in Manama, Bahrain, which introduced a $50 billion Palestinian investment and infrastructure proposal. The eighty-page document named Jerusalem as