After eight years of misguided policy by the Bush administration in the Middle East, the time is overdue for an enlightened strategy to tackle the region's woes. This must include an approach that will bring hope to a region shattered by violence, consumed by conflict and division and filled with...

Syria's relationship with Iran, though largely asymmetrical, tends to be viewed as a robust alliance that many political observers believe is only getting stronger. Underneath the showmanship, Iran's ties to Syria are largely based on perception rather than reality. Both countries have been systematically engaged in mutual deception to create...

It is quite understandable that Israel would be deeply disappointed by Turkey's decision to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for an official visit this week. In Israel's view, such a visit will only further legitimize a leader who is reviled for his denial of the Holocaust and for his repeated...

In the wake of last week's resignation announcement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, much of the Israeli media and public have welcomed his decision to step down in September amid charges of corruption. Olmert's shortcomings notwithstanding, he was carrying the mandate of his Kadima party to pursue peace --...

Iran's insistence on enriching uranium in defiance of three UN Security Council resolutions, combined with a bevy of antagonistic threats aimed at Israel's existence has created an explosive recipe that may well precipitate a horrifying regional conflagration. For Iran's own best interests, its contentious leaders would be well advised to...

By all accounts, the Israeli-Syrian indirect negotiations through Turkish mediation are going well, and the fact that a fourth round of talks is scheduled for the end of July suggests that both sides expect to make further progress. The reports from Damascus and Ankara, however, indicating that Syria will not...

Israel's peace offensive of recent days may have been motivated in part by personal or domestic politics, but the driving force behind its willingness to negotiate is part and parcel of a much larger plan. As the dynamics in the Middle East shift in response to Iraq war backlash and...

Recent reports indicating that Israel and Syria are indirectly engaged in Turkish brokered peace talks suggest a major (albeit overdue) development in the Mid-East peace-making process. Since the collapse of the Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations in May 2000, I have consistently been advocating the need for Israeli-Syrian reconciliation specifically because there...

As Israelis celebrate their momentous sixtieth anniversary -- a date marking ten years of consistent economic growth and industrious expansion -- there remains the underlying question that will go unanswered yet another decade: What will be done with the West Bank and Golan Heights? Despite all of its considerable achievements,...

The killing by Israeli undercover troops of four Palestinian militants in Bethlehem, on March 12, raises questions not as much about Israel's right to self-defense but about the context and the circumstances under which this right is exercised. Even the right to self-defense and matters of national security must be...

An Egyptian brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could temporarily stop the bloodshed, and if it saves the life of one Israeli or Palestinian, is still worth the effort. But a ceasefire which is not followed by a new strategy that leads to ending hostilities permanently will only play...

Even before it begins, the Arab summit scheduled for the latter part of March in Damascus is in serious trouble; there are several political discords among Arab states as well as the region's continuing violent conflicts. Whereas a resolution to the crisis in Lebanon over the selection of a new...

Although the recently published National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has changed the nature of the international discussion about Iran's nuclear ambition, it has not answered with certainty the question of Iran's ultimate intention to acquire nuclear weapons. Whereas the NIE suggests there is "high probability" that Iran has frozen its nuclear...

The most acute problem facing Israeli officials today is how to end the daily Kassam rocket attacks intended to demoralize Israelis and to undermine the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel insists--rightfully--that Hamas, as the self-proclaimed authority in Gaza, is to blame and must suffer the...

The collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century, leaving the United States as the sole superpower, led to the century being dubbed, "The American Century." The world looked forward to enlightened leadership, visionary policies, and a multilateral approach in the conduct...