Middle East Task Force: Publications, Events and More

The nearly century-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians lies at the root of all troubles in the Middle East, many observers believe. Some say the United States is too supportive of Israel and has lost the ability to be an honest peace broker in the conflict. Others contend the Bush administration is doing all it can by working with moderate Palestinians and is right to refuse talks with Hamas until it rejects terrorism...

Some Israelis agree the conflict… more

We are pleased to invite you to a discussion with David Kimche, who served for many years as Deputy Head of the Mossad and later became Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Relations. Mr. Kimche will be discussing the current situation in Israel and the region, the prospects for a peace move, a new round of conflict or something in-between. Kimche brings his wealth of experience and depth of analysis to an assessment of the options for a comprehensive… more

In a lunchtime forum jointly sponsored by The New America Foundation's American Strategy Program and The Century Foundation's Prospects for Peace Initiative, Robert Malley, Middle East and North Africa Program Director at the International Crisis Group, presented and discussed the report, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: To Reach a Lasting Peace.

This new International Crisis Group report looks at the lessons from the conflict this summer, the last six years of regression, and the United States' political absence from the process.… more

Washington -- I did a guest spot on a Denver talk radio show last week, and was stunned when the program’s hosts turned the topic to Iran.

Talk is cheap. But the hosts were ready -- in fact, sounded downright eager -- to beat the war drums....

My radio hosts are not alone. In neo-conservative quarters here, the trumpets are sounding.

"There are those who see a tyrant regime" and are working to push the U.S. into a "cataclysmic" war, said Steven Clemons,… more

President Bush is likely to face in the not too distant future a “bleak binary choice” regarding Iran that juxtaposes two fundamental options that have profound geostrategic consequences. The first of these is to launch a military operation against Iran's perceived nuclear capacity, and the other is to acquiesce and adjust to Iran's eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons. These are the two framing options in the debate -- but concerned members of the foreign policy establishment are racing to construct… more

Please join us for this important discussion on the prospects for peace in the Middle East. A more detailed event description will follow shortly.

At this recent New America event, Flynt Leverett, former National Security Council Senior Director of Middle East affairs and Middle East expert with the current Administration's Policy Planning Staff, outlined a compelling vision for a U.S. recovery strategy for the region in this special event with American Strategy Program Director Steven Clemons.

The discussion elaborated on Leverett's cover story for The American Prospect, which makes a cogent case for the return of a realist-based… more

Rejection of hubris has become the defining characteristic of the post-Lebanon war mood and debate in Israel. That is understandable. Israel's civilians in the north faced a daily dosage of 200 missiles, while the military met a surprisingly well-equipped and trained guerrilla force. The mood has been best captured by the Israeli military's outgoing commander for infantry and paratroops, Brigadier General Yossi Hyman, who publicly bemoaned that "we were guilty of the sin of arrogance."

Although the circumstances in the United… more

Please join us as Steve Clemons, Director of the New America Foundation’s American Strategy Program, moderates an examination of the important challenges we face in the Middle East with James Dobbins and Daniel Levy.

Dobbins, Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Rand Coproration, published an op-ed in the August 13, 2006 edition of the International Herald Tribune titled "Moral Clarity in the Middle East." Levy… more

Jordan has long been thought of as the quiet country of the Middle East. People called it the Hashemite Kingdom of Boredom and went there for a rest. King Hussein and his son, King Abdullah II, who assumed the throne in February 1999, were friendly enough with the United States, respectful toward Israel and measured advocates of modernization. As for the Islamist stirrings that have roiled the region since the Iranian revolution of 1979, it was widely believed that the… more