Policy Analysis

Turkish prime minister Bulent Ecevit's meeting with U.S. president Bill Clinton tomorrow will produce warm atmospherics but no major earthquake-related aid. Washington had planned to make loan guarantees the centerpiece of both its relief package and Ecevit's trip. Reportedly unhappy with what it considered a low figure, however, Ankara indicated

Three years ago, after a series of horrific bombings in Israel, President Clinton invited an array of world leaders to an anti-terrorism summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Clinton's goal was to save the Israeli-PLO peace process and, with it, Shimon Peres's Labor-led government. The process survived

For the last two weeks, the major Iranian newspapers have been full of reports about official contacts between the U.S. and Iranian governments. These reported contacts include a U.S. request that Tehran hand over individuals now in Iran whom the U.S. government believes are responsible for the deaths of nineteen

MOUAFAC HARB Israel has no territorial claims over Lebanon, and the two countries agreed to recognize and accept United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, which calls for an unconditional Israeli troop withdrawal. Nevertheless, the Lebanese-Israeli peace track remains challenging, primarily because--after twenty years of civil war--Lebanon lacks a strong central

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's meeting today with leaders of the Iraqi opposition is part of a vigorous diplomatic confrontation between Saddam's regime and the United States, tied to maneuverings at the UN. For the next several weeks, the arguments of Baghdad and Washington are going to be deployed and

What if they waged a war and no one noticed? In 1999, American and British pilots have bombed Iraq three times a week, hitting 360 targets with 1,100 bombs during more than 10,000 sorties. Yet the Anglo-American war over Iraq does not often make the front pages of even the

The U.S. State Departments Office of International Religious Freedom will release an Annual Report on International Religious Freedom on September 7, 1999 -- the first since it was required to do so by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). The Report will offer "an assessment and description of

The nuclear status quo that has prevailed in the Middle East since the 1960s is eroding. Israel remains the sole (undeclared) nuclear-weapons state. But Iraq, having defied the United Nations for nearly a decade, retains its nuclear know-how, and has broken out of its IAEA and UNSCOM cage. And there

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was the number one arms supplier to the Middle East. Moscow's arms transfers during this period were motivated primarily by geostrategic and ideological considerationsin particular its competition with the United Statesand arms were often sold at bargain-basement prices. Yet, with the end of

Yesterday, Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Yasir Arafat met with Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Syria-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The meeting, which took place in Cairo, was the first between the estranged leaders in six years. Hawatmeh has been a waning force in Palestinian politics for

ROBERT PELLETREAU Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak faces multiple challenges: He has to implement an agreement he did not negotiate; he has to rebuild a sense of partnership between Israel and the Arab countries; he has to restore the negotiating context, a task not made easier by the Israeli practice

Since the handover of the suspects in the 1988 bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Col. Mu'ammar Qadhafi has embarked on a series of diplomatic initiatives suggesting a fundamental reorientation of Libya's foreign policy. The once-uncompromising ideologue has embraced the mantle of a statesman who appears to adhere

The Arab-Israeli peace process is, to use the metaphor of choice, "back on track." That, at least, is the stylized version of the message Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak brought with him to Washington in mid-July. The reality, of course, is more complicated. And, for the Clinton administration, Barak's real

Since the election of Ehud Barak as Israeli prime minister, considerable attention has focused on the renewed prospects of an Israeli-Syrian peace. There may be some significant signs that Damascus is preparing the Syrian people for peace and normalization with Israel, but a review of the state-controlled Syrian media presents

Israeli police acted swiftly yesterday to seal the gateway to the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount)--the compound that houses Islams third holiest shrine--one day after the Muslim Waqf (religious endowment) began construction on the compounds southern wall. This was the latest in a series of developments involving Palestinian activity in Jerusalem

Buoyed by its recent antiterrorism successes in facing down Syria and capturing Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Turkey now turns its sights on Iran. A series of Turkish-Iranian security meetings tomorrow through Friday will focus on Tehran's allegedly growing support to anti-Turkish organizations. In trying to

The late King Hassan II leaves behind an important legacy in Morocco and the Middle East. He was a courageous peacemaker; a voice of reconciliation between Muslims, Jews, and Christians; and a vital link between Shii and Sunni Muslims. After Hassan's death, it is now up to his son and

August 8 marks six months since Jordan's King Abdullah II inherited not only a complex political landscape, but also an economy in poor enough shape to pose a significant challenge to Jordan's domestic stability. With a per capita income of $1,600, official unemployment of 16 percent, and an unofficial jobless

As Yasir Arafat seeks to unify secular Palestinian groups in advance of expected "final-status" talks--highlighted by his meeting this week in Cairo with representatives of George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)--important developments are also underway among Islamists. The main drama is being acted out in Jordan

Examines the Islamic Republic's history of dealing with religious minorities in order to shed light on the June 1999 indictments of thirteen Iranian Jews on charges of spying for Israel and the United States. The paper also reviews the international response to the indictments and the Iranian leadership's past reactions