Policy Analysis

Today, Israel's Labor Party elects a new leader, the first time neither Shimon Peres nor the late Yitzhak Rabin will head the party since the political revolution that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Candidates include former Foreign and Interior Minister Ehud Barak, former Health Minister Ephraim Sneh, former Minister

Summarizes assessments of various Middle East economic experts in order to provide an overview and forecast of regional prospects for 1998. The author focuses on issues affecting all Middle Eastern economies, including oil dependence, economic centralization, massive subsidization, and other long- and short-term factors.

Offers a chronological summary and analysis of UN reactions to Iraq's most flagrant violations of relevant UN resolutions from the end of the Gulf War through April 1997. The author shows that Security Council responses to Iraqi violations became noticeably forgiving over time -- particularly when compared with Council reactions

The United States and Israel are two countries -- distant in geography, very different in size -- but both democracies sharing common values and ideals. In this day and age, common ideals and common values make for common strategic interests, and that is really the basis of the U.S.-Israeli relationship

Two-hundred and thirty-eight Iranians submitted their candidacy for the presidency, but the Council of Guardians, a group of senior clerics appointed by the supreme spiritual leader, only approved four. The two leading contenders are Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, present speaker of the Majles (parliament), and Mohammad Khatami, the former minister of

Last Sunday, the small Gulf state of Qatar, host to the next Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Economic Conference in November, rebuffed an attempt by Syria to postpone the event, despite the March 31st Arab League Council resolution calling for the suspension of political, economic, and cultural normalization with

Keynote addresses by Moshe Arens, Jackson Diehl, Adnan Abu Odeh, and Ehud Ya'ari. With Jeane Kirkpatrick, Joseph Lieberman, Robert Pelletreau, Mortimer Zuckerman, Ziyad Abu Amr, and Reuven Rivlin.

In early 1995, few were inclined to try to refute the wisdom of Europe's policy of "critical dialogue" with Iran. The belief that benevolent, rational dialogue could reform Iran-even in the face of brazen aggression and unbridled political effrontery-seemed too compelling to pass up. Nevertheless, the policy was then, and

The victory of the Labour party in the British general elections on May 1 was expected although the huge majority-179 seats-that the new prime minister, Tony Blair, will enjoy did surprise most observers. His appointment of Robin Cook to the top foreign affairs slot had been predicted-Cook had been the

Biological terrorism is very much a threat that we need to worry about. However, terrorists will face a number of formidable obstacles to conducting a successful biological attack. These include acquiring the agent, cultivating it and preparing it for dissemination, developing a means of dissemination, selecting and reconnoitering the target

Last week, the Department of State released "Patterns of Global Terrorism 1996," its authoritative survey of trends and developments in international terrorism. While it remains an invaluable resource for policy makers and scholars, some of the report's analytical conclusions are deserving of intense scrutiny and debate. Most troubling in this

The April 10 German court finding that Iran's top leaders ordered the assassination of several dissidents in Berlin underscores the hollowness of Europe's policy of engagement with Iran, and presents the U.S. with a unique opportunity to make Iran's leaders pay a real economic price for their brazen disregard of

As security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority remains largely suspended and relations between Israelis and Palestinians continue to worsen, a deepening polarization has come to characterize the wider political environment between Israel and the Arab world. Not only have most normalization efforts—from the Multilateral Peace Talks to the

Despite the multitude of regional, bilateral, and domestic political complications frustrating efforts to build upon peace, Jordan and Israel have made substantial gains toward normalizing relations since signing their peace treaty at Wadi Araba on October 26, 1994. The treaty and more than one dozen subsequent sectoral agreements have established

Out of the four people recommended for indictment by Israeli police, only Aryeh Deri—head of the Shas party and former minister of the interior—will probably be indicted. Although the police had "tangible suspicion" of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Minister of Justice Tzahi Hanegbi, there was not an "irrefutable proof

Peace in the Persian Gulf is crucial for international stability, including in East Asia. Moreover, a stable supply of crude oil and natural gas is essential to the United States, the European Union and the Asian countries. Nearly 80 percent of Japan's crude oil imports come from the Gulf region

Charles Krauthammer: Israelis and Palestinians should move immediately to accelerated final status negotiations. It is the only viable alternative to a failed Oslo process. The last three years of intensive diplomacy demonstrates that Oslo's premise is erroneous, serving to diminish rather than build confidence between the parties. Incrementalism undermines trust

Evidence continues to mount of a link between Iran and the Saudi national arrested in Canada for complicity in the bombing of the al-Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. military personnel last June. Although proof is not yet conclusive, the answer to "who bombed al-Khobar" may soon

Since the beginning of the Oslo process, Israel and the United States have consistently underestimated Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasser Arafat. Arafat is a historic figure who deserves respect. In his many years as leader of the Palestinians he has learned to employ a wide range of personas and emotions

Testimony before the House Committee on International Relations Mr. Chairman, It is an honor to appear before this Committee to discuss Egypt and U.S. policy. In recent years, as visible signs of discord have emerged between the United States and Egypt over a wide array of issues, this topic has