Policy Analysis

The Crusades began with a rumor of defilement. In 1095, Pope Urban II denounced the Muslims as "a race utterly alienated from God." Among their many offenses, Muslims had seized the churches of Jerusalem: "They circumcise the Christians, and the blood of the circumcisions they either spread upon the altars

Given acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's commanding lead in polls before the March 28 election, some might tend to dismiss the current campaign. One should not be misled by the steadiness of the polls despite such monumental events as Ariel Sharon's massive brain hemorrhage and subsequent comatose state and

On March 8, 2006, Gal Luft and Edward Morse addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Mr. Luft is executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and co-chair of the Set America Free Coalition. Mr. Morse is executive advisor at Hess Energy Trading Company and former

On March 3, 2006, Marc Otte, Patrick Clawson, and David Makovsky addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Ambassador Otte is the European Union's special representative for the Middle East peace process. Dr. Clawson, The Washington Institute's deputy director for research, is author with Zoe Danon Gedal of the Institute

Turkey is cool nowadays. Istanbul bustles with designer high-rises, fusion restaurants in the gentrifying Beyoglu neighborhood, and a Picasso exhibit in the Sabanci museum on the Bosphorus. The city's new museum of modern art overlooking the Ottoman Topkapi Palace teems with visitors. Istanbul has all the signs of a city

On March 8, 2006, Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog (Israel Defense Forces) testified before the House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia. General Herzog is a visiting military fellow at The Washington Institute. The following is the prepared text of General Herzog’s testimony. Hamas’s electoral

On March 7, 2006, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon addressed the Hudson Institute. General Yaalon, a distinguished military fellow at The Washington Institute, is the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff. The following is the prepared text of General Yaalon’s speech. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Islamist

On March 3, 2006, Marc Otte, Patrick Clawson, and David Makovsky addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Ambassador Otte is the European Union's special representative for the Middle East peace process. Dr. Clawson, The Washington Institute's deputy director for research, is author with Zoe Danon Gedal of the Institute

How can Washington best communicate its assessments of Iran's nuclear and terror threats to a skeptical public, and what are the best policy options for addressing those dangers?

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas's parliamentary victory in late January, the Quartet -- the United States, the EU, Russia, and the UN -- set clear criteria for funding a Palestinian Authority (PA) under Hamas's leadership. The Quartet said direct funding would be a function of the new government's "commitment

While international attention is focused on Iran's nuclear program and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bombast, Iranian society itself is facing turbulent times. Increasingly, patterns are re-emerging that mirror events in the years before the Islamic revolution. These include political disillusionment, domestic protest, government failure to match public expectations of economic success

Reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs, 2006. Copyright 2006 by Council on Foreign Relations. For permission to republish, please contact lhammes@cfr.org The Great Experiment Much has happened in the decade between the first parliamentary elections for the Palestinian Authority (PA), in 1996, and the second, this year. The Oslo peace

The February 24 attack by al-Qaeda on Saudi Arabia's giant oil processing facility at Abqaiq failed. At least two of the attackers were killed, along with two security guards. On February 27, Saudi authorities said they had killed another five terrorists linked to the Abqaiq attack in a clash in

On February 28, 2006, Institute executive director Robert Satloff appeared on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer program to discuss international funding of the Palestinian Authority following Hamas’s victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The following is a transcript of Dr. Satloff’s appearance on the program. Access streaming video and audio of

The following is a transcript of remarks presented by liberal Egyptian political reformer Dr. Hala Mustafa to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the secretary's visit to Cairo. "Elections have become the center of public discussion and debate regarding democracy, but today I want to go beyond elections to focus

Coca-Cola is banned in Syria. The country's ruling Baath party justifies this prohibition on the grounds that the Coca-Cola Company markets its beverages in Israel. Hence, when I toured all of Syria's 14 provinces recently, I found all sorts of cola, but no Coke -- that is until I stopped

On February 19, 2006, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, outgoing chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), addressed the Intelligence Summit in Arlington, Virginia. General Yaalon is a distinguished military fellow at the Institute. The following is the prepared text of his remarks. In the past five years

The victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement -- Hamas -- in Palestinian legislative elections on January 25 unleashed a political tsunami throughout the Middle East and beyond. After forty years of undisputed dominance in Palestinian politics, the secular, nationalist Fatah -- the party of Yasser Arafat and the Oslo Accords

Khalid Mishal, a Hamas leader currently residing in Damascus, visited Ankara today. Despite fierce debate in the Turkish press and objections from the secular-minded foreign policy elite, Mishal's visit went ahead with backing from Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. From the American

On February 8, 2006, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. General Yaalon served until June 2005 as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. The following is a transcript of his remarks. "Hamas's recent victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections challenges all those