Essays

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir has written scores of essays on the Middle East, with an emphasis on the Arab-Israeli conflict. His essays confront the current and headlining issues of the region, providing grounded historical and nonpartisan analysis.

His essays offer deep insight, not only into the complexities but also the human characteristics and psychological aspects of the conflict. Among his many essays on a variety of subjects, Ben-Meir also addresses critical issues related to democratization in the Arab and Muslim world, terrorism and the Iraq war. He seldom leaves out the role of the United States and its responsibilities toward the region.


Latest essays

Obama's Peace Offensive

July 23, 2009

 

On a recent trip to the Middle East I had the opportunity to meet with many Israelis and Palestinians from all walks of life including high government officials, settlers and members of the Peace Now movement. I also met with academics, poll takers, journalists, former military and intelligence personnel, and scores of other ordinary people. Paradoxically, while repeated polls confirm that a majority (between 68 and 72 percent) of Israelis and Palestinians seek peace based on a two-state solution, no such unity exists between the vario...

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Essay on a new "Negotiating Strategy to Prevent a Nuclear Iran"

May 21, 2009

The negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 over Tehran's nuclear enrichment activities have failed to reach an agreement, and Iran is much closer to mastering the technology of nuclear weapons. Many factors precipitated this breakdown, including the Wes...

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The Palestinian Refugees: A Reassessment and a Solution

May 5, 2009

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been riddled with many intractable problems whose solutions have eluded both sides for more than 60 years. None, however, has been as politically and emotionally charged as the Palestinian right of return to the land ...

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Negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian Breakthrough

December 18, 2008

Abstract

The difficulty in concluding an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement lies in the internal and psychological struggle resulting from decades of debilitating conflict that h...

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Israel and the Arab Peace Initiative

July 15, 2008

Abstract 

One of the most momentous declarations to come out of the Arab world since Israel's inception in 1948 is the Arab Peace Initiative, launched in March 2002 in Beirut,...

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Rebuilding Israeli-Palestinian Trust by Unilateral Steps

March 25, 2007

Introduction

Historically and theologically, the Jews could be, and to a certain extent were being, trusted by Muslims as long as they were subordinate to the Muslims. Since the beginning of Zionism and the establishment of Israe...

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CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY IN THE ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD

May 5, 2006

President Bush’s notions that democratizing Iraq will have a ripple effect on the rest of the Arab world, bringing prosperity and peace to the region, and that democracy is the panacea for Islamic terrorism are unsubstantiated as well as grossly mi...

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Lost Perspectives

October 25, 2005

Israel's momentous withdrawal from Gaza and the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, while substantially reducing the level of violence in the past eight months, have not produced the hoped-for momentum to propel the peace process...

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The Battle to Rebuild Trust

September 12, 2004

The conference was sponsored by the Institute of the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the University of Denver, the University of Oklahoma's International Programs Center, Netanya Academic College's Strategic Dialogue Center in Israel,...

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The Last Option

December 1, 2003

The road map for peace has offered a spark of
hope that the conflict between the Israelis and
Palestinians may at long last come to an end. This
spark though is barely visible in the darkness forged in
the crucible of more than three yea...

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