Policy Analysis

On November 15, 2003, two car bombs exploded in simultaneous attacks on two synagogues in Istanbul during Sabbath services, killing 24 people and injuring more than 300. In an effort to bypass the tight security measures that the Turkish authorities had implemented around the synagogues, the attackers apparently detonated their

President Bush's speech about nourishing democracy in the Middle East was received with predictable derision by state-run Arab media. More disturbing is the fact that the speech has failed to attract much attention in this country. It is dismissed by some as mere political rhetoric and seen by others as

Later this month, an oil tanker will leave the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat after taking on a cargo of Russian crude oil pumped through the Trans-Israel Pipeline (Tipline). The pipeline runs between Eilat and Ashkelon, located south of Tel Aviv on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast. The tanker will

The increase in resistance attacks in Iraq is not simply a matter of a few spectacular successes, such as the five coordinated suicide bombings in Baghdad on October 27, the downing of a Chinook helicopter on November 2, or the suicide bombing of the Italian base in Nasiriyah on November

On November 3, 2003, Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, delivered The Washington Institute's Sixth Annual Turgut Ozal Memorial Lecture. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks. Read a full transcript. Turkey is the new frontline state for the United States and the European Union (EU)

A Ceasefire Proposal A cycle of violence has dominated the scene since September 2000. One fact has emerged: Israelis cannot impose on the Palestinians, and Palestinians cannot impose on the Israelis. Strategies of violence have failed on both sides and are producing more victims. However, [although] the Palestinians have issued

Rarely has the reality between Israelis and Palestinians appeared to be so bleak. Terror continues unabated. The Israeli siege of the territories is tighter than ever. And, with the U.S. preoccupied with Iraq, there is no ongoing diplomacy. Israel faces the unpleasant reality that there is not a lot more

Following the official end to the Iraq war, reconstruction efforts have been hampered by increasingly sophisticated resistance from Iraqis hostile to the continued presence of coalition forces. The complexity and scope of Iraqi resistance was illustrated by a range of attacks in the 24 hours following the bombing of a

What does the future hold for relations between the U.S. and Turkey, so recently viewed by one another as "strategic partners"? The truth is it is too soon to tell. But it is far too soon to despair. Pundits and policy-makers in both countries continue to wrestle with the implications

The first snows are arriving in New Hampshire, but the action for the first of the US presidential primaries is still being played out elsewhere. American voters and news junkies in the rest of the world might be excused for thinking that the political battleground is Baghdad. The nightly news

Even after the extraordinary U.S.-British military display of last spring, rogue states and terrorists continue to threaten U.S. national security. While this observation may seem prosaic, the White House predicted that victory in Iraq would convince our adversaries to fall into line, i.e., moderate their ways to avoid becoming the

By deploying F-15 strike aircraft to a northwestern airbase in March 2003 and holding large combined-arms exercises near the Gulf of Aqaba in mid-October, Saudi Arabia has indicated its desire to act more freely in asserting its territorial sovereignty vis-à-vis Israel. These actions -- which Washington and Riyadh might previously

Testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology Two important considerations in judging U.S. reaction to World Bank lending to Iran are: how important is World Bank lending be to Iran, and how would lending to Iran fit with World

The identity of the state of Israel is based on two ideas: democracy and the existence of a safe home for the Jewish people. Yet, because of Israel's pressing security concerns over the past fifty-five years, the debate about how to reconcile these two ideas has never really begun. In

The roadside bomb that killed four Americans recently had to have been imported into the Gaza Strip from someplace. Odds are, it came from underground tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Countless other weapons used in terrorist attacks against Israelis in recent years have also arrived via those same

U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs William Burns visited Algeria on October 25-26, just days after a new Algerian terrorist organization was added to the Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). The visit also came amid reports that several Algerian groups with al-Qaeda ties

EDWARD MORSE The effects of the 1973 oil embargo by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) can still be felt. Although the United States has successfully curtailed OPEC's ability to use oil as a weapon or as leverage for political blackmail, the resource remains a viable instrument of

During the first half of 2001, a new, fortified fence was constructed in the Gaza Strip, and since that time not a single Palestinian suicide bomber has infiltrated Israel from Gaza. Previously, in December 2000, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had decided to create a 60-square-kilometer security buffer zone around

On October 22, 2003, Matthew Levitt, The Washington Institute's senior fellow in terrorism studies, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The following is an edited version of his remarks. Read a full transcript. Constricting the Operating Environment No counterterrorism effort, however extensive, will put an

Testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs I. Introduction: Networks and Relationships Pundits and politicians alike tend to think of the war on terror against al-Qaeda as a completely disparate phenomenon from the battle against other terrorist groups. This is, in part, a logical supposition as