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After the September 1978 Camp David Accords ended, the Carter administration diligently tried but failed to persuade Jordan’s King Hussein to be part of the follow-on negotiations over Palestinian autonomy. Carter felt Hussein was obstructionist; Hussein did not believe in 1978 that the US could halt Israeli settlement building as promised then. Hussein was correct. He also believed that Palestinian Autonomy might have a negative impact on many Palestinians living in his kingdom. Hussein was skeptical of the US capacity to negotiate for his national interests. At the same time, privately, Egypt’s Sadat was not displeased that the Jordanians remained out of favor with the US, and away from any negotiations that would detract from implementation of Israel’s promised full withdrawal from Sinai, per their 1979 Treaty. In 1988, Hussein stepped away from the West Bank’s future; in 1994, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel.

Israeli and Egyptian representatives meet secretly in Morocco to test intentions for direct talks between their leaders, with details of the meetings unknown to the United States.

The Rumanian president told Menachem Begin, that Egyptian President Sadat was interested in negotiations with the Israelis. This secret visit took place three weeks before Israeli Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan met secretly with Egyptian Vice-President Hasan Tuhami in Morocco where the topic of focus was also possible direct Israeli-Egyptian negotiations. The details of this meeting were not shared with the Carter administration that was focused on a comprehensive Middle East peace via an international conference.

March 3, 2023 Assembled by Ken Stein, Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and Wendy Kalman, Center for Israel Education Suleiman Al-Khalidi, “Israelis, Palestinians pledge to curb violence at Jordan meeting,” Reuters, February 27, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jordan-hosting-israeli-palestinian-talks-avert-escalation-violence-officials-2023-02-25/  Ghaith al-Omari, “To Prevent the PA from Unraveling, Address Internal Reform,” Washington Institute, February 28, 2023, […]

En un raro discurso a la nación, Herzog pidió un compromiso deliberado a raíz de la reforma masiva del sistema judicial propuesta por el gobierno de Netanyahu. Generó la mayor manifestación pública de oposición a una política propuesta, desde que se consideró el tema de las reparaciones alemanas a Israel en 1951-52. Herzog buscó calmar emociones extraordinariamente elevadas.

A life-long Israeli civil servant, Epi Evron was deeply engaged with Kissinger, Sadat, Meir, Rabin, Carter, Begin and others, as Egyptian-Israeli negotiations unfolded in the 1970s. One will find crisp in his interview insightful assessments of personalities, decision-making processes, and colorful vignettes.

Introduction With an extraordinary legaI mind and life of civil service to the state of Israel, Rubinstein served as an estimable Supreme Court Judge, as legal adviser during the Egyptian -Israeli negotiations, worked closely with Prime Ministers Begin and Yitzhak Sharmir, with Foreign Moshe Dayan. Rubinstein makes three critical points: Begin never promised Carter that […]

“We are very grateful for the learning and the PD that the program provides our faculty and look forward to continuing this in the next school year 2022-23.” Sinai Akiba, Los Angeles, CA “For years we wanted to explore, educate, and employ Israel’s education in our school and never found the right partner. Until we […]

Get to know the lawyer who has spent the past six years leading efforts to root out racism from the Israeli government and agencies such as the police. Aweke Kobe Zena, who made aliyah from Ethiopia via a refugee camp in Sudan as a child, visited the CIE office for a conversation with CIE communications consultant Michael Jacobs on Jan. 25, 2023. The recording runs just under 20 minutes.

In a rare address to the nation, Herzog called for deliberate compromise in the wake of the Netanyahu government’s proposed massive overhaul of the judicial system. It generated the largest public outpouring of opposition to a proposed policy, since the issue of German reparations to Israel was considered in 1951-52. Herzog sought to calm extraordinary high emotions.

In midst of the massive public protest against the Netanyahu government’s suggested four changes to overhaul the Israeli judicial system, In response, Israel’s Attorney General outlined her opposition to the changes and the manner in which they were taking place. Then the Israeli Supreme Court Justices petitioned the government to halt the changes and establish a public committee to review Israel’s Basic Laws, including the Seventh Basic Law (1984) on Israel’s Judiciary.

After Israel’s Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara met with Israel’s newly elected Justice Minister Yariv Levin about the Netanyahu government’s proposal to overhaul the judicial system, the Attorney General crisply and cogently offers her opposition to that proposal. (Hebrew version included)

El triángulo jordano, israelí y palestino Ken Stein 31 de enero de 2023 Desde la guerra de junio de 1967, cuando Israel capturó tierras en Cisjordania del río Jordán, partes de Jerusalén, la Franja de Gaza y los Altos del Golán, estos territorios se convirtieron en parte del futuro de Israel. Anteriormente, toda Cisjordania y […]

Como organización nacional palestina islámica militante, los adherentes de Hamas creen que Israel es ilegítimo y debe ser destruido a través de la yihad. Hamas se opone a todo reconocimiento y negociación con Israel, y también se opone a la OLP/AP que ha negociado y colaborado con Israel de vez en cuando.

Los acuerdos de Oslo constituyeron el primer acuerdo firmado entre palestinos e israelíes. Hasta ese entonces y desde el establecimiento del Estado de Israel en 1948, no se había logrado —ni mucho menos negociado y firmado— un entendimiento o acuerdo de esta naturaleza entre Israel y los palestinos. El objetivo del documento era establecer un Gobierno palestino independiente en algunas zonas de la Ribera Occidental y la Franja de Gaza, territorios que Israel había administrado y ocupado desde la Guerra de junio de 1967.

As a militant Islamic Palestinian national organization, Hamas’s adherents believe that Israel is illegitimate and should be destroyed through Jihad. Hamas opposes all recognition and negotiation with Israel, and likewise opposes the PLO/PA who have negotiated and collaborated with Israel from time to time. Hamas and the PA’s competition severely fragment the Palestinian political community.

February 3, 2023 Assembled by Ken Stein, Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and Wendy Kalman, Center for Israel Education Abbas Al Lawati, “Israel’s rightward shift leaves its new Arab allies in an awkward spot,” CNN, January 4, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/middleeast/israel-uae-ben-gvir-mime-intl/index.html  Nidal Al-Mughrabi, “Analysis: Hamas sees West Bank as battleground with new Israel […]

Adopting a systematic, yet non-technical, approach, Jacob Metzer’s book is the first to analyze the divided economy of Mandatory Palestine from the viewpoints of modern economic history and development economics.

Nordau’s impassioned speech summarized the unique Jewish identity to belief, Torah, ritual and community. With those central elements as a people, their state of impoverishment and wretched physical insecurity, he argued, were vital for rebuilding the Jewish national territory.

Speaking June 29, 2020, to our conference of Israel educators, historian Gil Troy provides insights into his expansion of the classic “Zionist Idea” document book into the more complex, more nuanced, more diverse “The Zionist Ideas” and explains why Zionism remains vital to students in today’s torchbearer generation.

The Jordanian, Israeli, Palestinian Triangle  Ken Stein January 27, 2023 From the June 1967 War, when Israel captured lands on the West Bank of the Jordan River, portions of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, these territories became part of Israel’s future.  Previously all the West Bank and a portion of Jerusalem were […]

Jordan’s King Hussein made a strategic decision to disassociate administratively from the West Bank, leaving it to focus Jordanian national identity on only the east bank of the Jordan River. The PLO subsequently negotiated with Israel to rule over some of these lands, as codified in the 1993 Oslo Accords, but no Palestinian state was promised.

Jordan becomes the second Arab country after Egypt (1979) to sign a peace treaty ending the state of war with Israel. The Treaty addresses boundary demarcations, water sharing, police and security cooperation, environmental issues, border crossings, administration of Muslim holy sites and other issues.

Udi Dekel and Noa Shusterman, with permission of INSS

In the 1975-1979 period, Hanan Bar-On served in Israel’s embassy in Washington and then for seven years as Director General of the Foreign Ministry. His insights highlight the building strain that evolved between Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin. From an Israeli view point, he recalls how unpredictable Zbigniew Brzezinski behaved toward the Israelis, how flexible Moshe Dayan was in seeking compromises, and how the Leeds Castle, England Foreign Minister’s talks in July 1978, established the contours for the successful Camp David negotiations two months later. He sheds important light on the context of the four Egyptian-Israeli agreements: Sinai I (1974), Sinai II Disengagement (1975), the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1979).

Five weeks after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Jerusalem in November 1977, to accelerate Egyptian – Israeli negotiations, Begin brought to President Jimmy Carter, Israel’s response to Sadat’s peace initiative: political autonomy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. No Palestinian state was considered.

With a keen memory to detail, Nicholas Veliotes engaged an array of American and Middle Eastern political leaders. This interview is laced with charming and enthusiastic candor as he served in American diplomatic positions from 1973-1986 in Tel Aviv, Washington, Amman, and Cairo. He was present when sensitive US policies were debated and operationalized. His assessments of Kissinger, Sadat, Meir, Nixon, King Hussein, Brzezinski, Carter, Vance, and a whole panoply of Israeli officials bubble with content; the vignettes he shares about Nixon and Brzezinski are priceless. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Veliotes along with Morris Draper, Hermann Eilts, American Consul Generals in Jerusalem and other US officials failed in repeated attempts to secure PLO leader Yasir Arafat’s participation in the diplomatic process.

Assembled by Ken Stein, Emory University’s Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and Wendy Kalman, Center for Israel Education “37th Government of the State of Israel and 25th Knesset is Sworn in,” [links to speeches by PM Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Yair Lapid, Knesset speaker Amir Ohana], Knesset website, December 29, 2022, https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/News/PressReleases/Pages/press291222r.aspx  Khalil […]

Siegel resigned over two matters: the administration’s policy of selling advanced fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which he believed a threat to Israel’s national security, and his sharp disagreement with the Carter White House for not allowing alternative views on policy matters to find their way to the President’s desk. Siegel’s detailed interview about the administration’s anti-Israeli viewpoints are explained here.