Middle East Task Force: Publications, Events and More

In a June 27 panel entitled “Making Sense of the Arab-Israel Nightmare” held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, speakers discussed the lessons to be learned from past administrations and prospects for the Bush administration in its final months, as well as prospects for the next administration. Ghaith al-Omari, a former policy adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Daniel Levy, former senior policy adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office, and Aaron Miller, author of The Much Too Promised Land, addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict largely… more

Many prominent Israelis view AIPAC as a negative and counterproductive influence and have joined JStreet’s advisory council. One of these is Daniel Levy, who was part of the Israeli delegation to the January 2001 Taba Summit. “The mainstream pro-Israel camp,” he states, “has decided so brazenly to throw its lot in with neoconservative ideologues within this administration and with the far right dispensationalist Christian Zionists, and this unholy triangle has pulled things so much to the right-wing direction that we… more

“It is neither moral, nor human, nor Jewish, I argue, to maintain this siege,” said Daniel Levy, senior fellow with the New America Foundation and the Century Foundation. Israel’s de-industrializing of Gaza through its unrelenting control of the borders has all but collapsed businesses in the Strip. “What we’ve done to Gaza’s economy in one year may take decades to recover,” Levy said. LINK

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice just completed her seventh visit to Israel-Palestine since the Annapolis conference nine months ago. You remember Annapolis, when after almost seven years of neglect the Bush administration committed itself to securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal during its last year in office and to dramatically improving the day-to-day situation on the ground.

Displaying admirable consistency and tenacity, albeit a disconnect from reality, Rice reiterated that goal during her visit this week. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders she met with were polite in their… more

Israel's response to the Iranian challenge has been out of synch with developing realities for some time. Recently though, it has become dangerously counter-productive, anchored as it is in denial. As Israel intensifies its role as threatener-in-chief, and clings to a "more sticks, bigger sticks" line, events all around are moving on. The supposed logic behind Israel's escalating threats, suggesting it is ready to go it alone militarily, is threefold. It pressures Iran, thereby increasing international leverage in negotiations; a nervous… more

Panelists will discuss the challenges the next president will face in building a new equilibrium in the Middle East.

The dialogue will be moderated by Steve Clemons and will be advanced by five short provocations delivered by foreign policy experts.

Light breakfast fare and coffee will be served beforehand.

When a bomb exploded in the Shaja’iyyah district of Gaza last month, killing four Hamas operatives and a 5-year-old girl, Hamas blamed Fatah, and moved violently against its remaining Gazan enclaves. Fatah forces then pursued retribution against Hamas in the West Bank. Another round of intra-Palestinian conflict and bloodletting ensued, with the leading pro-Fatah family in Gaza, the Hilles clan, fleeing to Israel in the hopes of making it to the West Bank.

Think that Palestinians nearing civil war and the ongoing collapse of a central Palestinian governing entity… more

“There is zero chance” now, said Ghaith al-Omari, a former negotiator for Mr. Abbas. Mr. Omari said that the best the Palestinians could now expect was that Ms. Rice could manage to preserve something to hand to the next administration.

“The best we can hope for is a stabilization package that will make it easier for the next president to engage the process,” Mr. Omari said. LINK

Reflecting the considerable uncertainty brought on by Olmert's decision, Ghaith Al-Omari, advocacy director for the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, offered a pessimistic assessment.

"In my view, it seals the fact that there will be no conflict-ending deal by the end of this year," said Al-Omari, who was a member of the Palestinian negotiating team during the failed 2000 Camp David U.S.-backed peace-making effort.

Al-Omari said he did not think Olmert had the moral authority to negotiate a deal and said his chief negotiator and possible successor, Israeli… more

“Public trust in the peace process is very low” said Ghaith al-Omari, a former adviser to the Palestinian president. Al-Omari, who now serves as director of advocacy for the American Task Force on Palestine, said that the Palestinian public does not believe reports of progress in the talks because they clash with the reality on the ground.

“It’s unfortunate that Condi Rice keeps on being so ideological instead of focusing on issues on the ground, such as the settlements,” al-Omari said.… more

There is an opportunity to hammer out a grand compromise with Iran—one that would even address its nuclear program. But the Bush administration seems determined to prevent talks that could advance vital U.S. interests.

Much of the media coverage of last Saturday’s nuclear talks between representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (the so-called P-5+1, including the United States), and the secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, reflected a disturbing historical amnesia about previous U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Indeed, listening… more

Sen. Barack Obama is finishing his tour of the Middle East and soon heads to Europe. Daniel Levy, a senior fellow of the New America Foundation and Former Israeli Peace Negotiator, discusses the trip. LINK to video

Following the Israeli release of five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for two deceased Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah, Daniel Levy sat down to analyze its significance and the potential implications for Israeli and Lebanese societies. Daniel Levy is a senior fellow and director of the Middle East Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program and was previously the senior policy advisor in the Israeli Prime Minister's office. 

To watch the video, please click here and for further information, see Levy's more

DANIEL LEVY, New America Foundation: "Well, I think the visuals were obviously very difficult for Israelis today. But I think in the words of the president and the brother of one of the soldiers returned today, that it was also Israel's moral obligation.

So I think it's too simplistic just to see this as weakness and bad for Israel. People have to understand it's a small country. We have a draft. Everyone serves.

And for Israelis, the knowledge that the country will do whatever it can to return soldiers… more

It's one of those days when a lot of people are probably looking at the Middle East and scratching their heads. The Israelis have released Samir Qantar, who committed a terrible atrocity, along with four others who are defined as terrorists to Hizbullah - which Israel defines as a terrorist organisation. And all of this in exchange for two dead bodies. What's going on?

I suggest there are three things worth looking at here.

The first is that this brings some kind of closure to the… more

If there is ever a TV series about the American adventure in Iraq it might be called "Unintended Consequences Gone Wild." The war strategically weakened the United States, strengthened Iran, undermined democracy promotion, and gave Al Qaeda and the Taliban time to regroup - and that would just be season one. But the latest episode, the unintended Iraqi consensus opposing America's secretive quest to complete a Status of Forces Agreement and a Strategic Framework Agreement by the end of July, may turn out to be good… more

...Nir Rosen, one of the most astute and knowledgeable correspondents in the region, observes that the main target of the US-Maliki military operations, Moktada Al Sadr, is disliked by Iran as well: He's independent and has popular support, therefore dangerous.

Iran "clearly supported Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi government against what they described as 'illegal armed groups' (of Moktada's Mahdi army) in the recent conflict in Basra," Rosen writes, "which is not surprising given that their main proxy in Iraq,… more

...In the Financial Times, Anatol Lieven argued that the British government was in a position to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran. "All that it needs to do is make clear to the US administration, initially in private but in public if necessary, that the consequence of an attack would be complete British military withdrawal, not only from Iraq but from Afghanistan as well. "Israel must have US acquiescence to launch an attack since by far the easiest route for one lies… more

...al-Suri is as famous to terrorists as he is unknown to the general American public. Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker penned the only substantive American profile of him in 2006, but apparently only had access to portions of "The Call." al-Suri "is highly intelligent, well read, focused, intense, no sense of humor, [and] speaks Arabic and Spanish and French, very little English" said Peter Bergen, a senior fellow at The New America Foundation and author of two influential books… more

Daniel Levy, a former Middle East peace negotiator, is Director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation, and of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation:

"I'm going to look at the Israeli side of the equation as I think this is the direction that any action is most likely to come from, although the blowback would of course most likely impact the US (and perhaps embroil it in a war with Iran). Also I will… more