Report
10 March 2010
Yesterday's announcement by Israel to continue expanding settlements in East Jerusalem has demonstrated fragility of the situation there, which has direct implications for American national security interests in the region. America's national security interests are deeply intertwined in the Middle East. American national security leaders and experts agree that as long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists, the U.S. will lack the credibility it needs to ensure that its vital security interests in the region are achieved. This is why the Obama administration, as well as multiple predecessor Administrations from both parties, have made resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a core foreign policy priority.
Report
5 May 2009
A series of high-level meetings this week points up the interconnections in the Obama administration’s comprehensive strategy for the Middle East. The most high-profile of these meetings will take place between President Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres, while Secretary Gates is in the Middle East meeting with Egyptian and Saudi leaders. The new approach rejects the neoconservative trope that the road to Jerusalem goes through Baghdad or Tehran or Damascus. There is no quick route to peace in the Middle East; the road goes through all of these places, but it ultimately begins and ends in Jerusalem.
Report
5 March 2009
Fewer than 50 days into his Presidency, Barack Obama has begun to set a different framework for how America deals with the Middle East. There is no question that today America’s choices and flexibility in the region are far greater than they were only 50 days ago.
Report
11 February 2009
The mixed results of yesterday’s Israeli elections are likely to throw the country into political chaos for the next few weeks. Whether the final result is a national unity government led by Livni or a right wing government led by Netanyahu, the new political situation will likely make any peace efforts more difficult.
Report
7 January 2009
News out of Gaza this morning seems to have taken a more hopeful turn
with some progress toward an Egyptian-French plan that is being offered
to generate a ceasefire – though the situation remains unclear.
Moreover, Israel has declared a three hour a day truce to allow
humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and Hamas officials are saying they will
not fire rockets during those three hours. There are some welcome indications that the Bush administration may be
working with Egyptian and French negotiators behind the scenes, but the
reality is that the US remains conspicuously absent.
Press Release
Washington, D.C. 7 January 2009
Report
6 January 2009
As fighting erupted in Gaza over the last few weeks, the Bush
administration was in a familiar place: on the sidelines. As foreign
leaders from around the world immersed themselves in the conflict, with
at least three different shuttle diplomacy initiatives underway, the
Bush administration was largely absent.
Report
28 October 2008
The Bush administration had no official comment concerning a clandestine attack by U.S. Special Operations forces into Syria. Senator Obama also refused to comment publicly on such a sensitive military operation. Yet the McCain campaign responded with a press release that argued that this operation would not have happened in an Obama administration and attacked Obama for advocating diplomatic engagement with Syria. McCain’s argument is not just reckless but incoherent.
