ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
April 28, 2008
International Security Program "Paths to Violence" Research Workshop
News
The International Security Program (ISP) at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs hosted a research workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 25, 2008. Workshop organizers Erica Chenoweth (ISP) and Adria Lawrence (ISP/Intrastate Conflict Program) brought together leading scholars to explore the conditions under which non-state actors resort to violence and the various strategies state actors use to address aggrieved populations. Workshop participants addressed issues such as why the use of violence varies among non-state actors, how the decision to use violence affects strategic outcomes of internal and international conflicts, and how states arrive at decisions to accommodate, assimilate, or ethnically cleanse minority groups. Participants received feedback on original research papers prepared in advance of the workshop. The final drafts of the papers will be compiled into an edited volume, which will be submitted for review in fall 2008.
AP Photo
April 2, 2008
"Expanding Settlements and 'Right' Directions"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
It is difficult to understand why an otherwise apparently sensible and learned American secretary of state can live in a fantasy world when it comes to understanding the real significance of Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land. Soft rhetorical criticism of the settlements simply does no good to anyone -- Americans, Israelis, Palestinians or those aliens in unidentified flying objects who also look down and see things "moving in the right direction."
AP Photo
March 18, 2008
"Hamas Grows Stronger"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
If a cease-fire takes hold soon in Gaza, Hamas' popularity will rise even further, and will give it a stronger hand in any renewed Palestinian national unity government. This will create conditions that will seriously challenge the prevailing policy in Israel, Europe, and the United States of boycotting Hamas and trying to bring it down by supporting rival Fateh. The exact opposite appears to be happening: As Fateh loses credibility, support among Palestinians for Hamas grows.
AP Photo
March 2008
"Six Ways Not to Deal with Hamas"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Foreign Policy
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
How do you stop a foe whose tolerance for pain exceeds your willingness to inflict it?
Senior Fellow Chuck Freilich examines each of the alternatives.
March 14, 2008
"Hezbollah is Angry: A Time for Vigilance"
Op-Ed, The Providence Journal
By Joshua Gleis, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"There is no doubt that a heightened level of awareness is necessary today. Hezbollah pioneered the use of suicide bombings. It has an advanced global network, sophisticated operatives, and financial and military backing from Iran and Syria. The knowledge, experience and means to operate in multiple countries around the world exist, proven by actions they have taken in the past from Germany to Argentina to Israel. While Imad Mughniyeh is gone, the threat remains. And thus our vigilance must persevere as well."
AP Photo
March 10, 2008
"Fighting for a Cease-Fire"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
Both Israelis and Palestinians feel that the armed struggle gives meaning to their lives, because in fighting they define their will to live in dignity and ability to survive as free people. The only way to stop the violence is to recognize this -- and forge a truce.
March 5, 2008
"Abbas, Olmert and Rice Make Us Losers, One and All"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Dubai Initiative Senior Fellow, Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and Editor-at-Large of the Daily Star
The tragedy of the Palestinian people is not only that over and over again they get slaughtered by Israeli gunfire, dozens at a time -- militants and civilians alike -- while their land is encircled, choked and colonized. It is also that they must suffer the added ignominy of an increasingly bizarre American secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who seems to live in another world where she believes her pleas can restart peace talks; and of a Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has transcended the political dysfunctional to historical levels of the pathetic and tragic.
March 2008
Targeting Civilians in War
Book
By Alexander B. Downes, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Accidental harm to civilians in warfare often becomes an occasion for public outrage, from citizens of both the victimized and the victimizing nation. In this vitally important book on a topic of acute concern for anyone interested in military strategy, international security, or human rights, Alexander B. Downes reminds readers that democratic and authoritarian governments alike will sometimes deliberately kill large numbers of civilians as a matter of military strategy. What leads governments to make such a choice?
February 2008
La République de Dieu
Book
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
La République de Dieu is a collection of essays on the idea of God; on evangelism ("La République de Dieu"); on Islamic fundamentalism ("L'Islam médiéval"); and followed by empirical chapters analyzing a number of conflicts between the Muslim and non-Muslim world: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Arab/Israeli.
AP Photo
February 20, 2008
"Disavowing the Iran NIE: Smoke Screens or Smoking Guns?"
Op-Ed, Human Events
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"US policymakers, too, will have to give increasing thought to the options for living with a nuclear Iran, as well as to Israel's considerations. How the US engages with Israel and others regarding the NIE, will have a major effect on crucial decisions they will have to make in the coming months, as well as the long term prospects for containing Iran's nukes."
