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Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu  Adnan Abu Amer, “Economic ties going strong between Israel, Palestine,” Al-Monitor, September 28, 2018. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/09/palestine-israel-telecom-economic-political-relations.html Dania Akkad, “Pipeline purchase paves way for Israeli gas exports to Egypt,” Middle East Eye, October 1, 2018. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/deal-allow-israeli-gas-exports-egypt-1178922390 Alexander Apfel, “Trump says ‘two-state solution […]

Profesor Kenneth W. Stein Emory University y Center for Israel Education Nota sobre las fuentes: en 2013 y 2014, el gobierno de EE. UU. publicó dos volúmenes de documentos, memorandos y resúmenes de reuniones que cubrieron la gestión de la administración del presidente Jimmy Carter en el conflicto árabe-israelí. Al mismo tiempo los Archivos del […]

How might we have to imagine the Middle East if there were a political thaw between Iran and Saudi Arabia? Could Turkey leave NATO in the near future? What would happen if security-related EU databases were successfully hacked; if South Korea were to arm itself with nuclear weapons; or if an American woman were to head the United Nations? Of course, these situations, as explored in the SWP’s latest Foresight research paper, are only hypothetical. Why address them?

The US can and should develop a coherent region-wide strategy, involving US allies including Israel, to impede Iran’s ability to continue developing in ways detrimental to the region’s security. However, Iran is proficient in the practice of using proxies and paramilitary methods, as well as in the combination of paramilitary and political struggle. Its response to a US-led strategy to contain and roll back their influence is likely to focus on these areas.

Emory Professor of Contemporary and Middle Eastern History, Political Science, and Israeli Studies and Center for Israel Education President Kenneth W. Stein applies decades of document-based research, interviews and scholarship, including new insights gleaned from the study of detailed minutes in the Israel State Archives, to examine the Camp David Accords 40 years after Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin signed the agreement Sept. 17, 1978, that concluded 13 days of negotiations led by President Jimmy Carter.

One can praise the Israeli habit of Yom Kippur bicycle riding, or one can denounce it. However, one thing one cannot do is ignore it. The streets of Israel have been flooded with bike riders on Yom Kippur for quite a few years, and it has become clear that bike riding on Yom Kippur has gone mainstream.

Our second animated white board video covers in detail what took place during the thirteen days of negotiations at Camp David in September 2018. The video begins with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s priority on getting back the Sinai Peninsula which Egypt lost to Israel in the June 1967 War and the origins of direct negotiations between Israel and Egypt following Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in November 1977.

The Oslo process – started between Israel and the Palestinians 25 years ago – clearly failed to bring a resolution to the conflict and did not result in peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. The nearly 1,600 Israeli casualties and many more thousands of wounded during this period by Palestinian terrorist and rocket attacks testify to this failure. Yitzhak Rabin’s land-for-security formula did not work.

Recent months have witnessed a warming of relations between Russia and Israel. One indicator of the trend is the frequency of high-level meetings, culminating in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s participation – as the only Western state guest – in the military parade on Red square on 9 May.

There has been a significant revitalization of Jewish life among the Jewish communities of Latin America although they are shrinking, mostly due to emigration processes. Over the course of two generations, Latin American Jewry has transformed from mostly immigrants and immigrant communities to rooted communities of locally-born citizens and, simultaneously, of emigrants and expatriates.

Assembled by Ken Stein and Eli Sperling Emory University and Center for Israel Education kenstein@israeled.org or kstein@emory.edu Anna Ahronheim, “American Students go back to School with Israeli Bulletproof Backpacks,” August 29, 2018. https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/American-students-go-back-to-school-with-Israeli-bulletproof-backpacks-566069   Amiram Barkat, “Israel’s economy grew at just 2% in Q2,” Globes, August 16, 2018. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israels-economy-grew-at-just-2-in-q2-1001250399 Tal Becker, “The Claim for Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State,”Washington […]

When a leader of one country considers whether the time is ripe to commence peace negotiations with the leader of an enemy, there are two important questions that the leader must consider: Is the other leader willing to make the sacrifices necessary to attain peace? Is that leader strong enough to make those sacrifices and enforce the deal internally, that is, is he capable? The answer to both of these questions must be ‘yes.’ A willing but incapable leader is as bad for reaching a peace treaty as a capable but unwilling leader.