ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
November 22, 2012
"Israel's Iron Dome"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"For Israel, the chorus of cheers about Iron Dome risk muting the smart strategic reason why it was put in place: to ensure that a huge number of Israeli fatalities did not force the government's hand in launching a land war in Gaza. The shield provided the political space for a conservative leadership, and a divided nation, to consider alternatives to an invasion that would have surely inflamed Palestinian and Arab sentiment."
November 17, 2012
"US Should Stay Out of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Efforts, for Now"
Op-Ed, GlobalPost
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"Some believe that President Obama should make use of his second term to renew efforts to promote the peace process, as have all of his predecessors. Honorable sentiments aside, he should not, at least not now; the last thing Israelis and Palestinians need is another failed peace initiative. Both already despair of the prospects of peace, and the last thing the US needs is to squander its political capital in the Middle East once again."
November 6, 2012
Indigenous Challenge to Legal Doctrine: Bedouin Land Rights in Israel/Palestine
News
An audio recording of a discussion on November 1 with Ahmad Amara, Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer, and Oren Yiftachel, Professor of political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
November 2012
Zion's Dilemmas: How Israel Makes National Security Policy
Book
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
In Zion's Dilemmas, a former deputy national security adviser to the State of Israel details the history and, in many cases, the chronic inadequacies in the making of Israeli national security policy. The author uses his insider understanding and substantial archival and interview research to describe how Israel has made strategic decisions and to present a first of its kind model of national security decision-making in Israel. The book concludes with cogent and timely recommendations for reform.
October 31, 2012
After the Revolution: Rethinking Economic Growth in the Middle East (Panel Discussion)
News
An audio recording of a panel discussion on October 24 with Jalloul Ayed, Jihad Az'our and Samir Huliheh, moderated by HKS Professor Ishac Diwan.
October 30, 2012
"Iran: No 'Loose Cannon' in Jerusalem"
Op-Ed, The Jerusalem Post
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"The entire Israeli national security establishment, at all levels, has been deeply engaged on this issue since the early '90s. Indeed, it is hard to think of any other issue in Israel in recent decades that has been the subject of such extensive and careful attention. Regardless of what one thinks of the ultimate decision, it will not be for lack of painstaking consideration of the options."
AP Photo/Gali Tibbon
October 12, 2012
"Why Netanyahu Backed Down"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School and Shai Feldman, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
FOR three years Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, seemed to be united in urging an early military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But last week that alliance collapsed, with Mr. Netanyahu accusing Mr. Barak of having conspired with the Obama administration, in talks behind his back.
AP Photo
2012
"Israel in Lebanon—Getting It Wrong: The 1982 Invasion, 2000 Withdrawal, and 2006 War"
Journal Article, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, issue 3, volume VI
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"The present study assesses the reasons for Israel's repeated policy failures in Lebanon by comparing the decision making processes (DMPs) in the three most important cases above: the two wars and the unilateral withdrawal. Failure, of course, is both a relative and subjective term. Indeed, it can be argued that not all of these cases were unequivocal failures; the outcome of the 2006 war was not entirely negative from Israel's perspective and the alternative in 2000, such as remaining in Lebanon, might have been worse. Thus, failure, for the purposes of this study, refers not to the quality of the outcomes, but to Israel's ability to achieve the objectives set out by its leaders."
October 10, 2012
"WMD Free Zone in Mideast: An Opportunity for Detente with Iran"
Op-Ed, Power & Policy Blog
By Tytti Erästö, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"The P5+1 and Iran should take note of the fact that there is a new window opening, and try to make most of it. The new opportunity comes in the form of a historic conference for the establishment of a weapons of mass destruction free zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East—a conference which will be held in Finland in the coming December. What is special about this opportunity is that it allows Iran and the P5+1 to step outside of the negative dynamics created by their previous interactions, and to approach the nuclear issue from a different perspective."
October 9, 2012
"Did Bibi's bomb bomb?"
Op-Ed, Haaretz
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
Netanyahu’s cartoon oversimplified the Iranian nuclear threat. That should not, however, cause us to miss the central message he was attempting to send.
