Since Hamas and allies invaded Israel, killed 1,200 Israelis and others, and seized more than 240 hostages Oct. 7, Israel has conducted a methodical military campaign in Gaza that has uncovered hundreds of miles of tunnels, eliminated some of Hamas’ most senior leaders, and killed, by IDF estimates, more than 13,000 terrorist fighters. How important is an operation in the southern city of Rafah for mission success? What does the future hold for Gaza? What are the long-term effects on Israel’s relationship with the United States and the hopes for normalization with Saudi Arabia? What are the risks of a full-scale war with Hezbollah? Addressing those issues for CIE’s 25th weekly webinar, airing Wednesday, April 3, at noon ET, is reserve IDF Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, the founder and chairman of the Israel Defense and Security Forum and a former deputy commander of the Gaza Division. He joins Dr. Ken Stein, CIE’s president and an Emory University emeritus professor of Middle East history, political science and Israel studies.
Latest articles from CIE
CIA Director George Tenet’s Israeli-Palestinian Cease-Fire and Security Plan, June 2001
CIA Director George Tenet proposes a cease-fire to stop vicious Palestinian-Israeli violence that carries on for four more years. The plan seeks to restore Palestinian-Israeli security cooperation, end incitement, arrest militants and establish mechanisms for accountability through the U.S.
Trump-Netanyahu News Conference, September 2025, “The Promise of a New Middle East Is So Close”
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu explain their expansive vision for a peaceful Middle East through the implementation of a 20-point U.S. plan to end the Gaza war with the support of many Arab and Muslim countries.
Trump Plan to End Gaza War, September 2025
A comprehensive U.S. plan to end the Hamas-Israel war is unveiled eight days before the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
#151 Contemporary Readings September 2025
Maya Rezak and Ken Stein, September 30, 2025 Oded Ailam, “Hostages, Rival Clans, and Empty Promises: The Next Middle East Flashpoint,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 30, 2025. Neil Bar and Harel Chorev Halewa,…
Donna Robinson Divine, “Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine: The Arab Struggle for Survival and Power”
Divine, Donna Robinson, Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine: The Arab Struggle for Survival and Power, Lynne Reinner Publishers, Boulder, 1994, pp. 191-215 (with author’s permission, September 2025) This is a rigorous analysis of the struggles of…
Neil Bar and Harel Chorev Halewa, “Constructed Autochthony Palestinian Nationalist Historical Revisionism”
Palestinian elites re-engineer antiquity to deny Jewish connection to the ancient Near East. Arguments include denying Solomon’s Jewish Temple, Palestinizing Jesus and appropriating Canaanite ancestry. These and other claims challenge the historical record that Jews were an ancient nation in the Holy Land. With permission of the authors, The Journal of the Middle East and North Africa, May 26, 2025.
Palestinian Authority Cronyism, Monopolies and Patronage, 1990s-Present
In pursuing its central political objective to control and lead the Palestinian Arab quest for statehood, the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas is delighted to have multiple countries endorse a two-state solution. Affirming…
Mixed Muslim and Arab Views and Actions Toward Jews, Zionism and Israel, 1920s-Present
December 13, 2023, Poll of Palestinian Arab views, a survey completed two months after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israelis, Palestinians praised Hamas actions, with a vast majority not believing that Hamas carried out atrocities…
French President Macron’s U.N. Address on a Two-State Solution, September 2025
President Macron’s speech links the end of Hamas-Israeli conflict to the evolution of a of two-state solution. He acknowledges that Israel has the power to end the war and evolve a Palestinian state, asserting that if Israel does neither to the satisfaction of France and her European partners, Israel could pay an undisclosed price. He offers no such penalties to be placed on the PA for its failure to meet its commitments. Once again the Palestinian Arab national movement uses the international community to pressure Israel into concessions. On the same day, Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The Israeli
parliament in June 2004 rejected any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by a 68-9 vote.
