All Policy Analysis by دنیس راس

Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland: I am going to paint a very pessimistic picture, starting with the strategic reasons why we are in a worse crisis than we may even realize. First, we have been distracted by our focus on personalities. Yasir Arafat is an easy target, and he certainly

When the Bush Administration assumed office in January of 2001, it shifted direction in a number of foreign policy areas. Nowhere was the shift in direction and priority more pronounced than in the approach to Arab-Israeli diplomacy. It was not only that the President would not be engaged; it was

Once again high hopes are giving way to despair in the Middle East. While the administration still speaks of progress being made between Israelis and Palestinians, it is difficult to see it. Unfortunately, the progress was always more illusionary than real. There was a cease-fire, but there was not a

While the ceasefire is generally holding between Palestinians and Israelis, the first phase of the roadmap is barely unfolding. Palestinians are making an effort to stem incitement and at least stop terror attacks in Gaza and parts of the West Bank. The Israelis have lifted a few checkpoints, withdrawn from

The Roadmap was never designed to be a blueprint. Instead, it provides a direction and a set of guidelines for Israeli and Palestinian actions. Because the Roadmap was negotiated not by Israelis and Palestinians but by members of the Quartet -- who are not responsible for implementing its steps—no one

As the American envoy to the peace process during the Clinton administration, I worked closely with Mahmoud Abbas, often sitting across a table from him around the clock, seven days a week. Of course, I knew him by his patronymic, Abu Mazen -- "father of Mazen." Abu Mazen is a

On September 11, 2001, I was giving a lecture at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. My lecture was on the lessons of peacemaking in the Middle East. At the conclusion of the lecture, my hosts informed those assembled that two planes had been flown into the World Trade

After a week of violence that followed the Aqaba summit, most Middle East observers are pessimistic about breaking the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate. Yet after a week of extensive discussions with both sides, I believe it's possible to create a period of calm. Among Palestinians, I found a profound desire to see

If there was ever a moment to end the ongoing war between Israelis and Palestinians and return to the path of peace making, this is it. In Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has established a new baseline for the Likud Party, speaking of the need to end the occupation of

In the last week the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians appeared to be improving. The Palestinians approved Mahmoud Abbas as their first-ever prime minister, and he declared that terrorism threatened to destroy the Palestinian cause -- language one never heard from Yasir Arafat. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of

For the first time in Palestinian history, there is a Palestinian prime minister. Though the timing of the appointment can be attributed to the Bush administration's determination not to deal with Yasser Arafat and the pressure of the international community, the idea of having a prime minister came from Palestinian

Mahmoud Abbas—better known as Abu Mazen—represents a moderate course of thinking in Palestinian politics and a marked departure from the policy of intransigence and duplicity that has characterized Yasir Arafat's tainted regime. Specifically, he has challenged the premise of emphasizing national unity before national responsibility; in other words, turning a

Former U.S. Mideast negotiator Dennis Ross advocates meeting head-on allegations that undue Jewish influence and a concern for Israel's defense lie behind President Bush's strategy on Iraq. Rep. James P Moran, a seven-term Democratic congressman from northern Virginia, brought a verbal firestorm upon himself by suggesting that American Jews have

For the first time in its history, the Palestinian Authority has a prime minister. Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazin, is assuming this post in what may be a historic development. Not only may power reside in the hands of someone other than Yasser Arafat, the prime minister may

While many European leaders remain deeply fearful of the fallout from a war with Iraq, many Arab leaders in the Middle East began several weeks ago to adjust to what they perceive to be a new reality. They stopped trying to prevent the war and instead began signaling that they

If there was any doubt that diplomacy had run its course on Iraq, President Bush's speech to the country has put that to rest. Saddam Hussein has precious little time left to choose exile -- and the odds are he will choose wrong once again. Prior to the president's speech

DENNIS ROSS Dilemmas for U.S. Middle East policy will arise in the immediate post-Saddam aftermath. Foremost will be America's preoccupation with stabilizing Iraq and transforming its new government into a democracy. Vague at present is whether U.S.-led forces will focus on existing institutions (e.g., the Iraqi military) or build new

On December 20, 2002, the Quartet convened at the White House to discuss the Middle East when President George W. Bush met with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov, and three ministerial representatives of the European Union (Stig Moeller, Javier Solana, and Chris Patten). The purpose of

In my 20 years involved in Middle East diplomacy, there have been many times when the effort toward peace appeared futile to the parties involved. But none of those times had the ring of hopelessness that I see in the region today. It is clear that Israelis, after two years

The U.N. Security Council has spoken, and Secretary of State Colin Powell is receiving well-deserved praise for producing a unanimous vote for a tough resolution. But President Bush had it right: The hard part begins now. As the president has said, there have been 16 Security Council resolutions against Iraq