Why Hamas Cannot Be Destroyed

Summer 2024 / Essays

Israel’s strategy to eradicate Hamas by killing off its leadership has proven ineffective for decades; the current war demonstrates the myopic nature of this approach

Less Than a State

Summer 2024 / Essays

Without a new framework that ensures true sovereignty and security for a future Palestinian state, the two-state solution will remain a farce

Time to Renew an Old Promise? A Brief History of Global South Solidarity with Palestine

Spring 2024 / Essays

Anti-colonial and post-colonial politics have shaped global understandings of the Israel-Palestine conflict for decades, beyond the narrow vision of many Western countries

Israel’s Ever-Existing Plan to Depopulate the Gaza Strip

Winter 2024 / Essays

The recent violence in Gaza may be unprecedented in its intensity, but the Zionist rhetoric underlying Israel’s current brutal strategy has roots going back much earlier than October 7

A Palestinian Gandhi or an Israeli de Gaulle? Why the Context of Violence Matters

Winter 2024 / Essays

Questioning why there hasn’t been a Palestinian Gandhi or Mandela ignores the history and context in which Palestinian resistance occurs, especially the abiding violence visited on the Palestinians since 1917

Is There Hope for Gaza Under International Law?

Winter 2024 / Essays

Why has international law failed to hold Israel responsible for its destruction of Gaza? It was built to enable the colonizer, not to protect the colonized, explains legal expert Jason Beckett.

Ringside Seat to Real-Time Radicalization

November 8, 2023 / Tahrir Forum

Research on radicalization finds that exposure to violence leads to further violence. Israel’s military campaign has made Gaza a “living Hell.”

Failures of International Law and Violence in Gaza

October 31, 2023 / Midan

The recent attacks on Gaza have raised important questions regarding the effectiveness of international law in preventing violence

‘I Just Wish Palestinians Would Disappear’

October 26, 2023 / Tahrir Forum

The war being fought today offers the latest evidence that the brutal reality of Palestinian dispossession has changed little in the decades since Israel’s founding

Biden Aims to Contain Violence in Israel/Palestine. His Policy May Be Stoking It Instead

October 26, 2023 / Tahrir Forum

Biden’s recent attempts at deescalation do not challenge or overturn decades of America enabling Israel’s violent occupation of Palestine. Instead, Biden has continued to systematically dismantle any non-violent avenues for Palestinian resistance while strengthening the militant Israeli far right.

United States Diplomacy and the 1973 War

Fall 2023 / Essays

Before the October 1973 War, U.S. administrations showed little interest in trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The war was pivotal in launching U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East and kick-starting serious steps toward Egyptian-Israeli peacemaking

We Downplayed the Signs of Peace, Then Downplayed the Signs of War

Fall 2023 / Essays

The October War came as a shock to the Israeli leadership and security community. Their failure to take Sadat’s peace approaches and the imminent threat of war seriously led to changes to both the regional and domestic Israeli political landscapes

Delivering the Palestinians to Israel: The Lasting Effects of the 1973 War on the Palestinian Question

Fall 2023 / Essays

In the years following the creation of Israel, the United States became the game master of the Arab-Israeli peace process. For Palestinians, this meant that they would not have a seat at the table for decades to come

The Hundred Years’ War

Fall 2022/Winter 2023 / Book Reviews

Rashid Khalidi’s First-Row Seat at the Decades-Old War on Palestine

No One Is Safe

Summer 2022 /

A first-hand account of reporting from the Palestinian Occupied Territories in the aftermath of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.

An Insider’s Attempt at Syrian–Israeli Peace

June 30, 2022 / Q & A

Frederic Hof discusses a lesser-known track in the Arab-Israeli peace process: a Syrian-Israeli mediation that came closer to a deal than expected

An Icon Has Been Murdered

May 25, 2022 / Tahrir Forum

What it has been like for Shireen Abu Akleh and other Palestinian journalists to report from Palestine

The Changing Middle East Regional Order

Winter 2022 / Essays

A history of the Arab state system starting from the second half of the twentieth century to the present

Is It Time to Bury the Two-State Solution?

Winter 2022 / Essays

While many may be dismissive of the two-state solution, there are no viable alternatives for peace between Israel and Palestine

Framing the Partition Plan for Palestine

Winter 2022 / Essays

Many different opinions abound concerning Resolution 181, but one fact cannot be denied or overlooked: it was not a solution born out of the “free and sovereign” world states of the time

This Watershed Moment for the Land(s) between the River and the Sea

June 21, 2021 / Global Forum

The recent war between Israel and Hamas has transformed the moral calculus of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Breaking the Historic Taboo

Winter 2021 / Essays

The only way for Israelis to escape perpetual deadlock is to shatter the taboo on inviting Non-Zionist parties into the government. Like Menachem Begin and the Sinai, Netanyahu may be the one to do it.

Political Narratives in the Middle East and North Africa: Conceptions of Order and Perceptions of Instability

Fall 2020 / Essays

The volume edited by Wolfgang Mühlberger and Toni Alaranta highlights the importance of political narratives in making sense of the complexities of the MENA countries.

What does a Trump or Biden presidency mean for Israel and Palestine?

October 20, 2020 / Global Forum

Next month’s election may be instrumental in salvaging what hope remains for a two-state solution.

The Disrupting Stabilizer

Summer 2020 / Essays

How Russia’s military, diplomatic, and economic roles in the Mediterranean have developed in recent years

Annexation Makes No Policy Sense

June 15, 2020 / Tahrir Forum

The fors and againsts of the West Bank’s annexation.

Missed Opportunities in Middle Eastern Diplomacy

June 2, 2020 / Midan

Former Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy discusses with renowned scholars the lessons learned from past crises as outlined in his new book to chart a more engaged and multilateral future.

Thunderbolt Hitting the Land

May 10, 2020 / COVID-19: Global Crisis

An uncertain future looms as Palestine and Israel attempt to mitigate the onslaught of COVID-19.

Mobilizing Against Trump’s “Vision”

March 2, 2020 / Q & A

Former Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Alkidwa explains the ways Palestinians are contesting the Trump plan for peace and how the Trump deal caters only to extremists on the Israeli and American right

Israel in the Age of Netanyahu

Winter 2019 / Essays

He crafted the post-Oslo consensus, overhauled the economy, and mastered the Knesset. Now the kingdom he built wants its keys back

The “Deal” of the Century?

February 12, 2020 / Tahrir Forum

The Trump plan imposes Israeli security and economic control over a self-autonomous Palestinian entity.

The Middle East Reacts to Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’

January 30, 2020 / Tahrir Forum

Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, the reactions of key regional figures ranged from hopeful to enraged.

The End for Netanyahu?

September 19, 2019 / Tahrir Forum

After a murky election Netanyahu might be out and Gantz might be in, but it is Lieberman who is set to be kingmaker.

Kushner’s New Plan for Palestine

September 18, 2019 / Tahrir Forum

The “Deal of the Century” is quickly shaping up to be the “Deception of the Century” and here’s why.

Rethinking Gaza’s Reconstruction

Summer 2019 / Essays

With living conditions in the Palestinian enclave fast approaching breaking point, anything short of a comprehensive approach to peacebuilding and reconstruction will not work

Opportunity of the Century?

Summer 2019 / Midan

Jared Kushner’s economic stimulus initiative to solve the Palestinian issue was introduced in the 80s and ended in failure.

The Juggernaut’s Achilles Heel

June 20, 2019 / Tahrir Forum

The US may have recognized Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, but the Golan Druze, like East Jerusalem Palestinians, continue to reject Israeli citizenship and civic participation. If Israel is now empowered to annex parts of the West Bank, will Palestinians there break the pattern and embrace citizenship if offered?

A Regional Order Contested

Spring 2019 / Essays

Extreme instability has prompted a fundamental reconfiguration of the contemporary Middle East; as the old order crumbles, a new one has yet to emerge

Can Israel Survive Netanyahu?

Spring 2019 / Essays

Following Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection Israel is a land of contradictions, democratic and wealthy yet with dangerous demographic divisions

Rethinking the Two States

Spring 2019 / Midan

For scholar and diplomat Daniel Levy, this much is clear: until Israel loses its sense of impunity, the peace process goes nowhere

When the Shake-up Comes

Winter 2019 / Q & A

Activist and former advisor to the PLO negotiating team Diana Buttu discusses what she calls the death of Oslo and her hopes for a radical new future

No-Peace Solution

Winter 2019 / Essays

Peace did not prevail because certain ambiguous provisions contained in the Camp David Accords enabled Israel to deliberately evade its obligations and frustrate the entire peace process

The Players of Camp David

Winter 2019 / Essays

An insider Israeli view on the personalities and ideas that drove the history-making Camp David Accords

Reflections on Camp David at 40

Winter 2019 / Essays

How the Camp David Accords became a limited Egyptian–Israeli peace effort that ultimately transformed Arab–Israeli relations across the Middle East

Half Right and Still Waiting

Winter 2019 / Essays

Parsing the successes of the Israeli–Egyptian peace treaty against the failure of Camp David’s other framework agreement sheds light on the pillars of a successful security relationship, and the unique sticking points of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict