All Policy Analysis by Robert Satloff

This is the first in a two-part series on the topic "U.S. Aid to Egypt: Building a Partnership for the 21st Century." Read Part II. For the first time in nearly twenty years, the United States will soon revamp foreign aid to Israel and Egypt. Given the centrality of these

Just days after America's two most powerful men -- the President and the Vice President -- celebrated Israel's fiftieth anniversary in special ceremonies in Washington and Jerusalem, America's two most powerful women -- the First Lady and the Secretary of State -- offered a very different coda to Israel's jubilee

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says, is "in grave danger." Why? There are two main reasons. The first should be obvious: The Oslo accords have yet to produce very much peace. More Israelis have died in the 4 1/2 years since Oslo than did during the

What do Middle Easterners have to learn from the Northern Ireland peace accord? Other than the common legacy of terrorism and the shedding of innocent blood, the two conflicts are fundamentally different and the solutions reached at Stormont last week and in Oslo in 1993 are very different, too. But

The peace process, says the State Department spokesman, is in "dire straits." That is the assessment following Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross's trip to the Middle East, in which no solution was reached for a key element of the current impasse: the question of the second and third redeployments

Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Near East and South Asian Affairs Mr. Chairman, It is an honor to participate in this timely and important hearing on a subject of vital national interest. I thank you for the opportunity to present my views to this Committee

Two Problems: "There are two main reasons why the peace process has stalemated. The first is obvious - Oslo has yet to produce very much peace. Here, one needs to go to basics. In absolute terms, more Israelis have died in the four years since Oslo than did during the

The Oslo accord is designed to divide the Israeli-Palestinian peace process into as many sub-phases as possible. Based on former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's concept of incrementalism, this cautious approach includes a review of the other side's compliance with past obligations before moving to the next sub-phase. Consequently, Israeli Prime

While the Tehran Islamic summit and the new Israeli spy scandal have garnered the Middle East headlines this week, important developments have taken place in Jordan that both suggest the Israeli-Palestinian peace process may be poised for progress and point to the re-engagement of a critical player—King Hussein. Diplomatic context

To the Clinton Administration, the Iraq crisis appears headed toward a satisfactory outcome. As a result of the UN Security Council's unanimous condemnation of Iraq and imposition of additional (if modest) new sanctions, Saddam seems to have succumbed to the will of the international community, with UNSCOM inspectors soon returning

This marks the third parliamentary election since 1989 and the first since the Jordan-Israel peace treaty. It is important to recall three principles when evaluating the parliamentary experience in Jordan: 1) Democratization has been, from its origin, instrumental-i.e., it was meant to serve other goals. The reconvening of parliament in

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will find a Middle East of changing expectations and heightened vulnerabilities for United States interests. In Egypt, she will find a country that is facing potential cuts in U.S. foreign aid; Congress has given notice that economic assistance—the symbol of the U.S.-Egypt relationship—is legitimate fare

The Clinton administration responded to internal and international pressure to ratchet up its role in the Arab- Israeli peace process yesterday with two important statements—a full-scale speech by Secretary of State Albright and extended comments by President Clinton at a Rose Garden press conference. The result was two key shifts

Six months after the signing of the Hebron protocol and the U.S.-negotiated Note for the Record, it is clear that the negotiating process is at an impasse. While the Hebron violence has subsided and the two sides have returned to the bargaining table just this week, this is clearly the

On the 30th anniversary of the Six Day War, it is clear that the diplomacy designed to resolve a core element left from that conflict—the Israeli-Palestinian dispute - has reached an impasse. Not only has the security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority envisioned in the Oslo Accords broken

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

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

As Prime Minister Netanyahu prepares to meet President Clinton on Monday, policymakers and analysts are asking how Israeli-Palestinian relations could plummet from the optimism that surrounded the signing of the Hebron agreement in mid-January to today's violence, brinkmanship and gloominess. Explanations abound—from the controversy surrounding Har Homa construction to the

The weeks between the Hebron agreement and the first phase of Israel's "further redeployment" in the West Bank have already produced an uncommon still in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, with tourism officials undertaking a joint marketing scheme under the motto: "Peace -- It's a Beautiful Sight to See." In this critical

Last week's serious crisis provides a number of important lessons. Although the Washington summit produced assurances from both sides to avoid violence, similar pledges have been made in the past and have been violated. Unless serious steps are taken by both sides, it is likely that last week's understanding will