Israel’s continued settlement activity—whether retroactively approving ‘unauthorized’ outposts or advancing plans for new units as was recently announced—represents yet another nail in the coffin of the peace process. The settlements have become nothing but Israel’s self-entrapment, threatening its very existence. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition partners, however, are not concerned about the prospective dire…

The ongoing horror in Aleppo should awaken every global leader with an ounce of courage to step up and do whatever it takes to end the slaughter and inhuman suffering of the Syrian people. The fact that the siege of Aleppo continues unabated only exposes the ineptitude and moral decadence of the international community, who…

Unless distrust, insecurity, and illusions are first addressed, no incentives—however sweeping and compelling—will motivate Israel and the Palestinians to make the critical concessions needed to reach a peace agreement. Part II: This article is a continuation from last week’s; please click here to see part one. The international conference that was convened by France on…

Unless distrust, insecurity, and illusions are first addressed, no incentives—however sweeping and compelling—will motivate Israel and the Palestinians to make the critical concessions needed to reach a peace agreement. This article is part one of two; see next week for the conclusion. The international conference that was convened by France on June 3rd in Paris…

Two weeks ago, President Obama announced that the US will draw down its troops in Afghanistan from 9,800 to 8,400, altering his original plan to reduce the number to 5,500. His decision suggests that conditions on the ground are not as promising as he expected them to be, and maintaining a larger number of troops…

Now that Iraqi forces, with the support of the international coalition, are gearing up to recapture Mosul—ISIS’s last major stronghold in Iraq—the question that looms high is what will be the fate of the Iraqi Sunni community following ISIS’s inevitable defeat? I maintain that unless the political discussion begins now between the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government…

Even before the failed military coup, Turkey’s President Erdogan governed like a dictator who had the last word on all state matters. The botched coup was nothing but, as he put it, “a gift from God” to purge what is left of Turkey’s democracy and cleanse the army and judiciary in order to ensure the…

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been steadily deteriorating, making the prospect of reaching an agreement on the basis of a two-state solution ever more intractable. What is sorely lacking is effective opposition parties that could present an alternative to Netanyahu’s policy toward the Palestinians, and a national popular movement demanding change before the continued entrenchment of…

The report that was recently released by the Middle East Quartet – comprised of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations – is a welcome step. The report reiterates the importance of reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of a two-state solution. Perhaps most crucially,…